Former Federal Councillor Kaspar Villiger at the Rhine Valley Economic Forum
The 28th Rheintaler Wirtschaftsforum will take place on January 20, 2023 on the topic of "The New Normality". The keynote speaker is former Federal Councilor and President of the Swiss Confederation Kaspar Villiger.
A virus, inflation, war in Ukraine - a "new normal" has dawned. At the 28th Rheintaler Wirtschaftsforum (Wifo), leading figures from business, politics and the army set out what they expect from this new "age" and how they are responding to it.
Kaspar Villiger as keynote speaker
Keynote speaker Kaspar Villiger will address the Rheintal Economic Forum on "Crises as the new normal? Democracies in the headwind" and illuminate the topic with his decades of political experience. After graduating from the ETH with a degree in engineering, Villiger was president and CEO of the family-owned cigar factory Villiger and Sons. His political career began when he was elected to the Grand Council of the Canton of Lucerne in 1972. From 1982 to 1989, Villiger served five years in the National Council and then in the Council of States. In 1989, he was elected to the Federal Council and served first as defense minister, then finance minister. Twice he was president of the Swiss Confederation. In 2003, he resigned from the Federal Council and joined the boards of directors of Nestlé, Swiss Re and the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. From 2009 to 2012, Villiger was chairman of the board of directors at UBS. In 2004, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Lucerne. Since 2009, he has been Chairman of the UBS Foundation of Economics in Society.
High-profile panel with Gutmann, Walser and Thoma
Another speaker will be Johannes Gutmann, who will tell how he was able to use the crisis for his Sonnentor Kräuterhandels GmbH with 370 employees and 1000 organic contract farmers thanks to sustainability and environmental justice. Furthermore, Corps Commander Hans-Peter Walser, member of the army leadership and Deputy Chief of the Armed Forces, will speak from a military perspective on "Security policy after a geopolitical turning point". And finally, Suzanne Thoma, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sulzer AG since April 2022, will explore the question: Does the new normal demand a new kind of corporate governance? Thoma started her career at Ciba Specialty Chemicals Ltd after completing her doctorate at the ETH. She was still CEO of the BKW Group until the end of June 2022.
Abacus new as main sponsor
Furthermore, the organizers of the Economic Forum announce a significant change in sponsors: Abacus has moved up from co-sponsor to main sponsor. This means that Wifo is now supported by the five main sponsors Abacus, Alpha Rheintal Bank AG, BDO AG, Helvetia Versicherungen and RLC AG.
Registrations for the event are already possible today via the new website www.wifo.ch possible.
