the people
BOARD
Chairman & Founder
Richard de Tscharner
After a long career in the world of finance, Richard de Tscharner decided to rekindle a lifelong passion and devote himself to photography. He published his first book of photographs, “Tout un Monde” (Our World), in 2009. The collection was put together during a long journey around the world in 2008. Richard de Tscharner’s photographs have been displayed in exhibitions at the Galerie Art-St-Urban, near Lucerne, at Espace SIG, in Geneva, Boléro in Versoix and at the Galery Z’Art, in Zermatt. After his photographic work dedicated to the traces of time, he is currently working on a project on Swiss alpine passes, an undertaking he intends to finalize by the end of 2021, for an exhibition in 2023.
Vice-
Chairman
NEVIL VON TSCHARNER
Nevil von Tscharner holds a Master’s degree in Economics from HEC Lausanne awarded in 2002, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation granted in 2007 and over 15 years of experience in the financial industry. His career path includes experience as a financial analyst first in London and then as a structured products specialist at UBS in Zurich and Singapore. In 2008, he left the world of finance and embarked on a period of entrepreneurial initiative as a freelance photographer from 2009 to 2014, during which time he also set up a visual communication agency. In 2015, he returned to finance as head of alternative investment and asset management for an independent asset manager in Geneva. In 2022, Nevil joined PensExpert SA in Lausanne as a client manager for this Lucerne-based SME, which is active in the field of mandatory occupational pensions.
ATTRIBUTION COMMITTEE
GUY VERMEIL
Guy Vermeil is a lawyer practicing at the Bar in Geneva and New York. After studying law in Geneva, he undertook a Masters in Law in the U.S. He practiced at the Bar in Washington DC and New York for over two years. Since 1997, he has been a partner at the firm Lenz & Staehelin in Geneva, mainly active in the areas of commercial law and banking. Guy Vermeil also has a keen interest in photography, particularly in reporting.
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IGOR USTINOV
Igor Ustinov, a sculptor, was born in London in 1956. He simultaneously studied arts at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts in Paris, biology, and singing at the Paris Conservatory. For 31 years now, his sculptures have been on display at exhibitions in Europe, North America, and Russia, where, in 1991, he created the “Benois de la Danse”, an award which is presented every year in recognition of excellence in the world of dance. At the same time, Igor Ustinov is very active and committed: he sits on the board of numerous foundations, such as the Sir Peter Ustinov Stiftung in Düsseldorf, the Ustinov Institute in Vienna, the Ustinov Foundation in Geneva, and the Winds of Hope Foundation in Lausanne. In addition to this, for about twenty years, he has been active in the defense of copyright and intellectual property rights as Vice-President and administrator of the ADAGP.
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LAETITIA DE TSCHARNER
Laetitia de Tscharner has a French father and an English mother, she grew up in Switzerland most of her childhood and went to L’Ecole Nouvelle de la Suisse Romande. After having passed her International Baccalaureate she went to l’Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne where she obtained a Bachelor of science and a «Diplôme d’économiste d’entreprise HES». After EHL she worked in different jobs in finance before marrying Richard de Tscharner with whom she lives in Dubai in the company of their children.
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ALEXANDER ROBERT-TISSOT
Alexander Robert-Tissot is the founder, owner, and CEO of ART Computer S.A. What started as a project at a very young age when he was fresh out of school has become the largest Apple product reselling company in the French part of Switzerland, as well as one of the leading companies in Europe for technology deployment. He has been one of the leading professionals to push for a technology revolution in schools and universities that will contribute to a more challenging, holistic, and affordable way of learning. He is achieving this by partnering with private and public institutions, as well as with scientists and pedagogy specialists, to promote state-of-the-art educational programs. Alexander is currently starting a new company based in Mexico, which will focus on technology deployment for education in Latin America.
PHOTOGRAPHY COMMITTEE
WILLIAM A. EWING
William A. Ewing, a Canadian citizen residing in Switzerland, was the director of the Musée de l’Élysée in Lausanne between 1995 and 2010. His forty-year career has been spent equally on both sides of the Atlantic. An internationally recognized expert in photography, he lectures widely, and taught at the University of Geneva, in Switzerland, for over a decade. He is the author of many books on photography of the past and present, and has been commissioned to curate numerous international exhibitions. He is currently Director of Curatorial Projects at the publisher Thames & Hudson, London, and Curator of Special Projects for the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography, based in Minneapolis and Lausanne.
In 2010 Ewing was named Officer of France’s Order of Arts and Letters and in 2016 the Royal Photographic Society honored him with the prestigious Award for Outstanding Service to Photography.
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TODD BRANDOW
The Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography (FEP), a unique non-profit organisation led by Executive Director Todd Brandow, was inaugurated in 2003 to create and produce thought-provoking photographic exhibitions and publications produced outside the normal framework. Todd Brandow, a former art consultant, based in Paris since 1997, is a photography curator, foundation director and book publisher. He co-curated and co-produced Edward S. Curtis exhibition tours, a retrospective tour of Finnish photographer Arno Rafael Minkkinen with critic A. D. Coleman, co-curated three exhibitions on Edward Steichen with William Ewing and Nathalie Herschdorfer, collaborated on a major survey on Polaroid with MIT Museum, a Vik Muniz mid-career retrospective co-organized with the High Museum, Atlanta and an Alvarez Bravo show.
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ROGER OLTRAMARE
Roger Oltramare is head of a single-Family Office in Bern. He has more than twenty years of experience in the banking sector, both in investment banking and private banking. He has also specialized in offering bespoke investment solutions to philanthropic foundations tailored to the donors’ needs following environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria to insure sustainability. In his spare time, Roger practices photography, a devouring passion he has had for many years.
AUDITOR
FIDUCIAIRE FIDAG SA
Martigny, Switzerland
