Bodies & Persons

Foundation Board

The Foundation Board carries responsibility for all the Foundation's activities. The Board members are nominated by the Founder Company for a three-year, reelectable term of office. This senior body consists of representatives of UBS and external members from the fields of culture, arts and society. At present the Foundation Board consists of eight members; it is headed by Chairman Roger von Mentlen and seconded by Vice-Chairman Claudia Steinfels. For the purpose of processing grant proposals the Foundation Board may appoint an expert committee consisting of members of the Board.

Management Office

The Management Office assists the Foundation Board in its work; the Office is headed by a Manager who is responsible for the Foundation's operative management; in particular, she settles preliminaries, prepares issues for decision-making by the Foundation Board and implements its decisions. The Foundation Office is responsible for the administration, communication and coordination of activities. The team includes Claudia Bühler (CEO) and Julian Szenogrady (applications).

Roger von Mentlen

Roger von Mentlen has been a member of the UBS Culture Foundation Board since 2016 and has chaired the foundation since 2020. A qualified banking expert, he joined Union Bank of Switzerland in 1977 and since 1998 has held various management positions at UBS in the Wealth Management & Business Banking Switzerland area. Until 2019, he was Head of Personal Banking in Switzerland and a member of the Executive Committee UBS Region Switzerland. He joined the Board of Directors of UBS Switzerland AG in 2020 and has been its Chairman since November 2023.

Claudia Steinfels

Dr. Claudia Steinfels has been a board member since 2020 and Vice President of the UBS Culture Foundation since 2025. She is the owner and chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Steinfels Art Consulting AGin Zurich, founded in 2012, and of the company of the same name in London, founded in 2013. She is specialized in Swiss art, impressionism as well as modern and contemporary art.

Claudia Steinfels studied art history, archeology and East Asian art at the University of Zurich, where she also completed her doctorate. She was Managing Director of Christie’s in Zurich from 1996 to 2000 and Managing Director of Sotheby’s Zurich, Auctioneer and Senior Director of Sotheby’s Europe from 2001 until 2012.

Roman Bucheli

Dr. Roman Bucheli has been a member of the Board of the UBS Culture Foundation since 2016. He has been a culture editor of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung Feuilleton since 1999, where he is responsible for German and Dutch literature, and books for children and young people. In addition to his work as a journalist, he is also a university lecturer and helps to promote literature in institutions.

After completing his studies in German, philosophy and economic history in Fribourg and Zurich, he wrote his thesis on the Swiss poet Alexander Xaver Gwerder in 1994. He publishes regular articles on literary topics and in 2006 edited the anthology "Wohin geht das Gedicht?" (Where is poetry going?), which includes essays from 14 international authors.

Michael Haefliger

Michael Haefliger has been a member of the UBS Culture Foundation Board since 2007. He has been the director of LUCERNE FESTIVAL (previously the Internationale Musikfestwochen Luzern) since 1999. Next to organizing the music festival SOMMER he is also responsible for the festivals OSTERN and PIANO. He has won several prizes, including the Global Leader of Tomorrow Award (WEF, Davos 2000) and the European Culture Innovation Award (2003).

After studying the violin at the Juilliard School of Music in New York (1983), Michael Haefliger performed as a concert violinist before becoming a musical director (Davos Music Festival Young Artists in Concert, 1986-1998) and director of the Collegium Novum in Zurich (1996-1998). From 1997 to1999 he studied business management at the HSG St. Gallen where he received his Executive MBA HSG degree.

Michel E. Fuchs

Prof. Dr. Michel E. Fuchs has been a member of the UBS Culture Foundation Board since 2016. He has been a professor at the Institute of Archaeology and Ancient History at the University of Lausanne since 2004 (emeritus as of August 2023). In addition to his teaching work, he has led research projects and excavations in Switzerland and abroad. As an internationally renowned expert in ancient wall paintings, he is author of numerous publications and curator of several exhibitions. He supervises doctoral theses and continues his research at national and international level.

After completing his studies in archaeology, Latin and Greek philology, he worked in the Department of Archaeology of the canton of Fribourg and as a research associate at the Roman Museum in Avenches. He wrote his thesis on one area of this Roman settlement in 2004. Over the years, he has devoted himself to the study of everyday inscriptions and graffiti and is co-author of the exhibition catalog ‘Les murs murmurent: graffitis gallo-romains’ (2008).

Karin Oertli

Karin Oertli has been a board member of the UBS Culture Foundation since 2021. She has joined UBS in 2000, currently acting as COO Group Compliance, Regulatory & Governance and Head Compliance & Operational Risk Control P&C and Region Switzerland. Prior to that, she held various leadership positions e.g. as Chief Operating Officer UBS Switzerland, in Wealth Management, Asset Management and Risk Functions. Karin Oertli is member of the Executive Committee GCRG Region Switzerland and the Executive Board UBS Switzerland AG and she chairs the UBS Foundation for Social Issues and Education.

Katrin Renz

Katrin Renz has been a board member of the UBS Culture Foundation since October 2024. She works as a producer of national and international feature films and documentaries. She has been a producer at the Zurich-based film production company tellfilm since November 2007 and its shareholder and managing director since 2014.

After studying New German Literature, Media studies and English in Marburg and London, she worked as a producer and dramaturge at Glücksfilm in Berlin from 2003 and subsequently as a consultant at MEDIA Antenne Berlin-Brandenburg. Katrin Renz has been a member of the jury of Film Fonds Wien since 2021 and a member of the board of Cinésuisse, the umbrella organization of the Swiss film and audiovisual industry, since 2023. She is a member of the European Film Academy and the Swiss Film Academy.

René Scheu

Dr. René Scheu joined the UBS Culture foundation board in 2025. He is a publicist, author, editor as well as co-founder and managing director of the Institute for Swiss Economic Policy (IWP) at the University of Lucerne.

René Scheu studied philosophy, Italian literature and linguistics at the University of Zurich and completed his doctorate with a thesis in contemporary philosophy. He was editor at the St. Galler Tagblatt, publisher and editor-in-chief of Schweizer Monat from 2007 to 2016 and head of the Feuilleton of Neue Zürcher Zeitung from 2016 to 2021.

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