Swiss Post is bringing in an outside business executive as its new CEO following a year of top managerial changes, worsening financial performance and the political impact of the Postbus accounting scandal.
Last Thursday (November 20) the group’s Board of Directors appointed Roberto Cirillo as the new CEO with effect from April 2019. He will take over from Ulrich Hurni, Head of PostMail, who took over the role on an interim basis in June 2018 following the resignation of CEO Susanne Ruoff in the aftermath of the Postbus affair.
Cirillo, born in 1971, is currently a Member of the Board of Directors of Croda International Plc, a British speciality chemicals manufacturer. He previously spent four years as CEO of the Optegra hospital group and previously eight years as a Member of Executive Management at Sodexo SA, including as CEO of its operations in France. He began his career in Zurich at McKinsey & Company.
“Roberto Cirillo possesses many years of management experience at various large and medium-sized companies which he has led through transformation processes, while always maintaining ties with Switzerland,” said Urs Schwaller, the Chairman of the Board of Directors. “I therefore firmly believe that he will successfully lead Swiss Post into the future.”
The Zurich-born executive, who grew up in the Italian-speaking Swiss region of Ticino, said: “As a native of Ticino, I have had the opportunity to obtain international management experience. I am now really looking forward to developing and shaping – together with the staff – a piece of Switzerland’s identity.”
