Every year ETH Zurich launches over 1,000 new research collaborations with industry, governmental agencies, hospitals, non-profit organisations and other institutions in Switzerland and abroad. To strengthen and extend the dialogue and interaction with partners in the public and private sector, Vanessa Wood, Vice President for Knowledge Transfer and Corporate Relations, is grouping together all the people at the university working at the interface with external partners driving innovation forward. The groups responsible for research contracts, industry relations and Innovation Park Zurich are now working together under the leadership of Jeannine Pilloud.
“I am absolutely delighted to have Jeannine Pilloud joining us and taking on this new role,” says Vanessa Wood. "Her vast experience in the public and private sector, and her network, are of terrific value for ETH.”
Jeannine Pilloud already has an initial idea of her future role at ETH Zurich. In the following interview she talks about her motivation for taking on the post at ETH and describes her first impressions.
ETH News: Ms Pilloud, you have certainly had an illustrious career. You were Head of Passenger Transport at Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) and a member of the SBB Group Executive Board. Then you spent two and a half years as CEO of Ascom. Not so long ago you were also in the spotlight in your capacity as President of Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund, Switzerland’s largest retail group. What motivated you to take on your new non-executive role at ETH Zurich?
Jeannine Pilloud: That’s funny – I was asked a similar question when I left SBB after almost nine years. Many people didn’t understand my motives, but it was quite clear to me at the time that I had already achieved what I wanted at SBB. A higher status or salary have never been important to me – it’s always been about the work itself. In my eyes, the job at ETH has a lot of similarities with the role of a board member, even if certain tasks have some operational aspects. I can roll up my sleeves and work with the team to get something done. I definitely don’t want to be CEO anymore – I’ve already done that.
And why choose ETH Zurich?
ETH is an institution very close to my heart. I studied architecture here and learnt the meaning of creativity. Whatever the challenge is: How do I describe the task and how do I go about it so that everything functions as it should? I carried over that approach to my career in industry. Now I’d like to pass on some of the corporate experience I’ve acquired over the past 35 years.
