| Media release
The Board of Directors has appointed Doris Barnert as new Head of the Business Unit Corporate Services / CFO and as a member of the Executive Board of Swissgrid. She currently works as Director of Finances for Solothurner Spitäler AG and is due to join Swissgrid on 1 April, 2017.
The Head of the Business Unit Corporate Services and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is responsible for all financial matters in the company as well as other central areas such as purchasing, facility management and risk management. Doris Barnert (47) has a degree in architecture from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich with a Master's degree in Corporate Finance and an Executive MBA from the University of St.Gallen (HSG). She grew up bilingual (German and French), has many years of experience in management as a CFO and brings a great deal of knowledge in the fields of complex infrastructure, project and procurement transactions. After her first positions in the architecture sector, she joined the infrastructure division of SBB (Swiss Federal Railways) in 2001, where she held various management and project leadership positions. In 2006, she was appointed Head of Finances for the western Swiss route in the infrastructure division and was responsible for the financial steering and management of all business units for the route in Romandie. In December 2008, she joined Solothurner Spitäler AG as director of Finances (CFO) and member of the Executive Board. In this position, she built up, expanded and made a significant impact on the finance department, constantly pushing for further development.
CEO Yves Zumwald is glad to have this new addition, explaining: «In Doris Barnert, Swissgrid is gaining a distinguished and effective manager with strong leadership abilities to manage the Business Unit Corporate Services that is so central to our company. She will be able to introduce her experience in dealing with federal offices, cantonal authorities, unions and other stakeholders gainfully with us.» Doris Barnert joins Swissgrid on 1 April 2017, replacing Luca Baroni who will be leaving the company at the end of 2016, as has already been announced.