Short biographies

The biographical profiles contain information on senior officials at the Swiss National Bank (SNB) – their education, professional careers, memberships in associations, non-parliamentary commissions, additional offices held etc., and on their political posts and Board memberships.

Presidents of the Swiss National Bank Council from 1906 onwards

Note on the English translation: For official titles and designations see the German and French versions. The English translations provided here are for guidance only.

© Photos

Swiss National Bank: Johann Daniel Hirter, Alfred Sarasin, Gustav Schaller, Brenno Galli, Edmund Wyss, François Schaller, Barbara Janom Steiner

Images collection, Swiss National Library/NB: Paul Usteri, Gottlieb Bachmann, Peter Gerber, Jakob Schönenberger

KEYSTONE/archives: Eduard Belser

RDB/RDB: Alfred Müller

Press service, République et Canton de Neuchâtel: Jean Studer

Hans Ulrich Raggenbass: Hans Ulrich Raggenbass

Members of the Governing Board from 1907 onwards

Note on the English translation: For official titles and designations see the German and French versions. The English translations provided here are for guidance only.

Department I: Thomas Jordan
Thomas J. Jordan
Department II: Martin Schlegel
Martin Schlegel
Department III: Andréa M. Maechler
Andréa M. Maechler

© Photos

Swiss National Bank: August Burckhardt, Rodolphe de Haller, Heinrich Kundert, Adolf Jöhr, Gottlieb Bachmann, Paul Rossy, Fritz Schnorf, Walter Schwegler, Riccardo Motta, Alexandre Hay, Edwin Stopper, Fritz Leutwiler, Leo Schürmann, Pierre Languetin, Markus Lusser, Hans Meyer, Jean Zwahlen, Bruno Gehrig, Niklaus Blattner, Jean-Pierre Roth, Philipp M. Hildebrand, Thomas J. Jordan, Jean-Pierre Danthine, Fritz Zurbrügg, Andréa M. Maechler, Martin Schlegel

Images collection, Swiss National Library/NB: Charles Schnyder von Wartensee, Paul Keller

KEYSTONE/Photopress archives: Ernst Weber, Alfred Hirs, Max Iklé

Historical sources for the biographical profiles

  • Information on offices held at the SNB is derived from the SNB archives.
  • Information on education, professional careers, memberships in associations, additional offices held etc. is largely based on obituaries in newspapers and entries in encyclopaedias.
  • Details on memberships in permanent commissions of the National Council and the Council of States have been derived from a publication entitled "Résumé des délibérations de l’assemblée fédérale" in French and "Übersicht über die Verhandlungen der Bundesversammlung" in German.
  • The sources for the non-parliamentary commissions were, for the period to 1984, the annual federal gazette ("l’annuaire federal"/"eidgenössische Staatskalender"), and for the years thereafter, a brochure entitled "Commissions extra-parlementaires, autorités et représentants de la Confédération" in French and "Ausserparlamentarische Kommissionen, Behörden und Vertretungen des Bundes" in German, which was published by the Federal Chancellery in 1985, 1987, 1990, 1993 and 1997. There are a number of gaps in the information provided by these publications, and some (but unfortunately not all) of them have been filled with the generous support of the Swiss federal archives. Neither the annual gazette nor the Federal Chancellery publication lists all of the non-parliamentary commissions. This is a gap that we were unable to fill in our biographical profiles.
  • For Board memberships, the annual reports of individual companies held by the Swiss economic archives ("Wirtschaftsarchiv") in Basel were consulted.
  • In addition, we received valuable information from many archives and historians, and would like to take this opportunity of extending our sincere thanks to them.

The SNB’s supervisory and executive bodies

Function, composition, members: Find out about the Bank Council and the Governing Board here.

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The monetary policy strategy

The SNB conducts Switzerland’s monetary policy as an independent central bank. Find relevant information here.

An information centre for everyone

At the SNB Forum in Zurich, visitors can find valuable information about the Swiss National Bank.

The SNB’s events – live and recorded

Watch speeches, colloquia, news conferences and other events live. Recordings are available at the archives.

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