Switzerland is known for being a key financial hub and center for innovation. It is also among the richest countries in the world, and one of the most beautiful. Lesser known is that Switzerland is one of the few places where direct democracy is practiced, with citizens able to directly propose changes to the constitution or ask for legal referendums. Switzerland also ranks as the 7th largest foreign direct investor in the United States. Swiss businesses create about half a million jobs in the U.S., including an increasing number of jobs in Arizona.
The Phoenix Committee on Foreign Relations and the Arizona House of Representatives Office of International Affairs invite you to join us on November 30th for an evening with Swiss Ambassador to the U.S., Ambassador Jacques Pitteloud as he shares his insights on the U.S. - Switzerland bilateral relationship and the important role that the two countries share in fostering free market economies, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
Schedule
Wednesday, November 30, 2022
5:30 pm Registration & Reception
6:00 pm Dinner Program
Venue
In-person
The Wrigley Mansion
2501 E Telawa Trail, Phoenix
Speakers
Ambassador Jacques Pitteloud
Embassy of Switzerland in Washington, D.C.
Ambassador Pitteloud was born on November 12, 1962, in Zurich, Switzerland. He joined the Swiss Foreign Service in 1987, first serving as an advisor to the foreign minister. From 1988 to 1989, he was a commercial attaché at the Swiss Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
From 1990 to 1995, he worked in the Swiss Strategic Intelligence Service. Following this, he served as a personal advisor (on general staff matters and intelligence) to two successive defense ministers until 1999. From 1999 to 2000, he led a study group tasked with redeveloping the Swiss Armed Forces’ structures.
After witnessing the Rwandan genocide in 1994, Dr. Pitteloud created an organization dedicated to the task of hunting down its perpetrators and bringing them to justice; he succeeded in having several of them prosecuted by both international as well as domestic courts.
Dr. Pitteloud then served as the Swiss government’s first intelligence coordinator from 2000 to 2005: in this capacity, he was responsible for setting the intelligence requirements for the executive, overseeing the drafting of strategic assessments of security-related topics, and coordinating the work of the various intelligence services as well as that of the agencies in charge of law enforcement and intelligence analysis.
He was then appointed Director for Arms Control, Disarmament, Security Policy and Intelligence at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bern. During his tenure, Ambassador Pitteloud also headed the Swiss delegation to the Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.
From 2010 to 2015, Jacques Pitteloud was Ambassador of Switzerland to Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia and the Seychelles. He was instrumental in initiating and supporting a variety of civil society initiatives and conservation programs. Dr. Pitteloud was also involved in a series of mediations in the region.
Jacques Pitteloud took up the position of resources director of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) in September 2015. As resources director, he oversaw a budget of $3 billion and was responsible for the human resources of a 5,400 FTE organization. His tasks also involved managing IT and communications for the entire ministry and serving as head of the legal and translation services. The resources director is also responsible for managing all FDFA buildings both in Switzerland and abroad.
On September 16, 2019, Jacques Pitteloud was accredited as Ambassador of Switzerland to the United States of America.
Dr. Pitteloud earned a master’s degree and a doctorate from the Faculty of Law at the University of Zurich (Master’s 1986, Ph.D. 1987). Following his assignment in the Middle East, he graduated from the International Training Course in Security Policy (ITC) at Geneva University. He is a retired lieutenant colonel (General Staff) in the Swiss Armed Forces and was the commander of a mechanized infantry battalion. A passionate bird photographer, Jacques Pitteloud has published his pictures in several publications in Kenya and South Africa.
Ambassador Pitteloud is married with one daughter. He speaks French, English, German, Swiss German, Italian, and Spanish fluently and has a basic knowledge of a few other languages.
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Moderator
Dr. Amy Hillman
Rusty Lyon Chair of Strategy and Former Dean,
W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University
Dr. Amy Hillman is the Rusty Lyon Chair of Strategy and former Dean of the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. She received her PhD from Texas A&M University in Strategic Management and Business and Public Policy in 1996 and was inducted Outstanding Doctoral Alumni from her alma mater in 2008. She also received the Outstanding Educator Award from the Academy of Management in 2018.
Her areas of interest include corporate political strategies, boards of directors, and corporate strategy. Her research includes over 30 peer-reviewed articles published in leading journals such as Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal, Strategic Management Journal, Organization Science, and Administrative Science Quarterly. She was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Management in 2014, is a Founding Fellow of the International Corporate Governance Society and elected a Fellow of the Strategic Management Society in 2020.
She is former Editor of Academy of Management Review and a former Associate Editor of Academy of Management Journal. She also serves or has served on the Editorial Review Boards of the Academy of Management Journal, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Management, Academy of Management Learning & Education, Business Horizons, and Journal of International Business Studies. She has received six outstanding reviewer awards from these journals.
In addition to her service to the profession through editorial roles, Amy is currently Vice President Elect and Program Chair of the Academy of Management and has served the Business Policy & Strategy division of the Academy of Management as Co-Chair, Mid-Career Consortia, Co-Chair, New Faculty Consortia, and on the Executive and Research Committees. She has served the Social Issues in Management division of the same organization as Best Paper Committee Chair and served the Strategic Management Society on the Best Paper Committee.
Amy joined ASU in June 2001. An award-winning undergraduate, MBA and doctoral teacher, she previously taught at the Ivey Business School at The University of Western Ontario, the Broad Business School at Michigan State University and the Mays College of Business at Texas A&M University. In addition, she has spent several summers as a guest professor at the Institute for International Management at Johannes Kepler University in Linz, Austria, and taught during her doctoral program at her undergraduate alma mater Trinity University. She has also published seven teaching cases used in classrooms around the world.
Prior to joining academia, Amy was general manager of a retailing and manufacturing organization in the Southwest United States. Amy serves as Chair of Nomination/ Governance on the board of publicly traded CDK Global and family owned Basha’s, she previously served on the independent governance committee of Amerco, parent company of U-Haul International and has served or continues to serve on three non-profit boards.
