Our company

 

Team

 

Stefan D. Naegeli

Co-founder & President of the
Board of Directors

Prac­tising fund la­wy­er. Stu­dies in Zu­rich (lic.iur. 1988) and New York (M.C.J. 1992), in­ternship in a New York law firm. As­so­cia­te for se­veral ye­ars in a ma­jor Zu­rich law firm, Part­ner with Na­e­ge­li & Strei­chen­berg At­tor­neys at Law (1996-2005), Part­ner with Na­e­ge­li & Part­ners At­tor­neys at Law Ldt. sin­ce 2006, sin­ce 1993 spe­cia­li­sing in in­vest­ment fund work. Sin­ce 2001 Pre­si­dent of the Board of Di­rec­tors of FIRST IN­DE­PEN­DENT FUND SER­VICES LDT. Pro­found ex­pe­ri­en­ce in the are­as of set­ting-up, dis­tri­bu­ti­on and re­pre­sen­ta­ti­on of collec­tive in­vest­ments sche­mes, in­clu­ding ETFs, al­ter­na­ti­ve struc­tu­res and off­shore in­vest­ment ve­hi­cles. Mem­bership in va­rious working groups in the le­gis­la­ti­ve pro­cess and spea­ker on va­rious se­mi­nars in fund-re­gu­la­to­ry mat­ters on a con­ti­nuing ba­sis.


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Elpida Tsecouras Fisch

Co-Founder, Member of the Board of Directors,
Member of the Managing Board

Stu­dies in Athens (dipl. iur. 1977), ad­mit­ted as an at­tor­ney at Law in Athens (1979), ad­di­tio­nal le­gal stu­dies in Ham­burg and Bie­le­feld, Ger­ma­ny. Aca­de­mic re­se­arch as­si­stant at the Max-Planck In­sti­tu­te for for­eign and in­ter­na­tio­nal pri­va­te law, Ham­burg, Ger­ma­ny. Le­gal coun­sel of the in­vest­ment fund com­pa­ny of Credit Su­is­se (1993 -2000). As­so­cia­te at­tor­ney and of-Coun­sel with Na­e­ge­li & Strei­chen­berg At­tor­neys at Law / Na­e­ge­li & Part­ners At­tor­neys at Law Ltd. (2001-2018), spe­cia­li­sing in the area of in­vest­ment funds. Sin­ce 2001 Mem­ber of the Board of Di­rec­tors (CEO 2001-2018) of FIRST IN­DE­PEN­DENT FUND SER­VICES LTD.


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Prof. Dr. Dr. Markus Ruffner

Member of the Board of Directors

Stu­dies in Zü­rich (lic. oec. 1979, lic. iur. 1984, Dr. oec. 1989, Dr. iur. 1990). Un­til 1990 re­or­ga­nis­ed the fa­mi­ly en­t­er­pri­se, then working as an edi­tor for eco­no­mics at the Neue Zür­cher Zei­tung. Working as se­ni­or eco­no­mist for se­veral ye­ars at Credit Su­is­se. Sin­ce 1996 le­gal coun­sel with a ma­jor law firm in Zu­rich. 1999 head of as­set ma­nage­ment in a pri­va­te bank. Foun­ding part­ner and Chief Exe­cu­ti­ve Of­fi­cer of a pri­va­te bank in Zu­rich (2001). Sin­ce 1998 lec­tu­rer at the Uni­ver­si­ty of St. Gal­len. Sin­ce 2011 Mem­ber of the Board of Di­rec­tors of FIRST IN­DE­PEN­DENT FUND SER­VICES LTD.


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Jürg Alder

CEO

Law stu­dies at the Uni­ver­si­ty of St. Gal­len (lic.iur. HSG 1999) and post­gra­dua­te stu­dies at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Cape Town UCT (LL.M. 2005). Se­veral ye­ars working ex­pe­ri­en­ce in the Swiss re­pre­sen­ta­ti­ve busi­ness (2005 – 2008) and as De­pu­ty Ma­na­ging Di­rec­tor of a Swiss fund ma­nage­ment com­pa­ny (2008–2014). From 2014 un­til 2017 Le­gal & Com­pli­an­ce of­fi­cer at FIRST IN­DE­PEN­DENT FUND SER­VICES LTD. Joi­ning the Ma­nage­ment Board in 2017 and CEO sin­ce 1 Ja­nu­a­ry 2019.


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Matthias Lüdi

Member of the Management Board

Law stu­dies at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Fri­bourg with Eu­ropean Uni­ver­si­ty ex­ch­an­ge pro­gram at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mont­pel­lier, Fran­ce (MLaw 2007). Stu­dies at the Fund Aca­de­my AG, Zu­rich (Dipl. Swiss Fund Of­fi­cer FA/IAF 2013). Worked in a com­mer­ci­al law firm, at the Di­strict Court and for the Swiss Fi­nan­ci­al Mar­ket Su­per­vi­so­ry Aut­ho­ri­ty FIN­MA (Mar­kets De­part­ment / As­set Ma­nage­ment). From 2009 un­til 2019 lec­tu­rer at the Zu­rich Uni­ver­si­ty of Ap­plied Sci­en­ces (ZHAW). From 2012 un­til 2021 re­s­pon­si­ble for Le­gal & Com­pli­an­ce with FIRST IN­DE­PEN­DENT FUND SER­VICES LTD. Sin­ce 1 Ja­nu­a­ry 2022 mem­ber of the Ma­nage­ment Board.


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Simone Hirschmüller

Vice President, Client Services & Administration

Stu­dies in Par­a­le­ga­lism at the Zu­rich Uni­ver­si­ty of Ap­plied Sci­en­ces (ZHAW - Par­a­le­gal 2013). From 1995–1997 working for the For­eign Ex­ch­an­ge Tra­ding Team with UBS (for­mer­ly SBC War­burg). 1997–1999 working at the Ad­mis­si­on Board of SIX Swiss Ex­ch­an­ge. From 1999–2005 as­si­stant to the Cli­ent Re­la­ti­onship Team UK at So­cié­té Gé­né­ra­le Pri­va­te Ban­king (for­mer­ly Rüegg Bank). Sin­ce 2005 re­s­pon­si­ble for Cli­ent Services & Ad­mi­ni­stra­ti­on with FIRST IN­DE­PEN­DENT FUND SER­VICES LTD.


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Patrick De Rocco

Vice President, Compliance

1988–1991 com­mer­ci­al ap­p­ren­ti­ce­ship at Zür­cher Kan­to­nal­bank, Zu­rich (ZKB). 1992–1996 se­cu­ri­ties dea­ler at va­rious tra­ding desks with ZKB. 1996 li­cen­sed as tra­der for Swiss Stock Ex­ch­an­ge SWX. 1997 gra­dua­te as „In­ter­na­tio­nal Se­cu­ri­ties Dea­ler“ with the In­ter­na­tio­nal Se­cu­ri­ties Mar­ket As­so­cia­ti­on (IS­MA) in Lis­bon. From 1997 – 2000 re­s­pon­si­ble head of tra­ding for for­eign se­cu­ri­ties at ZKB. 2001 fur­ther edu­ca­ti­on as „Cer­ti­fied Fi­nan­ci­al Ad­vi­sor IAF“ at IfFP In­sti­tu­te for Fi­nan­ci­al Plan­ning, Zu­rich. Working from 2001 – 2006 as Team Head „Fund Ser­vice- and Or­der Desk“ with Dresd­ner Bank (Swit­z­er­land) Ltd. From 2007 – 2015 ser­ving as „Se­ni­or Dis­tri­bu­ti­on Ope­ra­ti­ons Spe­cia­list“ for Al­li­anz Glo­bal In­ve­stors Eu­ro­pe GmbH, Zu­rich Branch. Sin­ce Sep­tem­ber 2015 re­s­pon­si­ble for Com­pli­an­ce with FIRST IN­DE­PEN­DENT FUND SER­VICES LTD.


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Ophélie Krall

Vice President, Client Services, Compliance & Regulatory

2004-2008 com­mer­ci­al ap­p­ren­ti­ce­ship at the mu­ni­ci­pa­li­ty of Por­ren­truy and at the pen­si­on fund of the can­ton of Ju­ra. 2010-2012 ad­mi­ni­stra­ti­ve as­si­stant for the re­al esta­te sec­tor Ro­man­die of Lidl Schweiz in Bern. Working from 2012 to 2016 for the Swiss Fi­nan­ci­al Mar­ket Su­per­vi­so­ry Aut­ho­ri­ty FIN­MA in Bern in the As­set Ma­nage­ment di­vi­si­on (ap­pro­val of for­eign funds and aut­ho­ri­sa­ti­on of for­mer Swiss dis­tri­bu­tors). In 2015, stu­dies at the Fund Aca­de­my AG, Ge­ne­va (Dipl. Swiss Fund Of­fi­cer FA/IAF). From 2016 to 2023, worked for a Swiss re­pre­sen­ta­ti­ve of for­eign funds in Zu­rich, most re­cent­ly as Head of Funds Re­gu­la­ti­ons' Group (Swiss re­pre­sen­ta­ti­on and UCITS/AIF cross-bor­der re­gi­stra­ti­on). Sin­ce May 2023 re­s­pon­si­ble for Cli­ent Services, Com­pli­an­ce & Re­gu­la­to­ry with FIRST IN­DE­PEN­DENT FUND SER­VICES LTD.


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Sonja Leinen

Vice President, Client Services & Administration

2000-2004 Stu­dies of Busi­ness Ad­mi­ni­stra­ti­on in Heil­bronn, Ger­ma­ny (Di­plom-Be­triebs­wir­tin (FH)). From 2005 to 2008 worked in dif­fe­rent fund de­part­ments at De­ka­Bank Deut­sche Gi­ro­zen­tra­le Lu­xem­bourg S.A. and De­ka In­ter­na­tio­nal S.A. in Lu­xem­bourg. From 2008 to 2015 em­ployee at the fund re­porting group at Uni­on In­vest­ment Lu­xem­bourg S.A. From 2016 to 2023 working as Da­ta Re­la­ti­onship Ma­na­ger at fund da­ta pro­vi­der FE fund­in­fo AG in Zu­rich, Swit­z­er­land. Sin­ce Ju­ly 2023 re­s­pon­si­ble for Cli­ent Services & Ad­mi­ni­stra­ti­on at FIRST IN­DE­PEN­DENT FUND SER­VICES LTD.


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