Oerlikon proposes changes to its board with nomination of three new board members
February 27, 2025
Oerlikon, headquartered in Pfäffikon, Switzerland, has announced proposed changes to its board of directors. The company has nominated Dr Stefan Brupbacher, Marco Musetti and Dr Eveline Steinberger for election as new board members. If approved, they will succeed Irina Matveeva, Gerhard Pegam and Zhenguo Yao, who will not stand for re-election. It was added that other current board members (Prof Dr Michael Suess, Paul Adams, Jürg Fedier, Inka Koljonen and Alexey V Moskov) will stand for re-election.
The announced changes to the board are part of Oerlikon’s long-term succession planning and are aligned with its current strategic transformation into a leader in surface technologies. Subject to approval by the shareholders at the AGM on April 1, the number of board members will remain unchanged, and the board will stay independent by majority.
Stefan Brupbacher is the Director of Swissmem, a leading association for corporations in the Swiss technology industry, and a member of the Board of Orgalim, the umbrella organisation of European technology industries. Brupbacher has held various high-level positions in the Swiss political environment. Among others, he served as the Secretary General of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER) of the Swiss government. It is planned that he will take on the roles of Lead Independent Director and chairman of the Governance Committee.
Marco Musetti brings a range of international experiences from various industries, including in the roles of founder and board member of Swiss-listed companies. Among other roles, Musetti currently serves on the boards of directors of the Sulzer spin-off medmix AG, Octo Telematics, GEM Capital Ltd, and United Kalahari Minerals. It is planned that Musetti will join the Audit & Finance Committee.
Eveline Steinberger is an experienced entrepreneur specialising in emerging technology fields such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), big data, augmented reality, 3D and robotics. She founded The Blue Minds Company GmbH in 2014, focusing on the global energy transition, digitalisation-based business models and start-up investments. Steinberger has held leadership positions in the energy and infrastructure sector for twenty years, including roles at Siemens, the Climate and Energy Fund of the Austrian Federal Government and VERBUND AG, the leading energy company in Austria. She is a member of the Supervisory Board of Unicredit Bank Austria. It is planned that she will join the Governance Committee as well as the Human Resources Committee.
Michael Suess, Executive Chairman of Oerlikon, stated, “I am proud that we were able to attract three outstanding personalities to join our board. With these candidates, we can maintain our high standard of high calibre board members. Regularly refreshing the board is a crucial task, ensuring we bring in new perspectives while upholding our core values. The new board members are a clear expression of our commitment to continuity and excellence.”
