stefan schürpf - Rivas
My credo is: «... success in a multi-cultural team ...»
... although I spent most of my youth in rural Canton Schwyz, my father's international jobs woke my interest in foreign cultures at an early age. And because my parents were assigned abroad at the time, my first schooling was in New York.
Immediately after graduating from high school, I spent 3 months in Málaga, where I lived with a local family and learned Spanish in a language school: my long-term goal was to work in Latin America. The opportunity came up much earlier than planned, I had a six-month project assignment in Ecuador for Toni Yoghurt, even before my academic graduation. This time was formative for me and I subsequently returned for various trips to Latin America where I also met my future wife:
We are married for over 30 years and our adult daughter combines our two cultures beautifully.
The experience in dealing with different cultures was an advantage for the first jobs after my studies as food science and technology engineer. I started as Production Assistant and Product Manager at Unilever in Bern, where I was responsible for product development under the ice cream brands Eldorado, Carte d’Or and Ranieri: lusso.ch
Afterwards I became member of Unilever’s European Food Service Center in Zug where, as part of an interdisciplinary team (Food Solutions), I was able to develop new concepts for gastro-multis such as Pizza Hut or Compass Group. That’s how I got to know the dynamics of food service and B2B markets, but I also learned how important teams are for the successful implementation of business goals: Everyone should develop his skills and talents in a team; but one must also find a balance between individual striving for success and team integration. That’s why I expect the same from my employees and colleagues as I stand for vis-à-vis my superiors: a high degree of initiative, commitment and responsibility. So, I see myself more as a team coach than as an authoritarian leader.
Before doing a post-grad in business administration in 2002, I worked for over 5 years in sales at MARS, Inc. in Switzerland. As a key account manager, today I am still familiar with the networks in the Swiss consumer goods and retail landscape and have learned to think from the customer's perspective; ... also that in the highly competitive consumer goods market it is often wiser to form business alliances in order to generate customer benefits.
The post-grad helped me to find out where I stood. On the other hand, I was able to round off my engineering knowledge, which I had enriched with practical work experience during the previous 10 years, with a formal EMBA.
Consequently, I continued my career at the family owned and run HUG AG. In this self-producing enterprise of the Swiss bakery industry, I took the chance to apply and implement the theories of corporate management on the floor of SME practice as Head of Marketing, Sales & Export and member of the executive board. There I was also able to translate many professional elements and relationships from my previous group experience into the area of a mid-sized enterprise.
Through one of the business alliances mentioned above, in 2004 I encountered Fromagerie BEL. Through cross-promotions and tasting events under the complementary brands Cantadou (for Bel) and DarVida (for Hug), we were able to demonstrate to COOP, the largest Swiss retailer, what added value means from a consumer perspective, by applying a new view on category management.
The project with Fromagerie BEL Suisse SA inspired me to “change fronts”: As of 2006 as managing director and CEO, I headed this agile and motivated team and represented the brands Babybel, Kiri, La Vache qui rit, Leerdammer, Boursin and Cantadou of the French Groupe-Bel.com in Switzerland. Together, in 10 years, we managed to increase the market share for our French cheeses by 20% and tripled the operating earnings for our local subsidiary; and that in the largest cheese producing country (per capita) in the world.
In parallel to my professional career, until 2003 I was a Reserve Officer in the Swiss Air Force. Over two decades I have held various military ranks and was able to perform various functions in military aviation. The socio-political changes after the fall of the Berlin Wall made the balancing-act between military, work and family an additional challenge... But I would not have wanted to miss that. To me, the unconditional “esprit de corps” belongs to the strongest memories back to that time.
With the years of experience, I gained routine, which gave me the capacity in 2012 to do another post-grad in Corporate Governance at the University of St. Gallen (HSG).
This was both a platform and a springboard for the election to the Board of non-executive directors of BEL, which I have been a member of since 2014. A fascinating role, which I further expanded outside of the cheese industry as an independent advisory board director, in order to pass on my experiences to younger entrepreneurs.
Since I had the chance to become CEO of a prestigious FMCG brand company 15 years after graduation, I wanted to realize the dream of founding my own company at the age of 50: As of 2015, through my platform sharingvisions.ch, I started working as a Strategic Advisor, Interim Manager and Instructor. Acting as sparring partner for our clients, I developed the strategic vision of their businesses. In this role I saw myself not only as the guardian of statutory compliance, but much more as a strategic designer with the motivation to initiate and support business optimizations and change processes. My network and self-made operational experiences helped me to do so. Along that - in 2019 - I became an Associate Partner of Top50Interim.com and was active in recruiting and selection of Interim Managers during 5 years.
In addition, I became an adult trainer: Until 2018 I was heading - on behalf of the sbfi.admin.ch - the professional exams for the federal diploma of marketing directors. Besides that, until present day, I still work as freelance Flight Instructor for the SWISS Flying Club, training “pedestrians” in basic flying skills to obtain their private pilot’s license: SWISSflyingclub.ch
At the age of 60, I started handing over my major industrial/commercial activities. But I remain engaged as advisory board member in several start-ups, sharing knowhow and experiences with younger entrepreneurs. The same I continue doing in Aviation, where I am coaching younger Pilots on their way to the Airline Cockpit; or as Test Pilot for amateur aircraft builders of EAS: experimental.ch. And last but not least, as a still active Glider-Pilot, I look for the challenge between the elements of ever-changing weather and thermal lifts.
But what were the ingredients for our success ? FAMILY ! My parents have given me a strong sense of basic trust: My severe but inspiring father has taught me to "stand up again, when I had fallen on my knees“ and that “the glass is always half-full”. My caring and very empathic mother has taught me how to make friends and how to establish human networks. My challenging but exciting brother has always allowed me have a view on the artistic and cultural side of our society. But most important my very comprehensive, supportive and caring spouse; she helped me to become a good parent and to her I owe the greatest recognition for our success.
LinkedIN: www.linkedin.com/in/stefan-stese-schürpf-1b020731/
FaceBook: www.facebook.com/stefan.schurpf/
Aktualisiert: 2024
