Seasoned Board Members for Swiss Startups

Energy Vault Holdings Inc. | two board members and Leonardo DiCaprio as an advisor
Mary Beth Mandanas and Thomas Ertel have joined the board of directors at Energy Vault, the cleantech startup developing sustainable energy storage solutions designed to transform the world’s approach to utility-scale energy storage for grid resiliency. Mandanas is currently Chief Executive Officer of Onyx Renewable Partners, L.P., a renewable and distributed energy solutions platform serving the commercial, industrial and municipal sectors in North America. She has also held multiple positions in the Power and Utility sectors at leading investment banks, Citigroup and Credit Suisse, for over 15 years. Ertel serves as the Chief Accounting Officer at Strada Education Network and holds more than 30 years of leadership experience advising audit committees and C-suite executives on global corporate governance and financial matters. Energy Vault has also welcomed actor and environmentalist, Leonardo DiCaprio, an existing investor in the company over the last two years, to its Strategic Advisory Board.

AC Bioscience | former Senior Executive of Roche
AC BioScience, a clinical-stage biotech company and a developer of immune-modulating and angiogenic cancer therapies, appointed Peter Hug to its Board of Directors. Hug is a 35-year veteran of F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. until his retirement in 2018. After having served as Executive Vice President of Roche Pharma Partnering with global responsibilities for licensing, strategic alliances and mergers and acquisitions, he became Head of Pharma Region Europe and afterwards Head of the Pharma Division of EEMEA Region (Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa). Hug brings extensive pharmaceutical experience, notably in the development and management of strategic opportunities, the formation of corporate alliances and bringing therapeutic products to market.

CARIFY | Scout24 founder becomes chairman
The Zurich-based start-up CARIFY welcomed Joachim Schoss, founder-CEO of the international Scout24 Group to its board as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Joachim Schoss founded the Scout Group in 1998, which became one of Europe's largest digital companies with portals such as ImmobilienScout24 and Autoscout24. A near-fatal traffic accident in 2002 led to his exit from Scout24. Since the sale, he has been active as a business angel and has been elected to the supervisory boards of the Holtzbrinck publishing group, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, ResearchGate, two banks, several foundations and academic institutes, among others. He will now support CARIFY to reach the next level.

Guuru | President of the board
Paco R. Hauser it the  new chairman of the board at Guuru, a startup offering a platform that recognizes the content of online customer inquiries and either answers them directly itself or forwards them to suitable knowledge sources or experienced product users. With Paco the startup has won an experienced industry expert to help drive its next strategic expansion. He brings along a strong background in information technology in the Financial Services and Software Industries, where he acted for over 20 years in executive roles.

Lumendo | welcomes two board members
Simone Übele-Näscher and Andreas Meldau have joined the board of directors Lumendo, the ETH and EPFL Spin-off developing root canal treatments are one of the most difficult treatments for dentists. Appointed to President of the board Andreas Meldau, is also a former President of the European Dental Group of Henry Schein, the world’s largest dental distributor. Meldau has extensive experience in the dental industry, including one of the top IPOs in dentistry (Coltène Holding, CLTN) where he acted as CEO. Übele-Näscher brings extensive Finance and M&A experience to the Lumendo board of directors. Together they will support Lumendo during its pre-and post-market-entry phases. With their long-standing expertise, they complement the Lumendo board perfectly.

Bright Peak | new Board member
Based in San Diego, USA and Basel, Bright Peak is a biotechnology company developing next-generation cytokine immunotherapies to treat cancer and autoimmune diseases. The startup gets the support of Leena Gandhi as a member of its board. Gandhi is a distinguished physician-scientist with a focus on cancer immunotherapy and early drug development and currently serves as the Director of the Clinical Center for Cancer Therapeutic Innovation at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) before moving to NYU Perlmutter Cancer Center to serve as the Director of Thoracic Medical Oncology.

(RAN)