Fathi Derder becomes Managing Director of the Swiss Digital Initiative
After three years of development, Executive Director Niniane Paeffgen is leaving the Swiss Digital Initiative Foundation at her own request as of November 2022. Her successor is Fathi Derder, a former member of the Swiss National Council and journalist who has been working for an innovative Switzerland for years.
With the cross-stakeholder "Geneva Digital Initiative", Derder was particularly committed to strengthening international Geneva in the areas of digitalization and digital trust.
After three successful years of founding, building and managing the Swiss Digital Initiative in Geneva, the current Executive Director Niniane Paeffgen will leave the foundation as of November 2022 to take some time off and dedicate herself to new tasks. The Swiss Digital Initiative Foundation emerged in 2019 as a result of the first "Swiss Global Digital Summit" on ethics and fairness in the digital age, which was held under the patronage of Federal Councilor Ueli Maurer and organized by Digitalswitzerland. Around two years later, the SDI launched the world's first label for digital responsibility, the "Digital Trust Label", as part of the World Economic Forum (WEF).
The aim of this lighthouse project is to raise awareness of how to deal with digital data, privacy and artificial intelligence, and to take this awareness out into the world from Geneva. With the project "Ethics of Artificial Intelligence" and "Corporate Digital Responsibility in Practice", further concrete projects were developed and implemented with renowned partners such as HEAD Genève and IMD Lausanne.
Doris Leuthard, President of the Swiss Digital Initiative and former Federal Councillor: "We would like to sincerely thank Niniane for her tireless commitment and her work for the Foundation, but also for positioning Switzerland and Geneva in the areas of digital ethics and trust. Thanks to her commitment, the Foundation is well positioned for the future."
Fathi Derder will drive the international positioning of SDI and the label
With the operationalization and labeling of the first twenty Digital Trust Pioneers, the SDI enters a new phase. A strong focus is now on the further development and international scaling of the Digital Trust Label. An expert committee was recently recruited in an open application process. Under its leadership, the label is to become an internationally recognized standard for trustworthy digital applications.
Fathi Derder brings expertise from the intersection of politics, business and society. As a journalist, former National Councilor, CEO and co-founder of the Swiss Food & Nutrition Valley, he also has the political sensibility, experience and motivation to write the next chapter of the Swiss Digital Initiative.
SDI President Doris Leuthard says: "We are proud that with Fathi Derder we were able to win such a high-caliber, as well as competent and committed personality. This confirms the high status that the SDI has achieved after only a few years."
