Mr. Baronian, has long-standing experience in the pharmaceutical industry, having held increasingly responsible positions within the Johnson & Johnson organization: between 1990 and 1997, he was Vice President in charge of European operations for Cilag AG, in Zug and Schaffhausen, before becoming Group Vice President, worldwide operations, for Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics Inc., based in Rochester, USA. Between 1969 and 1990, he held various positions in sales, marketing, finance and operations within J&J, in the United States and in Canada. From 1998 - 1999, Mr. Baronian was CEO of the Central Laboratories in Bern, a not-for-profit institution founded by the Swiss Red Cross. From 2000 – 2002 he was the CEO of Asklia, a Veterinary and Dental Company in Belp. Since 2003 he has been in charge of his own company AZAD based in Toffen (BE). From 2000 - 2009, Mr. Baronian was Chairman of Tecan, a robotics company supplying the life sciences industry, based in Männedorf (Zürich). Mr. Baronian holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce, with majors in Finance and Business Administration, from Concordia University in Mon-treal, Canada. He lives in Switzerland and is married with five children.
Professional Experience: - Schmid Attorneys at Law (Founder, 2004) - Various mandates as a Board Member of both nationally and internationally - active corporations - Advisor and arbitrator to international sports asociations
Education: - LL.M. in international Trade & Finance at the Tulane University, New Orleans, School of Law (1994) -Admission to the bar (1992)
Aereas of Practice: -Capital Markets & Finance, Corporate law, M&A, Pharma & Healthcare law, several mandates in large restructurings of publicly listed as well as private corporations
Professional memberships: - Swiss Bar Association - Zurich Bar Association - Bernese Lawyers Association
Prof. Dr. Gerd Folkershas been at the ETH Zurich since April 1, 1991. He has been full professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry until 2016. Born in Andernach/Rhein in Germany, he studied pharmacy at the University of Bonn. He earned his Ph.D in Bonn on structure activity relationships of desapurines. In 1983 he transferred to the University of Tübingen, where he completed habilitation in 1989 in pharmaceutical chemistry. During a stay in Berne, Switzerland, he studied new research methods in computer aided molecular design. The focus of his research work is the molecular interaction between drugs and its binding sites in vivo. He is particularly interested in the strong integration of computer aided modeling and relevant biochemical/biophysical experiments. Besides the research on molecular mechanism of "conventional" nucleoside therapeutics against virus infection and cancer, his special interest has shifted to immuno therapeutics. He served as editor of the journals "QSAR" and "Pharmaceutica Acta Helvetiae", vice president of the "Schweizerischen Gesellschaft der Pharmazeutischen Wissenschaften", member of the executive board "Schweizerischen Akademie der Technischen Wissenschaften", as well as a member of the board of many international scientific societies and foundations.” He is author and editor of scientific books in the field of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Gerd Folkers acted as Director of the Collegium Helveticum and has been President of the Swiss Science Council until 2021.
