Viola Amherd was born in Brig-Glis (Canton of Valais) in 1962. She studied law at the University of Fribourg before obtaining her notary diploma for the Canton of Valais. From 1991 she had her own law and notary practice in Brig-Glis. At the same time, she was also actively involved in politics: between 1992 and 1996 she was a member of Brig-Glis Communal Council (executive) and from 2000 to 2012 she served as its president (mayor). In 2005, she was elected to the National Council (parliament). In 2018, the Federal Assembly elected Viola Amherd to the Federal Council. She has headed the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport since 2019.

Ursina is a senior consultant in Risk Advisory Cyber Risk Services. She is currently supporting projects in the area of Security Operation Centres (SOC), cyber security communication, training and awareness as well as identity and access management. Ursina is proficient in understanding the intersections between IT infrastructure and business processes. She is used to deliver high-quality work while facing strict deadlines. Ursina is very passionate about supporting her clients to become more cyber vigilance. Her focus is on topics like Security Operation Centres development and Blue Teaming.

Laura is an Assistant Manager in Deloitte’s Cyber Risk Services team in Zurich. She has worked on several global projects across a wide variety of topics (from R&D target operating model to cyber delivery implementation) and a wide variety of industries (from banking to pharma). Through past engagements, Laura developed extensive know-how in TOM Design and Implementation, Shared Services, and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and is now focusing on Cyber Services Delivery and Service Delivery Models. Laura holds a B.Sc in Economics from Bocconi University (Milan), a M.A. from Tsinghua University (Beijing) and a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Cyber Security from ETH Zurich.

Barbara Flaad studied Computer Science at the ZHAW and has a CAS in Information Security & Risk Management from the FHNW. She is CISSP certified and joined  SWITCH-CERT as a security awareness specialist in May 2020.

Myla leads security research communications at TrendLabs, Trend Micro’s Research and Development Center. She heads the division of the company that monitors the security threat landscape, including high-profile attacks like advanced persistent threats (APTs) and prevalent digital security threats like mobile, cloud and critical infrastructure. She oversees a team that monitors and manages critical incidents and developments in the threat landscape.

Myla is also an active supporter and advocate on the protection of children online and international movements of stopping the online commercial distribution of inappropriate images of children.

Myla holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the National University in Singapore. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Arts and Letters, major in Communication Arts, from the University of Santo Tomas.

Susanne is Vice President for Product Strategy at Kudelski IoT. With a business background, she has worked in highly technical environment for most of her career, covering different industries from automotive via medical to cross vertical IoT security. 

After several years in Bosch, where she has held various functions from marketing, sales operations and business development to director corporate strategy, she has joined a med-tech startup before she started at Kudelski IoT 2 years ago.

Simone Frömming manages the key account business for Microsoft. She studied economics and mechanical engineering in Hanover/Braunschweig. After graduation, she landed in the mainframe computing division of IBM and programmed accounting solutions in the insurance industry. Due to her ambition and high commitment, she became one of the first female sales executives in IT at the age of 30. In most of her career, she dealt with management tasks in software sales (IBM, Oracle, Vmware), as well as with system integration & outsourcing (T-Systems) focusing on German-speaking countries; with a foray into IT distribution with significantly lower margins and major logistical challenges (MD TechData Germany).

In day-to-day customer interactions Cybersecurity is becoming a hot topic. So, Simone is working with all the Cybersecurity Specialists from Microsoft to support the customers.

Monica Ratte graduated in 2012 from EPFL in mathematics (Master) and information security (Minor). After her studies she started working for the Swiss government, firstly as Incident Manager for the Army and then as Federal Commissioner for ICT Security for the whole Federal Administration at the new National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). In her daily job she draw up IT security directives and advise the administrative units on her implementation.

Myriam Dunn Cavelty is a senior lecturer for security studies and deputy for research and teaching at the Center for Security Studies (CSS). She studied International Relations, History, and International Law at the University of Zurich. She was a visiting fellow at the Watson Institute for International Studies (Brown University) in 2007 and fellow at the stiftung neue verantwortung in Berlin, Germany 2010–2011.Her research focuses on the politics of risk and uncertainty in security politics and changing conceptions of (inter-​)national security due to cyber issues (cyber-​security, cyber-​war, critical infrastructure protection) in specific. In addition to her teaching, research and publishing activities, she advises governments, international institutions and companies in the areas of cyber security, cyber warfare, critical infrastructure protection, risk analysis and strategic foresight.

As a senior consultant in Deloitte’s Cyber Risk Services branch, I support clients as an Identity & Access Management (IAM) expert in reshaping their technology landscapes globally and in adhering to industry and regulatory standards.

Looking back on my professional journey from hospitality and startup development to cyber risk services, the most important common denominators of these experiences are ‘people’ and ‘problem solving’. I am very passionate about people, particularly about how people interact with each other in different, professional environments, and I truly enjoy accompanying organisations in their journey of solving a complex business problem. I found particular interest in the cyber topic due to its fast-developing, innovative and complex nature, requiring a thorough understanding of both people and technology matters.

Maya Bundt is the Head Cyber and Digital Solutions at Swiss Re Reinsurance. In this role she is responsible to further develop and implement the cyber strategy for Swiss Re's Reinsurance business and to drive digital innovation and solutions. Maya joined Reinsurance from Group Strategy, where she was Chief of Staff to the Group's Chief Strategy Officer. Before that, Maya held a position in the Information Technology Division of Swiss Re.

Maya joined Swiss Re from The Boston Consulting Group where she spent 3 years as a strategy consultant serving a variety of industries. She holds a PhD in Environmental Science from the ETH Zurich.

Maya is elected member of the World Economic Forum Future Council for Cybersecurity and supports a number of national and international initiatives around the digital economy and cyber risks. She has published several articles on the topic.

Maya is an independent member of the Board of Directors of the Swiss retail bank Valiant, serves in the Cybersecurity commission of ICTswitzerland and as partner for Governance of Digital Risks at the International Center for Corporate Governance.

Elcin Biren is an Industrial Engineer specialized in Cyber Security. She has been working in Cyber since 2006 and enjoyed different roles such as IT Lead Auditor, Ethical Hacker, Cyber Operations, Data Leakage Prevention, Security Engineer, Defense Attack Capability Framework, Security Awareness, Consultant or Presales. Her passion is to save the world through cyber security and has been working at UBS in Zurich undertaking different Cyber Security roles for over five years. Currently leading Defense Attack, Capability Framework and Technical Risk Assessor.

Additional to her daily role she speaks at conferences to inspire and retain more women in Cyber. She is currently the Chairwoman of Women Working Groups at the Swiss Cyber Forum and SheLeadsTech Ambassador at ISACA, along with being the UBS Women in Technology External Stream Lead for the Swiss Region, and has volunteered in Global Cyber Communities where she focuses on the diversity topic to inspire young girls to enroll into this industry. 

Last but not least she will be teaching Cyber Security as an adjunct faculty at International University in Geneva from 2021.

She also loves oceans, surfing and researching.

Ruth is the public affairs and training manager in the Digitalisation and Cybersecurity Section within the General Secretariat of the Swiss Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport. It is her job to keep an overview on all issues related to cyber security and cyber defence in the department and the wide array of activities and requirements within the ministry and to supply information and advice to our Minister Viola Amherd. In her career, she has the habit of landing positions at the interface of communication and politics, including in her time at the U.S. Embassy and the British Embassy in Berne.  She is a Swiss-British national and studied at the University of London and the University of Berne where she earned an M.A. in English and German linguistics. She holds a teacher’s degree for English and German and a Certificate of Advanced Studies in political communication.

After being an evaluation solution developer in a laboratory environment, Ueli Amsler was then for seven years responsible for the IT of an SME producing solutions for hospital information systems. Later on, Ueli Amsler worked for eight years at Swisscom in the field of major incident management. He was then able to combine his passion for IT and the military by setting up the Operations and Planning division at the Armed Forces Command Support Organisation.

For the past two years, he has been in charge of the Cyber Fusion Center, which, in addition to the Security Operations Center and the military CERT, consists of a team to support surveillance solutions and a team for situational awareness.

Furthermore, Ueli Amsler has recently taken on the role of CISO ad interim in the Armed Forces Command Support Organisation.