The Board of Directors of Schaffner Holding AG will propose at the Annual General Meeting on January 12, 2012 the election of Suzanne Thoma, 1962, Swiss, Ph.D., as an additional member of the Board of Directors. Following her election to the Schaffner Board of Directors, she will succeed Robert F. Spoerry, who stepped down following his appointment as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sonova Holding AG at the end of March 2011.
Since 2010 Suzanne Thoma has been a member of the Executive Board of BKW FMB Energie AG and Head of the Networks Division, which is developing, building and operating Switzerland's biggest power distribution grid. She is Chairwoman of the Board of the BKW subsidiaries Arnold AG and BKW ISP AG and a member of the Board of Directors of the BKW holdings AEK Energie AG and Youtility AG. Suzanne Thoma is also a member of the Executive Committee of the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences and Chairwoman of Smart Grid Switzerland, an association founded by eleven major Swiss electricity companies.
Before joining BKW FMB Energie AG, Suzanne Thoma headed the international automotive supply business of WICOR Group in Rapperswil-Jona between 2007 and 2009. From 2002 to 2007 she served as CEO of Rolic Technologies AG, a start-up company specializing in high-tech materials and technology licenses and operating mainly in the Asian electronics market. Prior to that, Suzanne Thomas spent twelve years in management functions at Ciba Spezialitätenchemie AG (today BASF AG), both in Switzerland and abroad. She has a degree in chemical engineering (Dipl. chem.-Ing ETH) and a Ph.D. (Dr. sc. tech.) from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich.
Luterbach, November 7, 2011
