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NOTRE ÉQUIPE

Passionnée d'innovation et de start-up

L'INNOVATION EN ACTION

La FONGIT est créée par des innovateurs pour des innovateurs. Notre équipe détient l'expertise et toutes les compétences nécessaires pour accompagner des start-up vers le succès. Nous sommes fiers de notre approche pratique et concrète, forgée par plus de 30 années d'expérience dans le soutien aux start-up.

Alessia Barthollet | MARKETING, COMMUNICATIONS AND EVENT COORDINATOR

Alessia is a Marketing, Communications, and Event Coordinator at FONGIT, concurrently pursuing a Master’s degree in Management with a Marketing specialization at HEC Lausanne. She has experience in event management, digital communication, and data analysis. Passionate about digital strategies, she enjoys creating engaging experiences that blend creativity and performance.

Dr. Enrico Bergamini | STARTUP ANALYST

Enrico is a Startup Analyst at FONGIT, with a deep passion for technology, innovation, and sustainability. He is committed to empowering entrepreneurs and business leaders to convert their concepts into successful and sustainable ventures. Enrico's primary responsibilities at FONGIT include evaluating startups that apply for FONGIT support programs, such as innovation initiation and startup support, as well as analyzing applications to the FONGIT Innovation Fund. He is also a lecturer in sustainable entrepreneurship at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and a professor at Business School Lausanne (BSL). Enrico holds a Master's degree in aeronautical engineering from Politecnico di Milano (Italy) and a PhD in management of technology from EPFL.

Caroline Coquerel | STARTUP COACH

As a startup coach at FONGIT & Innosuisse among 5 other organizations of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, Caroline specializes business development, marketing & communication, structuration of organization, cashflow management, developing your network as well as guide you in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

With both scientific & business background, associating agronomy & food / data & spatial information / sustainability, topics she has a direct experience in developing projects & business development on 10+ countries, Caroline has been coaching & developing great collaborations, for 6 months to 6+ years, with 100+ entrepreneurs developing innovative projects with high potential, and from few hours to few months, with 550+ entrepreneurs. As a startup coach at FONGIT & Innosuisse among 5 other organizations of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, Caroline specializes business development, marketing & communication, structuration of organization, cashflow management, developing your network as well as guide you in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Dr. Christine Deuschel | SENIOR ADVISOR

Christine has more than 25 years of experience in pharma, biotech and medtech. She hold senior executive positions in start ups and served as VP of the board of Foundation Eclosion and as board members in diagnostic companies such as Biocartis SA, which raised M€ 100 in IPO. She spent 17 years at Debiopharm International SA becoming Senior VP, Project and Portfolio Management. Christine is currently involved in several start ups. She obtained a PhD in Chemistry of the University of Fribourg, followed by postdoctoral fellowship University of California Berkeley, and MBA of EPFL.

John Elbing | STARTUP COACH

John has experience in software (MS from EPFL), finance (MBA from Carnegie Mellon) and marketing (digital agencies). He launched two startups and now coaches entrepreneurs for several institutions in the Swiss ecosystem, including Innosuisse. He specialises in Value Proposition & Business Model Design and Marketing Storytelling. John delivers strategic marketing workshops for established companies at Standpoint. He helps people reinvent themselves using Design Thinking with his "Build Your Next Step" course. John also teaches at a number of universities and institutions.

Tamara Eyles | OFFICE MANAGER

Tamara is in charge of the office management, assuring the administrative support to startups during their growth process, guaranteeing a professional, pleasant and healthy work environment at FONGIT. She previously worked in healthcare, international medical equipment services and for a charitable foundation for women's education. Tamara studied behavioral psychology and is passionate about sports.

Igor Fisch, PhD | CHAIR

Igor Fisch is Chair of FONGIT. Igor is also CEO and co-founder of NewBiologix, a start-up active in gene therapies. Formerly, he was CEO and co-founder of Selexis, a world-leading cell line development company. With a successful exit in 2017, Igor was instrumental in guiding Selexis to develop technologies that help biopharmaceutical companies manufacture biologic drugs such as monoclonal antibodies. Under his leadership, this resulted in 10 marketed products. He obtained his PhD at the University of Geneva and continued his postdoctoral studies under Nobel laureate, Prof. Sir Gregory Winter. Igor sits on the boards of Igyxos and Fluosphera.

Antonio Gambardella | DIRECTOR

Antonio joined FONGIT in 2014. He was previously the founding partner of a venture capital fund investing in technology, with headquarters in Switzerland, Italy and California. During this experience, he managed incubator activities for seed startups. Later, he made direct investments in innovative small-medium companies in Europe, with active roles in management and board of directors. Antonio holds a degree in Economics at Bocconi University in Milan (Italy) and he attended Singularity University in California.

Dr. Bolko Hohaus | STARTUP COACH

Bolko is a data scientist and economist by education. He has more than 20 years of investment experience in leading positions at companies including Lombard Odier Investment Managers and Allianz Global Investors, focussing on cutting edge technologies. Bolko is founder and CEO of HCP, an innovative Swiss asset manager based in the Geneva region. He is also active as business angel and a board member in the Swiss tech business angel club SICTIC. Bolko is a fintech coach for Innosuisse, based at FONGIT.

Jean-Philippe Lallement | STARTUP COACH

Jean-Philippe brings over 25 years of extensive experience in entrepreneurship and general management, with a strong focus on the ICT sector.

He played a pivotal role in establishing a spin-off of a global leader in telecommunications and IT services, which achieved multi-billion-euro revenues and market valuation. In this capacity, he managed a €200 million business line. Following this success, he co-founded two high-tech startups, further solidifying his entrepreneurial expertise. From 2008 to 2024, Jean-Philippe led the growth of the EPFL Innovation Park, a thriving hub now home to over 300 high-tech companies. Under his leadership, the Park experienced grew significantly and launched several leading acceleration programs for startups.

As an Innosuisse coach and mentor since 2008, Jean-Philippe has supported dozens of startups, offering strategic guidance and hands-on expertise. He serves on several Boards and Advisory Boards of scale-ups and is the Executive Chairman of Prediggo SA, a spin-off of EPFL’s AI lab.

Jean-Philippe holds a Master’s degree in IT and telecommunications from École Polytechnique (Paris) and Télécom ParisTech in France, as well as an MBA from INSEAD.

Dr. Wilma Lukas | SENIOR ADVISOR & COACH

Wilma (PhD, MBA) is a Senior Advisor and Coach at FONGIT.

She has has over 25 years of experience in drug discovery, R&D, licensing and
business development gained in the pharmaceutical industry at GSK, Merck or Debiopharm.

As Founder and Managing Director at W Life Sciences, she provides strategic advice and expert scientific opinion to start-ups, biotech or medtech companies.

She is also acting as an Expert at Innosuisse, Consultant for eMBA at HEC/UNIL, at
SNSF and Associate Partner at <bba>, a strategic consultancy company.

Monica Malcarne | VICE CHAIR

Monica Malcarne is the Vice President and General Secretary of FONGIT. She is also Vice President of Labcorp. Monica joined Labcorp 27 years ago with her Master of Art degree in Political Science. Prior to holding non-laboratory-based operations roles, Monica progressed through various leadership positions, including Vice President for Sample Operations, Director of Global Laboratory Support Services, General Management and Manager of customer and technical services. She also remodeled the BioRepository Services, pioneered the Expanded Lab Management Solutions, and executed the deployment of automation in Operations. She is committed to entrepreneurship via Génération Entrepreneur and women in leadership. Monica worked in many countries including Switzerland, the US, China and the Netherlands.

Dr. James H. Miners | HEAD OF STARTUP AND INNOVATION PROGRAMS

James is an international innovator who has made the journey from scientist to startup and now supports fellow entrepreneurs, catalyzing their success. He has set up and managed deeptech startups in cleantech, materials, energy and advanced engineering. Passionate about transforming technology into product, James brings 20+ years experience of leading value creation in startups and multinational companies. James is an Innosuisse Expert and holds a PhD from Warwick University and a PED from IMD.

Anaïs Montrosset | MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST

Anaïs is the Marketing and Communications Specialist at FONGIT. Anaïs supports the development and execution of marketing campaigns and communication strategies. She is responsible for content creation, social media strategies, and event promotion. She is a graduate of the Faculty of Translation of the University of Geneva and has experience in subtitling and patent translation. She has also previously worked for international organizations.

Alexandra Osváth | HEAD OF MARKETING, COMMUNICATIONS AND ENGAGEMENT

Alexandra is responsible for online and offline marketing, internal and external communication, media relations, strategic partnerships and event management at FONGIT. She has nearly 10 years of experience in the field, having worked at the European Broadcasting Union, including on the Eurovision Song Contest; at the United Nations; and managing ‘Things To Do in Geneva’, a lifestyle magazine that connected English speakers to the wider community. She speaks English, French and Spanish and is a graduate of the University of Virginia (BA) and the University of Barcelona (MA).

Aline Rochat | ADMINISTRATION MANAGER

Aline manages the administration at FONGIT and for our supported startups. She is responsible for accounting, invoicing, payroll and administration. Previously, she set up and ran her own business for 25 years. She has also managed the administration and accounting for a startup that IPO-ed.

Dr. Marco Rüedi | STARTUP COACH

Entrepreneur, Coach and Trainer in the Swiss Start-up ecosystem with 20+ years international experience in strategic and operational roles across Life Sciences Industry and Healthcare Management. Marco is an accredited coach by Innosuisse and Platinn.

Débora Sermier | COMMUNITY AND EVENTS SPECIALIST

Débora is the Community and Events Specialist at FONGIT, responsible for building our community and organizing events at our HQ and Campus Biotech. She graduated from the Haute Ecole de Gestion de Genève with a BA in International Business Management. She has a proven track record in event organization and international administrative monitoring and has previously worked at multinational corporations.

Emmanuel de Watteville | HEAD OF FINANCING PROGRAMS

Emmanuel joined FONGIT and the Swiss CTI (now Innosuisse) as a business coach and financial expert in 2003. He has extensive experience in coaching, creating, managing, developing and financing more than 200 high-tech startups across several sectors, including the medical and information technologies. In 2008, Emmanuel founded BlueOcean Ventures, a VC firm investing in early stage Life Sciences companies. Emmanuel holds a MSc in ICT from the ETHZ and an MBA from INSEAD.