A woman with a lot of credit
After 13 years at Credit Suisse, Karin Rhomberg wants to capitalize on her good reputation and is setting up her own business.
After 13 years at Credit Suisse, Karin Rhomberg wants to capitalize on her good reputation and is setting up her own business.
She started out gluing envelopes at a PR agency. But then everything happened very quickly. Karin Rhomberg, now a foundation board member at SPRI and a promising young entrepreneur, earned her degree in history and journalism in Zurich with a 40 percent job in a communications office. After graduating, she applied for an internship at Credit Suisse. Actually, she was supposed to do something with market research there. But then a place became available in the press department, which Karin Rhomberg was able to secure, perhaps thanks to her Liz thesis - a field study on public relations training. After a few months, Volksbank was taken over by Credit Suisse, and the new banking giant suddenly needed people in a restructuring project. Karin Rhomberg seemed ideally suited for this team. "A stroke of luck," she says today, because in the following three years she got to know the bank in such detail during the reorganization that many others probably don't manage in an entire career.
Back on the line, this knowledge of all departments was the perfect qualification when - "second time lucky" - the head of the press office had to be filled. And after the restructuring of Credit Suisse Group at the end of 1996, Rhomberg was appointed head of communications. The PR woman was given the task and opportunity to set up an integrated communications department at Group level for the first time. By the time Rhomberg left this November, this had grown from a handful to over a hundred people, with the translation service and intranet and Internet making up a large part.
"A fascinating job," Rhomberg looks back. Not only did she personally supervise a whole series of top bankers, but she also experienced quite a few ups and downs. "The most exciting were the intensive projects in which the whole team outgrew itself," Rhomberg says. "In the press department of a global company, you also get very interesting insights into foreign media worlds," the "thwarted journalist" recalls of the task when she and some of her team members almost had to rush out of the office several times to catch the next possible plane to Tokyo.
"In 13 years, I have never been bored for a single day," says Rhomberg, summing up her work. What she found most satisfying about her job was working with a wide variety of people. "In a large company, you have a lot of contact from the communications department - from the porter to the print shop to top management."
Nevertheless, Karin Rhomberg has now decided on a complete reorientation away from the global bank to a one-woman business. It had "been in the back of her mind for a while" that she wanted to become self-employed one day. "Doing the 'same thing' in another company had no appeal for me," she says.
With her own company, Karin Rhomberg doesn't want to specialize only in finance, contrary to the advice of some colleagues. In addition to classic business, she also wants to do something cultural, to look after nonprofit organizations or individuals. "I'm not only interested in CEOs, but also politicians and other leaders."
In her office in a former print shop on Zurich's Hornbachstrasse, where various illustrious media people have rented space, Karin Rhomberg is currently still working alone and with freelancers. "I first want to independently develop the contours of the agency, then I can specifically look for additional people." Her husband helps with the administration of the finances. Although she herself once worked at a bank.
Karin Rhomberg doesn't remain fixated on banking: "I'm also interested in politicians and other leaders."
Andreas Panzeri
She started out gluing envelopes at a PR agency. But then everything happened very quickly. Karin Rhomberg, now a foundation board member at SPRI and a promising young entrepreneur, earned her degree in history and journalism in Zurich with a 40 percent job in a communications office. After graduating, she applied for an internship at Credit Suisse. Actually, she was supposed to do something with market research there. But then a place became available in the press department, which Karin Rhomberg was able to secure, perhaps thanks to her Liz thesis - a field study on public relations training. After a few months, Volksbank was taken over by Credit Suisse, and the new banking giant suddenly needed people in a restructuring project. Karin Rhomberg seemed ideally suited for this team. "A stroke of luck," she says today, because in the following three years she got to know the bank in such detail during the reorganization that many others probably don't manage in an entire career.
Back on the line, this knowledge of all departments was the perfect qualification when - "second time lucky" - the head of the press office had to be filled. And after the restructuring of Credit Suisse Group at the end of 1996, Rhomberg was appointed head of communications. The PR woman was given the task and opportunity to set up an integrated communications department at Group level for the first time. By the time Rhomberg left this November, this had grown from a handful to over a hundred people, with the translation service and intranet and Internet making up a large part.
"A fascinating job," Rhomberg looks back. Not only did she personally supervise a whole series of top bankers, but she also experienced quite a few ups and downs. "The most exciting were the intensive projects in which the whole team outgrew itself," Rhomberg says. "In the press department of a global company, you also get very interesting insights into foreign media worlds," the "thwarted journalist" recalls of the task when she and some of her team members almost had to rush out of the office several times to catch the next possible plane to Tokyo.
"In 13 years, I have never been bored for a single day," says Rhomberg, summing up her work. What she found most satisfying about her job was working with a wide variety of people. "In a large company, you have a lot of contact from the communications department - from the porter to the print shop to top management."
Nevertheless, Karin Rhomberg has now decided on a complete reorientation away from the global bank to a one-woman business. It had "been in the back of her mind for a while" that she wanted to become self-employed one day. "Doing the 'same thing' in another company had no appeal for me," she says.
With her own company, Karin Rhomberg doesn't want to specialize only in finance, contrary to the advice of some colleagues. In addition to classic business, she also wants to do something cultural, to look after nonprofit organizations or individuals. "I'm not only interested in CEOs, but also politicians and other leaders."
In her office in a former print shop on Zurich's Hornbachstrasse, where various illustrious media people have rented space, Karin Rhomberg is currently still working alone and with freelancers. "I first want to independently develop the contours of the agency, then I can specifically look for additional people." Her husband helps with the administration of the finances. Although she herself once worked at a bank.
Karin Rhomberg doesn't remain fixated on banking: "I'm also interested in politicians and other leaders."
Andreas Panzeri
