Virginie has a strong background in energy, clean-tech, telecommunication and IT sectors. Often called in during transition periods, she helps companies in their fast growing and restructuring phases. She brings her hands-on expertise in C-level management, finance, marketing & communication, and international business development.

Fascinated by organizations in transition, she took part in two IPOs, led a full privatization process and restructured various SMEs as well as MNCs departments in multicultural environments. She is chairman of the board of a government-owned company and serves on the board of directors of several SMEs and start-up companies.

Brigitte Baumann is the Founder and ex-CEO of Go Beyond Early Stage Investing. In May 2015 EBAN (the European trade association for Business Angels and Seed Funds) named her European Investor of the Year. She is President Emeritus of EBAN and Chairs the Young Presidents Organization’s global Angel Investing group.

Brigitte has 20+ years experience in bringing new technologies to market in the US and Europe. She was the CEO and Director of iWORLD Group, a VC backed, global developer of mobile content. She was Senior Vice President and General Manager Internet at American Express (Amex) Corporate Services. Prior to that, Brigitte spent three years as President for US/Canada of Gemalto, a world leader in smart card technology. She also worked at McKinsey & Company as Senior Engagement Manager.

Brigitte has a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from Tufts University, Boston and an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School, Philadelphia.

Jacques Hefti has a strong background in founding, developing and coaching startups in ICT, in advanced engineering and in social entrepreneurship. He is currently serving on the board of two service organizations and advises entrepreneurs and board member candidates for startup boards.

Jacques is Co-Director of Startup Campus, one of the leading training and coaching platforms for spin-offs and startups coming from ETH and all major Universities in the German part of Switzerland. He has been teaching strategic management, innovation & entrepreneurship for more than five years and is coordinating the startup activities at the Zurich University of Applied Science in his role as a head of entrepreneurship@zhaw.

Moreover, he has a track record of over 25 years in management positions as a CEO or senior vice president in the interior design, tourism and public transport sectors.

Jean spent over 20 years in technology oriented companies. His domains of expertise range from international sales to management of large telecom projects. While an executive in large multinational companies, he experienced many of the domestic and international development stages of a corporation. Jean is also an entrepreneur and started several ventures which have been successfully sold. Jean is currently a partner and board member of several small and medium-sized companies and start-ups. He also works as a consultant, advising entrepreneurs and SMEs.

After training mainly in international commercial arbitration and litigation, Jacques Bonvin has specialized over the last twenty years, and is now active, in corporate law, international mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance, including private equity and venture capital, with a special emphasis in the technology sector. Jacques Bonvin regularly advises board of directors on corporate governance and strategic issues.

Jacques Bonvin's typical involvement includes preparing, structuring, negotiating and finalizing transactions both at the national and international level. He often acts as lead counsel in cross-border transactions.

Jacques Bonvin advises investment banks, venture capital firms and funds, corporate venture funds, incubators, academic institutions, listed and non-listed companies, as well as start-ups on corporate and shareholding structuring (including corporate governance issues) and on all types of transactions such as M&A, takeovers, LBOs, MBOs, restructurings, divestitures, spin-offs, as well as private equity and venture capital deals.

Michel Jaccard is the founder of id est avocats. He has been involved in the last 20 years in more than a hundred corporate finance and M&A deals in Switzerland and abroad, acting for entrepreneurs and owners, venture capital and private equity firms, industrial buyers and financial sponsors. Along his corporate expertise, he sits on several advisory boards and regularly helps C-level execs and board members of SMEs and global brands navigate the world of advanced technologies, distributed computing, open source, data protection and cybersecurity, and more generally manage their online presence and digital transformation.

Michel holds a JD and PhD from the University of Lausanne and an LLM from Columbia Law School (Stone Scholar, Fulbright grantee). He is admitted to practice in Switzerland and New York, and has been highly recommended in Corporate/M&A, Technology, Media/Telecoms and Intellectual Property for the past 10 years by leading guides such as Chambers and Legal500.

He also maintains a blog on innovation and technology law and frequently acts as jury member or mentor in national and international startup competitions.