Geneva: a new director for GIS

Véronique Athané Ryser has been appointed to the position of Director General of Industrial Services of Geneva, replacing Christian Brunier. The appointment of this 48-year-old engineer, mother of two, was approved by the Council of State during its weekly session.

Impressive journey

Who is the new boss of one of Geneva’s largest public companies, notably responsible for the canton’s energy and water supply? A “big shot”. Her profile is very technical. “Born in 1976,” explains the Geneva government, “Athané Ryser is a mechanical engineer, a graduate of INSA (aka the National Institute of Applied Sciences in Lyon) and EPFL. Since 2020, she has held the position of Executive Director of Distribution Network Management at SIG.”

The government assures that she “demonstrated her skills as a high-level manager, managing a department of 550 employees in very varied fields, successfully completing complex projects while actively participating in the smooth running of the company’s general management.”

Nice career? There is better! The SIGs further complete the biography of the director by specifying that she worked at “McKinsey in Zurich for three years, then at Baxter in Neuchâtel and MPS Micro Precision Systems in Bienne, where she will evolve in various positions of technical management, operational management and human resources management for fifteen years”.

That’s not all, since Véronique Athané Ryser has further completed her training with a Certificate of Advanced Studies (Cas) in sustainable development management in Yverdon and another in human resources management at the University of Geneva.

The objectives of the Canton

What does the new manager intend to do in her position? The SIG mention “the need to align the organization to meet the company’s major challenges”, to push towards the decarbonization of the canton “by rapidly deploying structuring thermal networks” and the need to increase the means of producing renewable energy. Finally, “a simplification of the organization” of the company to achieve the various objectives, which are also those of the Canton, would be necessary.

Véronique Athané Ryser succeeds Christian Brunier, who was forced to resign this spring by accusations of nepotism, which he denies. A report on the issue should be made public soon by the SIG.

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