Dr. Carole Ackermann joins the EHL Group - EHL Insights | Education

As of 22 June 2020, Dr. Carole Ackermann will join the Board of Directors of EHL Holding SA as President and the EHL Board of Governors as "President-Elect". She succeeds Mr. André Witschi who will leave office after having served a maximum of three terms of office as defined by the Articles of Association.   

Dr. Carole Ackermann, takes over as President of the world's leading hospitality education group. She will bring her great expertise and enthusiasm for innovation to EHL at a pivotal time when major changes are taking place in the world. She holds a PhD in business management and has more than twenty years of management experience on the executive board  of SMEs and large corporations. Currently, CEO of the private investment companyDiamondscull AG, she invests in young companies in the ICT and technology sectors. Dr. Ackermann is a member of the Board of Directors of Allianz Switzerland, BKW, BNP Paribas Switzerland and BVZ Holding. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Bern-based innovation agency be-advanced and is on the faculty of the University of St. Gallen.

This charismatic woman of proven success will succeed Mr. André Witschi, who has been on the Board since 1999. The entire EHL Group community warmly thanks Mr. Witschi, whose vision and quest for excellence have taken EHL far beyond the Swiss borders. The Lausanne-based school has become an international education group, now the undisputed leader in hospitality management, offering courses from apprenticeships to Master's degrees. Under his presidency, in 2019 and 2020, EHL was ranked No. 1 in the QS World University Rankings in the "Hospitality and Leisure Management" category, obtained and confirmed a Michelin star, prepared the opening of its first campus abroad, in Singapore, and integrated the Swiss School of Tourism and Hospitality into the EHL Group, thus also enabling ambitious apprentices to access the much sought-after EHL Bachelor's degree. This lover of the Vaud region also worked on the development of the new Lausanne Campus, which will be inaugurated in 2021.

"I'm thankful that I was able to live such an adventure. I leave the school, where I have been committed all these years to the future of the students and of the hospitality industry, with a certain nostalgia. I am proud of all these accomplishments in collaboration with Michel Rochat and his team. I welcome Carole Ackermann, wish her great success and I hope she will take as much pleasure in her duties as I did", said the outgoing President, André Witschi.

Dr. Carole Ackermann would like to thank her future colleagues on the Board of Governors as well as HotellerieSuisse for their trust.

"Together with the members of the Board and the Executive Committee, I look forward to accompanying EHL into the future. Digitalization is changing the expectations placed on education, all the more so at EHL, being a global leader in hospitality and leisure management education with strong social and environmental values. In this dynamic environment, I am convinced that the EHL Group, with its spirit of innovation and pragmatism, will remain a symbol of the Swiss tradition of excellence", said Dr. Ackermann.

Image credit: Ryncki