The Institute Council of the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI) has appointed Jürgen Horwath and Iwan Guler as new members of the IPI Executive Board. Mr Guler, whose appointment comes into effect in April 2019, follows in the footsteps of Ueli Buri, who has been selected as the new Data Protection Commissioner of the Canton of Bern.

 

Jürgen Horwath will become an executive board member effective 1 January 2019. With his appointment, the IPI’s senior management is to be reinforced with new competencies from the digital world. Mr Horwath (born 1973) graduated with a Master’s in Telematics from the Graz University of Technology and worked internationally for large technology companies before joining the IPI at the beginning of 2012. At the IPI, he was in charge of the renewal of the IPI’s electronic IP rights administration system – a major project to modernise the IPI – which was successfully concluded last year. He has been head of the IT Division since 1 July 2017 and takes part in executive board meetings in an advisory capacity.

 

Iwan Guler has been appointed an executive board member with effect from 1 April 2019. As the new head of the Staff Division, he replaces Mr Buri, who is leaving the IPI at the end of 2018 after more than 20 years of service. Mr Guler (born 1983) has a degree in Finance and Banking and is joining the IPI from a business management function at the SRG SSR.

 

The last change in the executive board was in autumn 2015 with the appointment of Catherine Chammartin as the first woman at the head of the IPI. The other executive board members have been carrying out their functions for many years in this formation, and like the departing Mr Buri, also have at least 20 years of service behind them. With these two new appointments, the IPI executive board is composed of a good combination of both long-standing and newer members.