Publica, Switzerland’s largest pension fund, has appointed Doris Bianchi as its new director, effective 1 November. She succeeds Dieter Stohler, who will leave the scheme on 30 September.

Bianchi, who holds a doctorate in law, is currently personal adviser to Alain Berset, head of the Federal Department of Home Affairs (FDHA). The department oversees mainly OASI (state pension) and health services matters.

In her current role, Bianchi supports the head of the FDHA especially on issues relating to health policy and statistics.

Prior to joining the Home Affairs Department, Bianchi was the executive secretary of the Swiss Trade Union Federation (SGB), where she was responsible for social security issues since 2011.

She is an expert in the Swiss second pillar pension system, the occupational pensions, or zweite Säule. She chaired the board of the replacement occupational pension scheme Stiftung Auffangeinrichtung BVG, or Fondation Institution Suppletive LPP , and the security fund.

The Kassenkommission, the highest institution at Publica with supervisory authority over the management team, is convinced that Bianchi is the right pick for the success of the pension fund, it said in a statement.

Publica is an independent pension institution operating under public-law fund managing the assets of 20 Swiss public pension schemes – 13 of which are open and seven closed – which comes close to CHF41bn (€38bn) as of December 31, 2019. I

In a previous interview with IPE, the head of asset management at Publica, Stefan Beiner, said the fund was working on three timeframes depicting different scenarios to navigate the COVID-19 crisis.

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