Advisory Board
Prof. DI MAAS Peter Droege, Advisor
Prof. Droege’s curriculum includes teaching at the MIT Boston, the University of Sydney, the University of Newcastle and currently at the Hochschule Liechtenstein. He consults Beijing on city planning and holds the Chair of the World Council for Renewable Energy. Prof. Droege is the winner of various prestigious prizes, among them the European Solar Prize in Education. He also is an Expert Commissioner for Cities and Climate Change for the World Future Council. Prof. Droege advises SUSI on market and technology development, on sustainability issues and global trends, as well as on political and international developments.
Andrin Bachmann, Advisor
Andrin Bachmann is an entrepreneur and investor in the telecom, media, Internet and cleantech sectors. He is currently a Partner at Piton Capital, a venture capital firm. Previously, he was a Partner at M/C Venture Partners, one of the leading private equity investors in the United States. Earlier in his career, he was a co-founder of Glocalnet, which became Sweden’s 3rd largest consumer telecom service provider. He holds an MSc degree in Computer Science from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. Andrin Bachmann advises SUSI in the field of investments and transactions.
Beat Luethi, Advisor
Beat Lüthi is CFO at the Albers Group and in charge of finances and investments. As Chairman of the investment committee he is also responsible for investments of the group’s pension fund. Previously, he was Head of Research & Analysis, Global Equities Portfolio at the SwissRe insurance group. In this position, he was leading the implementation of environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria in the SwissRe investment process. Before, he served as Managing Director at SwissRe Capital Partners (Zurich), a private equity and investments subsidiary of SwissRe. In this position he was responsible for structured risk solutions and alternative risk transfer products. He advises SUSI in the structuring of financial products and risk management.
Johan Trip, Member Investment Committee and Advisory Board
Johan Trip has more than 10 years experience in the solar energy business. In the Netherlands, he has founded a leading solar installation and consulting company. He has been involved in developing projects in Germany, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands. He was managing partner of Solarplaza.com, the world‘s largest solar energy dedicated platform for knowledge, conferences and information for the solar industry and graduated from the University of Rotterdam. Johan Trip advises SUSI on the project and market selection (focus solar) and is a member of the Investment Committee of the SUSI Sustainable Euro Fund.
Peter Schwer, Member Investment Committee and Advisory Board
Peter Schwer holds a Master Degree in Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) and is founder and owner of New Energy Scout Ltd, an engineering and consulting firm specialized in wind, solar and biomass energy. He has worked for more than 10 years in the renewable energy industry (e.g. international project leader for wind farms, Head Foreign Markets for German developer, etc.) and was involved in the development of more than 500 MW in wind power. Peter Schwer supports SUSI in both market and project due diligence (focus wind) and is a member of the SUSI Sustainable Euro Fund’s investment committee.
Gianni Operto, Advisor
Gianni Operto is an accomplished scholar, businessmen, and investor with nearly 30 years experience in the energy industry. Gianni Operto started his career at ABB Power Generation where he quickly became the group’s Vice President. He then served as CEO of the Zürich Municipal Electric Utility (EWZ), where he successfully initiated a solar program that earned him the award of both the European and Swiss Solar Prize in 1997. Following this, he co-founded and managed Nextech Venture. He became a Partner at Emerald Technology Ventures in 2001. Since 2008, he is an Investment Manager at Good Energies. Gianni Operto is a member of the Energy Commission of the Swiss Academy of Technical Sciences as well as Chairman, Board Member and Director of several clean tech companies. At SUSI, he advises on energy efficiency technology and power saving management.
Peter Walburg, Advisor
Peter Walburg has more than 24 years experience in the fund management industry. Since 2003 he is working as Head of Global Fixed Income Research for DWS. During his career he worked as Head Credit Research, Fund-Manager, and Equity Analyst at companies such as Robert Fleming, Nomura and Credit Suisse. Further-on, he is Co-Founder of GreenVesting GmbH & Co KG, a German company investing in and operating solar parks in Germany and Europe. Peter Walburg advises SUSI in matters of fund administration and management as well as for solar investments.
Steven Fawkes, Advisor
Steven Fawkes has over 20 years of experience in energy management and renewable energy. He has developed energy management programs for blue chip organizations and advised the UK and Romanian governments on energy efficiency policy. He also co-founded two energy services companies, one of which is now part of the RWE npower group and has published extensively on energy matters. He was head of Energy Solutions at RWE npower, responsible for managing the existing business and developing new energy services incorporating energy supply, energy efficiency and distributed generation. Currently, he is a Partner at Matrix Group. He studied Science of Resources at the University of Birmingham and completed one of the first PhDs in energy management at the University of Stirling. He is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Energy Institute and has also completed an Advanced Diploma in Sustainable Management at the University of Cambridge. At SUSI, he advises on energy efficiency, energy management and energy saving contracts.
