Burson-Marsteller

Matthias Graf joined Burson-Marsteller as their CEO for Switzerland in April 2013. Prior to that, he was Chief Communications Officer for Ringier, Switzerland’s biggest internationally operating media and entertainment company, with presence in 10 countries on 3 continents. Matthias is a senior communications professional with a successful international track record as corporate communications and public affairs leader and spokesperson for major global companies such as Google, where he was Head Corporate Communications and Public Affairs for Switzerland and Head Engineering communications for the EMEA region. Prior to that, he held positions at Dow Chemicals or Sony. He is also a former Board Member of the influential HarbourClub, whose membership comprises Chief Communications Officers of Switzerland. Matthias is a well versed consultant to senior leaders, c-level executives and boards. After nearly two decades in journalism and communications, he has broad‐range experience in branding, media, public and investor relations, public affairs, sponsoring and CSR, and in change and internal communication. Given his ICT- and digital media background, he offers special knowledge and expertise in online and social media.

Matthias is a Swiss national and holds a Master of Science in Communications Management (Executive MScom), from the University of Lugano and a degree in History and German Philology from the University of Zurich. He is fluent in German, English and French.

Marie-Louise Baumann joined Burson-Marsteller in 2000 as Head of the Public Affairs Practice and Member of the Executive Board. In 2009, she became Senior Advisor and Member of the Board of Directors. Marie-Louise is an experienced communications professional and lobbyist who has led high-profile political campaigns for many different industries and organisations. She has been interim CEO of Burson-Marsteller since November 2012. Before starting at B-M, Marie-Louise worked for the Liberal Democratic Party where she was in charge of legal questions, foreign policy, health policy, domestic issues, public relations and campaigning. Prior to the Liberal Democratic Party, Marie-Louise worked at the Federal Chancellery as head of the legal department. During her time at the General Secretary and the Federal Chancellery, she gained deep insights in political processes; she is thereby very well networked in the Swiss Parliament and in the Federal Chancellery.

Gabi Badertscher is manager of the Public Affairs division since September 1st, 2012 and at the same time she becomes a member of the executive Board of Burson-Marsteller. Prior to joining Burson-Marsteller, Gabi Badertscher worked in various managerial positions in the airline, healthcare, education and training and financial sectors. At the same time she was actively involved in politics for many years, including as a member of parliament of the canton of Thurgau, as a member and chairperson of the Auditing and Finance Committee and as President of the parliament of the canton of Thurgau. Gabi Badertscher holds an Executive Master degree in Communications Management from the universities of Lugano, UCLA Anderson Business School Los Angeles and the Copenhagen Business School.

Gabi Badertscher has an extensive network of contacts in politics, business and the media. Her many years’ experience on both the client and the consultant side of the business make her a competent partner in dealings with legislative and executive authorities at the municipal, cantonal and national levels, in the area of public relations, internal and external corporate communication and crisis and change management. Gabi Badertscher is also an experienced consultant for communication solutions across different cultures and in the areas of media, performance and argumentation training as well as coaching.

Chris Cartwright is managing director of B-M Geneva and chair of Technology practice EMEA.

He has over 16 years experience in PR, working across a wide range of sectors including technology, telecoms, media, logistics, tourism and the public sector.

Previously Chris was managing director of Bell Pottinger’s corporate and technology agency, Harvard PR, where he counted amongst his clients, Adobe, Cisco Systems and Pentax. Prior to this, Chris was a director at Brands2Life where he headed its European Services offering as well as leading the Cisco and PeopleSoft accounts.

He spent seven years at Bite PR - latterly as its corporate practice head – running client accounts as varied as DHL, the BBC, Oracle, Siebel, Toshiba, the Office of the e-Envoy and Deutsche Post.

As Director and Head of the Corporate and Financial Communications Practice of Burson-Marsteller, Switzerland, David provides strategic communications support to organizations and individuals to develop, build and protect their reputation.

Before joining Burson-Marsteller, David worked in the Zurich based headquarters of AGT International as Global PR Director. Previously, he was Director and Head of Corporate Communications and Issues Management at Fleishman-Hillard in London, where he developed expertise in the Aviation, Financial Services, Technology, Food and Energy sectors over five years. Prior to this he was Press Secretary to leading UK politicians in both London and Brussels.

David brings over 14 years' experience in communications, building and protecting reputations and providing media training, crisis communications support and creative solutions to one of the world’s biggest airlines, a global insurance provider, a multinational electronics company, a leading IT outsourcing organization and the global chocolate industry.

David holds a degree in Politics from the University of Leicester and is a native English speaker.

Dev Rakshit has been with Burson-Marsteller’s Healthcare & Science Communications practice as a Senior Consultant since January 2011. Dev has more than twenty years’ experience in global communications, strategic marketing, and advertising and branding, mostly gained from the pharmaceuticals and consumer goods industries. Among other things, Dev has been Global Brand Communications Manager at Novartis and Head of Strategic Marketing & Branding at Swarovski. In addition to his communications experience, Dev has a solid background in science, including six years clinical research experience from the medical technology industry in the EU and United States. Dev holds a PhD in chemistry and an MBA from City University in Washington. A native English speaker, he is also fluent in German and Swiss German.

Andrew Wigram joined Burson-Marsteller in January 2013 as Finance Director and head of IT and HR.
Andrew has worked for international companies in Switzerland, the United Kingdom and South Africa. His previous position was Head of Finance – Europe Middle East and Africa, for Landis + Gyr, a Smart Energy Solutions company based in Zug.

Andrew is a Chartered Accountant, who qualified in South Africa. He also holds a Bachelor of Business Science degree from the University of Cape Town.
He did his audit training with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Cape Town, and has worked in various industries including Media, Recruitment and Leisure.