| Media release
Following the successful conclusion of the transfer of the extra-high-voltage grids and the strategic and organisational realignment of the company, Pierre-Alain Graf, CEO of Swissgrid, has decided to leave the company and to take a new direction in his professional life. 52-year-old Graf has been with Swissgrid since 2008 and was appointed Chief Executive Officer in February 2009. Yves Zumwald will take over as interim CEO with immediate effect.
Adrian Bult, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Swissgrid, praises the merits of Pierre-Alain Graf: «He has very successfully realigned the company, in terms of both strategy and organisation, and guided it into the future. Under his leadership Swissgrid has taken over the extra-high-voltage grids from their former owners and achieved cost savings in the operation of the transmission grid amounting to several hundred million Swiss francs. We regret his decision but we understand that after the intense activity of recent years he is looking for a new professional challenge».
The process to find a new CEO is underway. Until the matter of succession has been settled, the Board of Directors has appointed Yves Zumwald, Head of Grid Operations and member of the Executive Board, as interim CEO of Swissgrid with immediate effect.
«I would like to thank Pierre-Alain Graf in the name of the Board of Directors and the employees for his tremendous commitment and outstanding work in the last seven years. Many important milestones have been achieved and the foundations have been laid for the successful further development of the company – Swissgrid is well positioned to drive forward the modernisation of the transmission grid and to mould the future of energy in Switzerland», says Adrian Bult.