Digital Leadership Summit 2026

Patrick is a Senior HR Executive with more than 20 years of experience across Financial Services, Professional Services and Consulting and Further Education, as well as advisory roles in the airline, public sector, and pharmaceutical industries. His career is characterised by a strong focus on learning, transformation, and human‑centric leadership to bring strategy into execution, combining deep HR expertise with a passion for driving organisational and client impact.

Ben is Strategy and Portfolio Leader – Data, Analytics and Insights at Roche, where he focuses on applying AI, data, and analytics to drive business value and portfolio decision-making. He has extensive experience accelerating AI adoption within organizations and exploring the frontiers of what business teams can achieve with artificial intelligence. Ben is also active in AI research, with recent work focused on AI acceleration and organizational transformation.

Florian Maurer is a technology and transformation leader with over 15 years of experience driving tangible impact across global (re)insurance and financial services. He focuses on turning digital and AI strategies into real business outcomes—bridging the gap between vision and execution.

His work spans enterprise architecture, data and AI, and large-scale organisational transformation, always with a strong emphasis on delivering measurable value. Florian is particularly passionate about embedding technologies such as GenAI and agentic AI into core business workflows—enhancing decision-making, strengthening operational resilience, and improving customer outcomes.

He leads AI strategy and initiatives across underwriting, claims, and operations, working closely with business and technology stakeholders as well as external partners. At the same time, he drives the adoption of API-first, cloud-native platforms and explores how AI is reshaping software development, operating models, and ways of working.

Matthias has a multi‑year background in information & data management, enterprise architecture, and business consulting. Prior to joining Swiss Re, he worked in IT consulting in Germany, focusing on the acquisition, management, and delivery of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. He is currently Head Data Foundation at Swiss Re based in Bangalore. Throughout his career, he has lived and worked internationally, including in the Netherlands, Japan, Switzerland, Singapore, and now India as part of an international assignment.

Norman is a highly experienced data enthusiast who has been at the forefront of the data revolution and served as one of the first Chief Data Officers in the Swiss financial services industry in 2016. His professional background spans treasury desks, consulting, and line management roles across front office, consulting, and IT at institutions such as JPMorgan, KPMG Consulting, Capgemini, and Credit Suisse, where he has held various positions since 2007. He has since expanded his expertise into blockchain and distributed ledger technology and currently serves as CDAO at St. Galler Kantonalbank, alongside roles in the blockchain and Web3 space.

Markus Himpele is Chief Information Officer at Burckhardt Compression with 25 years of experience leading business transformation, IT operations, and digitalisation across multiple industries, including industrial automation (Schneider Electric), consulting and outsourcing (Capgemini), telecommunications (Vodafone), automotive (Autoneum), utilities (Axpo), and manufacturing. He has held senior leadership roles driving global IT services, application delivery, and digital strategy initiatives. Markus holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Management and an MBA. Based in Winterthur, Switzerland, he is passionate about leveraging technology for impact, advancing future enterprise architecture, cloud, AI, and digital transformation, and is known for a people‑centric leadership philosophy focused on sustainable progress. Outside work, he values family life and is a father of two.