During today’s session, the Federal Council selected Dr Renzo Simoni as its new representative on the Swisscom Ltd Board of Directors. He will take up his duties as of the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting in April 2017. Renzo Simoni replaces Hans Werder, who is retiring in 2017 for age-related reasons.
Dr Renzo Simoni (1961) has been Chairman of the Management Board at AlpTransit Gotthard AG since 2007. As such, the electrical engineering graduate of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) was responsible for one of Switzerland’s most challenging infrastructure projects – the Gotthard Base Tunnel. Renzo Simoni will take up his duties within the Swisscom Ltd Board of Directors as of the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting in April 2017. Simoni replaces Hans Werder, who has been the government’s representative on the Swisscom Board of Directors since April 2011. Werder is retiring for age-related reasons. “We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Hans Werder for his commitment,” says Hansueli Loosli, the Chairman of the Board of Directors. “His profound knowledge of the company and its internal administrative procedures as well as his political sensitivity have enabled Hans Werder to be critical yet always constructive in his collaboration with us.”
The purpose of the government representative on the Swisscom Ltd Board of Directors is to present the concerns of the federal government, which holds a majority shareholding in Swisscom under the Swiss Telecommunications Enterprise Act. In accordance with the Articles of Incorporation, the government’s representative is appointed not by the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting but by the Federal Council itself. Although the federal government has a right to two representatives on the Swisscom Ltd Board of Directors, it currently appoints only one.