Board of directors

gategroup

Timo Vättö

Chairman of the Board

Timo Vättö has 30 years of experience in financial services industry, strategy, financing, and M&A.

He serves on the Board of Directors of various international companies, among which Evalueserve Holdings AG, IHAG Holding AG and Rettig Group. Previously, he served as Chairman at Altisource Portfolio Solutions SA (2009-2019), KYC Exchange Net AG (2013-2019) and Director at Citibank Switzerland (2004-2009). Prior to 2008, served 20 years at Citigroup in Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB). He holds a Master of Science, Economics and Business Administration from the University of Tampere, Finland.

Björn Bajan

Member of the Board

Mr. Bajan is a business lawyer with over 30 years of experience as partner in a Zurich law firm as well as Executive Manager and Member of the Board
in various Swiss and international corporations.

He is presently the Chairman of Susi Partners AG in Zurich, a leading sustainable infrastructure investor. He also served as Executive Board member of OC Oerlikon Corporation AG, one of the world’s leading high-tech industrial companies and as Corporate Secretary and Board Advisor of Landis+Gyr. Mr. Bajan holds a degree in Law from the University of Zurich and is a member of the Zurich Bar. Additionally, he earned a Master of Law in international Business Law from the University of London.

Bernie Han

Member of the Board

Bernie Han is a 20-year veteran of the airline industry and currently serves as member of the Board of Directors of Frontier Airlines.

He served as President and CEO and Frontier Communications from 2019 to 2021, and previously held several senior roles at DISH incl. EVP Strategic Planning, COO and CFO from 2006 to 2018. Prior to DISH, he spent 20 years in the aviation industry holding several senior roles at companies such as American West Airlines, Northwest Airlines and American Airlines. He holds a Master of Business Administration, Master of Electrical Engineering and Bachelor of Science degrees from Cornell University, USA.

Uwe Krueger

Member of the Board

Dr. Uwe Krueger joined Temasek in January 2018, and is currently Joint Head, Portfolio Management Group and Head, Industrials, Business Services, Energy & Resources.

Prior to Temasek, Dr. Krueger was the Chief Executive Officer of WS Atkins plc, one of the world’s largest engineering firms providing professional, technology-based consultancy and support services globally to private and public sector clients. Prior to Atkins, he was the President of Cleantech Switzerland. He was also an Operations Director and Senior Advisor with TPG Capital, based in London and San Francisco. Before TPG Capital, he was the Chief Executive Offi cer of OC Oerlikon Management AG and assumed multiple roles with Hochtief AG, among them CEO Central/Eastern Europe (Warsaw, Moscow) and Chairman Turner International (Dallas/US). He started his career as a Project Manager with A.T. Kearney. Dr. Krueger currently serves on the Board of Aggreko plc. He previously served on the Boards of SUSI AG, Ontex S.A., and was a Member of the Swiss Federal Nuclear Commission. Dr. Krueger holds a PhD from University of Frankfurt and was conferred an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. He also holds an Honorary Professorship of Physics at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt. He received the European CEO of the Year Award in 2016.

Vivian Lam

Member of the Board

Vivian Lam serves as CEO of RRJ Management (HK) Limited since 2011.

She is a home- grown seasoned private equity investor with 20 years direct investment experience and has been active in promoting Green Finance and ESG. Prior to joining RRJ, Vivian spent more than 11 years working in the Hong Kong
and Shanghai offi ces of GE and GE Capital, and 1.5 years at PwC. She is a Chartered Accountant and Financial Analyst (CFA) and holds an MBA from
Chicago Booth School of Business and a BBA from the University of Hong Kong with First Class Honors.

Richard Ong

Member of the Board

Richard Ong is the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of the RRJ Group.

Prior to founding the RRJ Group, Mr. Ong was a co-founder and chief executive officer of HOPU. He served as gategroup’s chairman of the board from April 2019 until June 2021. Prior to 2008, Mr. Ong had a 15-year career with Goldman Sachs. Based in Beijing, he was partner and co-head of the Asian Investment Banking Division (ex-Japan). He became a managing director of Goldman Sachs in 1996 and a partner in 2000. Mr. Ong was also a member of the Goldman Sachs Asian Management Committee. Prior to his transfer to Goldman Sachs Gaohua Securities Co. Ltd. in Beijing, he was the co-president of Goldman Sachs Singapore. Richard also has experience working in Hong Kong, and prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Mr. Ong worked in New York City for Chase Manhattan Bank and Prudential-Bache Capital Funding. Mr. Ong graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Science and MBA from the University of Chicago.

Andreas Schmid

Member of the Board

Andreas Schmid is an entrepreneur and has served as Chairman and co-owner of Helvetica Capital AG since 2017 and as Chairman of the Board of Zurich Airport from 2000 to 2023.

In 2008 Andreas Schmid was elected into the Board of Steiner AG and two years later into the Board of Wirz Partner Holding AG, where he has served as Chairman of the Board since 2017. In 2014 he was named Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Avenir Suisse and in 2017 was elected to the Board of The Radisson Hotel Group. Formerly, Mr. Schmid was Chairman of gategroup from 2009 until 2015.
He was appointed Chairman and CEO of Barry Callebaut AG 1999, where he subsequently served as Vice-Chairman until 2014 and thereafter as member of the Board of Directors until 2017. Between 2002 and 2006 Mr. Schmid chaired the Board of Directors of Kuoni Travel Holding AG and between 2007 and 2011, he chaired the Supervisory Board of Symrise AG. Mr. Schmid holds a master’s degree in law (lic. iur.) from the University of Zurich, where he also studied economics and management.

Christoph Schmitz

Chief Executive Officer, Member of the Board

Christoph Schmitz was appointed Chief Executive Officer of gategroup effective November 1, 2021 and is a Member of the Executive Management Board.

Prior to his appointment, he served as gategroup’s Chief Financial Officer since January 2015. Before joining gategroup, he was CFO at Wild Flavors, an international supplier of ingredients to the food and beverage industry, where he successfully implemented a private equity-supported buy, build and exit strategy. Prior to this Mr. Schmitz held various C-level roles at several multinational companies in North America, Australia, Germany and India. Mr. Schmitz has over 20 years of experience in executive management roles, holds an MBA from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and an M.Sc.
in Business Management.

Thomas Weyer

Member of the Board

Thomas Weyer serves as Chief Financial Officer of Munich Airport GmbH since 2011. He is currently Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Aeroground GmbH, Medicare GmbH and FMBau GmbH.

From 2008 to 2010, he served as Chief Operating Offi cer of Munich Airport GmbH, and from 2004 to 2008 as Managing Director of Berlin Airports GmbH and member of the Supervisory Board of Globeground Berlin GmbH. Prior to joining Berlin Airports, he served 14 years at HOCHTIEF AirPort and Infrastructure, HOCHTIEF AG, Philipp Holzmann AG and Mobay Corporation. He holds an MBA from Duquesne University, a Master’s in Civil and Struct. Engineering (Dipl.-Ing.) from TU Aachen and studies in marketing and fi nance from the University of Evansville, USA.