International Leadership Advisors
Gustavo Raitzin
Gustavo Raitzin is a Harvard ALI Fellow. He joined Bank Julius Baer in 2005 as Head Latin America, Spain & Portugal. In 2007, he became a member of the Executive Board of Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd. His last position before retiring was Head Latin America & Israel, a function he took over in January 2013. He began his career in international banking in 1981 with Citibank N.A. in Buenos Aires, New York and Zurich. In 1990, He then joined Chase Manhattan Private Bank in Geneva as Director Latin America. From 1995 until 1998, he assumed responsibility for the Brazilian market served as Chief Operating Officer for Latin America and Asia-Pacific at Union Bancaire Privée in Geneva. Until 2005, Gustavo Raitzin held several key management positions with ABN Amro, including Head of Private Clients Latin America, Global Head of Products & Sales and Head of Private Banking Switzerland. Gustavo Raitzin graduated in law from Belgrano University, Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1989. He completed senior management programs at Insead, France, and IMD, Switzerland.
Donald Waterreus
Donald Waterreus is presently advising BlackRock’s Aladdin division in Europe. His previous positions include COO of Pictet Wealth Management in Geneva and Global Head of Investment Advisory at UBS Wealth Management. In his early career he held various treasury and investment related management functions at ABN AMRO bank in Amsterdam and Zürich. Donald attended a senior management program at INSEAD, the FinTech program of Harvard and the governance for boards course at IMD. He is serving on various advisory and supervisory boards of start-ups in Switzerland. Donald is a knowledgeable motorsports enthusiast and an AUDI Ambassador for Switzerland, focusing on high performance and electric cars.
Walter Kiceleff
Walter Kiceleff is Chief Executive Officer at Farmers New World Life Insurance Company, responsible for the management of the company, a Zurich Insurance entity. Walter joined Zurich Insurance in 2009 as Head of Business Development for its Private Banking Solutions pillar, following a long career in asset management, securities trading and sales, product development and economics. Before joining Zurich Insurance, Walter was at HSBC where he was a Managing Director at their Private Banking unit in Geneva. Prior to this, he was the Head of Marketing, Products & Sales at ABN AMRO, and a member of their Executive Committee in Switzerland. Over the last two decades he has held senior positions with local, regional and global responsibilities in wealth management, banking and insurance institutions in Argentina, Spain, Australia and Switzerland. Walter holds a B.Sc. in Economics from the University of Buenos Aires, a post-graduate degree in Finance from San Andres University and has followed executive management programs at IMD. A dual Argentine and Swiss citizen living in Zurich, Walter dedicates most of his spare time to improving his jazz piano skills and honing his far-from-perfect golf swing.
Louis Foreman
Louis Foreman is founder and Chief Executive of Enventys, an integrated product design and engineering firm. Over the past three decades, Louis has created 10 successful start-ups and has been directly responsible for the creation of over 20 others. A prolific inventor, he is the inventor of 10 registered US Patents, and his firm is responsible for the development and filing of hundreds more. Louis is an Assistant Professor of the Practice in the Entrepreneurship Program at Wake Forest University and has taught at The McColl School of Business and at Johnson & Wales University. He is a frequent lecturer and radio / TV guest on the topics of small business creation and innovation. Louis was the creator of the Emmy® Award winning PBS TV show, Everyday Edisons, which won 2 Emmys in 4 seasons and appeared nationally on PBS. Louis serves on the National Small Business Development Centers Advisory Board and has also advised U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, in addition to contributing to the overhaul of the US Patent System through bipartisan legislation during President Obama’s administration. In 2015, Louis was awarded the IP Champion Award by the US Chamber of Commerce. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the James Dyson Foundation and is active in several other prestigious boards.
Daniela Però
Based in Zurich, Daniela Però is a Swiss-Italian Psychologist and the Founding Partner of the Psychological Business Consultancy Alsia & Partners AG. For the past 12 years, she has been accompanying corporate and private clients in their cultural and personal transformation via international projects, assessments, or executive coachings in four languages. She and her kindred partners are driven to contribute to turning the world of business into a place of growth and genuine encounter. As a wisdom seeker, she is committed to a lifelong learning herself, and continues to build on her Psychology Degree (University of Zurich) and general management education (HSG, University of St. Gallen) with continuous trainings. Drawing a lot of inspiration and energy from co-creating together, she actively involves herself in volunteering, such as the Swiss Study Foundation and the Rhetoric Forum, University of Zurich.
George Elfond
George Elfond is a Ukraine-born American entrepreneur. He is the Co-Founder and CEO of Rallyware, a leading global performance enablement digital platform for companies with distributed workforces. Rallyware is used by enterprises in 57 countries and is supported by a global team in 12 different countries, including a large team in Ukraine. George is also a Partner at Agile Fuel, a consulting company that helps technology companies throughout the world build their engineering teams in Ukraine and Eastern Europe. He is also a Member of the Forbes Technology Council, an invitation-only organization comprised of technology executives offering firsthand insights on tech & business. Prior to Rallyware, George worked as a strategy consultant at L.E.K. Consulting advising various companies on the implementation of their strategic initiatives. He also was the founder of the EMPEC (Emerging Markets Private Equity Conference), the premier investment forum and policy advisory for venture capital initiatives in Eastern Europe in the 2000s. George's early education was in engineering when he received BS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from UC Berkeley. He also received his Masters of Business Administration from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and Masters of Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School.
Kenneth Kahn
As the President and Founder of Black Label Advisory, Kenny challenges organizations to think differently. Kenny Kahn is the Co-Founder of Taptivate and the CEO at Fat Boy Hair. He is also the Co-Founder of One Beauty Ventures and former CEO of Versatile Systems. Kenny is an entrepreneurial pioneer with front line experience building businesses and re-energizing companies. Previously, Kenny served as Chief Strategic Officer for Iverify, an innovative security services company named one of Inc. Magazine’s 500 Fastest Growing privately-held companies in the United States. In 1997, Kenny was selected by Muzak’s Chairman and CEO to lead the revitalization of the company’s embattled brand. As Executive Vice President of Sales, Product & Marketing, Kenny grew the company from $80MM in revenue to $250MM in just four years and became the subject of a Harvard Business School case study entitled, “Kenny Kahn at Muzak”. Kenny is past Founder and Chairman of the Muzak Heart and Soul Foundation and has served on the Board of Directors of the Sandra and Leon Levine Jewish Community Center.
Alice Sachova
Alice Sachova-Kleisli is an international Consultant and Business Leader with over 25 years of experience, incl. 14 years in CEO positions. She is a Partner at Collective63 AG, a swiss based consultancy specialized in consumer / customer centric transformation and growth. Previously, she was a Partner at Vendbridge AG, a Swiss based consultancy specialized in customer insights, innovation and growth. In 1989 she started with Procter & Gamble in Brand Management, working in Germany, Czech Republic and Switzerland. In 1994 she moved on to The Boston Consulting Group, working in Zurich and London. After 4 years, she became CEO position at Tela AG, a Swiss hygiene paper manufacturer. In 2002 she acquired the advertising agency FAVO in Basel, which she sold 2008 to Scholz & Friends, Germany. During this period she joined a Management-Buy-In with the DE SEDE GROUP, a high end furniture producer, and became CEO of the group. Alice is in various company boards, president of SMG (Schweizer Management Gesellschaft) and executive board member of GfM (Gesellschaft für Marketing).
Alejandro Rossi
Alejandro Rossi has 30 years experience of investment banking, corporate business and as an entrepreneur. He is a Founding Member of R2B Partners in Buenos Aires, Argentina. After having started his career in E. I. Du Pont de Nemours in Argentina, he specialized in M&A while working for over 10 years at J.P. Morgan & Co. in Buenos Aires, New York and Milano. He then returned to New York to join Goldman, Sachs & Co. to head the investment banking effort for Latin American countries. Alex relocated to Argentina to head ING Barings corporate/investment banking and later co-founded Keytech LD, a telecommunications operator, which he sold to AT&T Corp. He remained as President and CEO of AT&T Argentina and his significant success made him President and CEO of AT&T Brazil as well, until he left the company when AT&T decided to sell its Latin American business shortly after. He spends his time as an international consultant between Latin America, the U.S. and Europe, Italy where he advises organizations focused on international growth.
Hemanth Rao, MD
Dr. Rao was born in Madras (Chennai), India and received his medical degree from Madras University. He completed his post-graduate medicine from the Mt Sinai School of Medicine in NY, his Neurology/Epilepsy/Sleep training from LIJMC (Albert Einstein College of Medicine in NY) and his NeuroMuscular fellowship from Washington University in St Louis. Dr. Rao is board certified in Neurology and subspecialty board certified in ElectroDiagnostic medicine. He became President and CEO of United Sleep Medicine in 2004 and is also president of The Neurological Institute and Cognos Healthcare. Dr. Rao has extensive business experience working with corporations in various stages of development.