Career biography

After achieving the International Baccalaureate in 1989 at the United World College of the Adriatic in Duino, Italy, I spent two years in the Pontifical Swiss Guard in the Vatican (Rome, Italy). From 1992 to 1996, I studied law at the Universities of Lausanne and Salamanca, Spain. After passing my bar exam in the canton of Zurich and several years in private practice in Zurich law firms, I successfully passed the “concours diplomatique” in 2002 and spent four years as a career diplomat in the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (EDA), including two years as Legal Advisor in the Directorate for Public International Law, Bern. During that period, I also completed postgraduate studies in International Economic Law at the University of Zurich (2004–2006).

Afterwards, I joined the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) as Deputy Head of Unit for International Investments, participating in or leading negotiations for Switzerland on investment protection agreements and investment chapters in free trade agreements until the end of 2012. After brief assignments in the General Secretariat of the Swiss Federal Department of Economy, Education and Research (WBF) and the Directorate for Public International Law (EDA), I returned to SECO as Senior Legal Advisor for WTO law.

Since April 2017, I have served as General Counsel (Head Legal, Regulatory & Compliance) at Swissgrid Ltd., Switzerland’s electricity transmission system operator, heading a division of 25 collaborators (lawyers, economists and natural scientists) and serving as a member of the company’s extended top management (erweiterte Geschäftsleitung). I am a member of the Legal Commission of the Association of Swiss Electricity Companies (Rechtskommission des Verbandes Schweizerischer Elektrizitätsunternehmen, VSE) and represent Swissgrid in the Legal & Regulatory Group at the European Association of Transmission System Operators (ENTSO-E).

I am fluent in German, Slovene, French, English and Italian, with good knowledge of Spanish and Croatian/Serbian/Bosnian