Before joining CEIBS, Robert was Head of Talent Management, Leadership and Organizational Development Europe at Oerlikon AG. Prior to joining Oerlikon, he was Director of Education at the Swiss Finance Institute. He has also previously served as Head of Strategy + Operations Consulting at KPMG and worked for 7 years at Credit Suisse in private banking. Robert has also been Professor of Finance at several universities and regularly teaches on the topics of leadership and financial leadership at corporate universities and university executive programmes.

A native of the United States, he completed his undergraduate studies and MBA at the University of Richmond and George Washington University, respectively, in the U.S. and has a PhD in international economics from the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland.  Robert has 4 daughters, and enjoys skiing, golf and hiking. He has been working in Europe for 25 years.

Esther Bamert joined CEIBS in August 2019. She is a qualified Bookkeeper with many years of experience in medium sized organisations, international and German/Swiss companies in financial accounting and office management involved in all areas of accounting, payrolling and personnel administration.

Esther’s interests include nature, walking, reading, photography and skiing.

Fred-Thomas Altaner joined the team at Zurich Institute of Business Education as Head of Finance on January 1, 2018.

Fred studied at the Zurich Institute’s predecessor organizations and holds an Executive MBA degree from the Lorange Institute of Business Zurich as well as a Master of Science in Finance degree from GSBA. His professional experience includes various roles in finance in both the banking and manufacturing industries. A dual German and Canadian national, Fred spent over 14 years managing accounting and controlling with a large multi-national manufacturing corporation, of which he lived in Toronto, Canada for ten years.

Besides his penchant for numbers, Fred enjoys photography and riding his ATV.

Previous to CEIBS, Hannah worked in London as an Account Manager for Cancer Research UK and before that as Event Manager for Guardian News & Media. She joined CEIBS in September 2017 after relocating from London to Zurich.

Hannah has significant global experience having spent a year living and working in China and has organised events all over the world including Europe, Asia and Africa. 

Hannah heads up CEIBS Alumni Relations in Europe, creating events and community initiatives to develop and grow the alumni network ensuring plentiful business opportunities for the school in and beyond Europe. 

Before joining CEIBS, Kevin was the assistant shop manager at Swiss Lion AG (one of the Bucherer group company). Before moving to Switzerland in 2010, Kevin worked at ExxonMobile China Investment Company for 3 years in Shanghai and for almost 6 years at Mitsubishi Corporation in Guangzhou as team leader in the Home appliance department.

Kevin graduated from Guangdong University of Foreign Studies with Bachelor’s degree in International Business/Trade/Co

Kristina Schroeder joined CEIBS Zurich in January 2020 as a program manager. She holds a master’s degree in Chinese Studies and Cross-cultural communication, soon undertaking the defense of her dissertation in this field.

Before she worked as a sinologist specializing in the literary fiction of late imperial China. She taught Ming and Qing history and classical literature at the University of Zurich. After living in China for four years, she has surpassed the language barrier, and considers China her second home. In her free time, she is a passionate dancer, moving to the beat of African drums.

Li is a native of Shanghai and a citizen of France and Switzerland. She speaks five languages and has lived, studied and worked in the US, Asia and Europe. 

Li has a BA in Economics from Smith College and a MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Prior to joining CEIBS, Li has had an eclectic working experience in the field of investment banking, management consulting, internet start-up, private investment club, catering and event management. Her professional interests include values-driven leadership, high performance culture and team creativity.

Marianne E. Wiesli graduated with two master’s degrees from one of Europe’s top business schools. She has 8 years experience in marketing, sales and advertising and is a design innovation (Stanford ME310) and research expert with in-depth insight in connecting businesses and marketing. Marianne is fluent in Mandarin, English and German and has worked several years in the Asia Pacific region.

Stefan Rast joined the team at CEIBS Zurich Campus as Office & Facilities Manager on February 1, 2020.
Stefan studied facility management at the university “ZHAW” in Wädenswil and worked for different companies in Switzerland as a leading role for smaller and bigger mandates.
Stefan’s interests include nature, walking, scuba diving, ice hockey and skiing.

Vivian Song joined CEIBS Zurich on 1st September 2017 as Program Manager. She holds a master’s degree in business administration with a major in Business Development and Promotion from the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts.

Prior to this, she has been an experienced program manager for the past 13 years in various international education institutions and in luxury goods sectors across China and Switzerland, including Swiss hotel school China office manager, Singapore A-Level program manager, chief representative for some American universities, and product manager for a luxury brand in Lucerne.

She has a great passion for international education and it has always been her dream to continually bring her knowledge to the school and its students. In her free time, she likes to read and travel, meet new people and enjoys being outdoors because she loves nature.

Yuan Yuan was born and raised in China, after which she studied and worked in China, the United States of America, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. She holds two Master’s degrees in Foreign Language Acquisition from New York University and Educational Leadership from the University of Cambridge. She is a Chevening Scholar and a Ford Fellow.

She has been working in the field of education since 2006. Her career path ranges from foreign language teaching and learning to curriculum design, educational project management and setting up start-ups both in non-profit and for-profit sectors. Before joining CEIBS, she was the educational  project director for a company in London. Prior to her time in London, she also worked as the deputy director of the Teacher Education and Development Department at one of the largest educational NGOs in China.

Away from work, Yuan Yuan enjoys her cooking fusion experiments and has a passion for discovering the hidden, little joys in nature.