UBS announces four new candidates for the Board of Directors to be proposed for election at the Extraordinary General Meeting of UBS on 2 October 2008 and two new members of its Group Executive Board.
Following the proposal of the Governance and Nominating Committee, the UBS Board of Directors nominates Sally Bott, Rainer-Marc Frey, Bruno Gehrig and William G. Parrett for election as independent members of the Board of Directors of UBS AG for a term of office to expire at the 2009 Annual General Meeting.
These candidates bring specific and relevant experience to UBS, namely in global financial services, the fields of change management and regulation and the perspectives of institutional shareholders.
Their nomination follows the introduction of a new Corporate Governance framework on 1 July which strengthened the oversight role of the Board and clarified the separation of the roles and responsibilities between the Board of Directors and Executive Management.
“We had the privilege of choosing from a number of exceptionally well qualified candidates,” says Peter Kurer, chairman of the Board of Directors. “I am delighted that these individuals are available to join our Board. They have diverse and varied backgrounds and will together add to the overall breadth and depth of expertise of the Board. Their individual skills will allow them to contribute to the specific committee it is planned that they join. At the same time they each have significant experience in banking and finance. I have no doubt that the nominees will be able to contribute substantially to the future development and success of UBS.”
The search was managed by the Governance and Nominating Committee of the UBS Board of Directors under the chair of Gabrielle Kaufmann-Kohler and was supported by outside advisors. The nominees shall be proposed for election at the Extraordinary General Meeting of UBS on 2 October 2008.
On the recommendation of the Group CEO, the Board of Directors has made two new appointments to the Group Executive Board (GEB). Markus U. Diethelm will join UBS as Group General Counsel during third quarter 2008. The role was vacant following the election of Peter Kurer to the Board of Directors at the Annual General Meeting last April.
Marco Suter, who had expressed his desire to step down from his role as Group CFO to the Board of Directors and the CEO, will hand over his position to John Cryan on 1 September 2008.
“We are delighted that Markus and John will join our Group Executive Board, and, when it is formed, the new Executive Committee, filling these critical positions with two high-caliber senior managers”, says Marcel Rohner, CEO of UBS. “Markus brings highly relevant experience in managing a global legal function in a sector whose complexity is comparable to the banking industry. His involvement in the strategic development of Swiss Re over the recent years will be instrumental in the next steps we will be taking at UBS. John is a widely respected banker who has specialized for many years in advising financial institutions around the world. His insights and expertise will be extremely valuable in our task of restoring the value of UBS.”
“Marco Suter has a long distinguished record at UBS, as Group CFO for the past year and, before that, as a member of the Board of Directors,” says Peter Kurer, Chairman of UBS. “His contribution in the past year has been enormous and I am very grateful that he was able to step into the role when we needed him most. We respect and support his desire to step back from the CFO function at this time.”