Zurich, Switzerland
I am a technology enthusiast with over 20 years of experience in industrial product development, program- and project management as well as research. I currently coach and support startups in the fields of medical devices and robotics, aiming to help them evolve their product and their organization. Previously, I managed small to complex projects and project portfolios, particularly in the fields of hearing aids, microsensor technology and medical devices such as drug coated balloon catheters. I took part in several organizational improvement initiatives with the goal to improve collaboration and departmental structures, and acted as a mentor for aspiring project leaders. Having an engineering background with a PhD in micro- and nanotechnology, I enjoy being part of technical discussions and innovation processes. In my free time I love travelling, being in the mountains on foot or bike, roasting tasty coffee and have a passion for making music.
In my current position at the Biomedical and Robotics Technology Platform of the startup accelerator Wyss Zurich, I act as a guide, mentor and go-to person for startups, covering topics revolving around product development, project management, collaboration and organization. I identify their needs, find and implement solutions hands-on or with our internal and external resources. I support the early evaluation of new applications, optimize internal support and service processes, and engage with the Swiss startup ecosystem to identify synergies and learn from each other. I have worked closely together with startups like Apersys, Tethys Robotics, Mynerva, Versive, Veltist and others.
Apart from leading several product improvement projects, I was strongly involved in a series of organizational improvement initiatives and created a new project leadership community with the mission to drive the evolution of our project management discipline, and act as a central organizational unit to represent project management in R&D. I helped aspiring project leaders grow through continuous mentoring activities, which I was very passionate about.
In my role as a program manager and project leader, I ensured the delivery of new, innovative hearing device solutions, including hearing instruments, charging devices, mobile apps and desktop software. I led and coordinated product launch programs, consisting of multiple development projects and their dependencies across departments, brands and sites. Having the project lead for hearing instrument developments, I closely collaborate with a range of multidisciplinary teams, by employing both agile and classic project management methods.
I joined Biotronik to work on a large, long-lasting class III combination product (drug-coated balloon catheter) multi-million development project. In my role, I was responsible for leading the product development team, managing timelines and project risks, ensuring manufacturability, regulatory compliance and availability of resources. I engaged myself in implementing project structures and communication tools adapted to the needs of the changing project landscape. My biggest achievement was to steer the project to design freeze and complete the product verification phase.
I worked as a project leader and engineer in R&D, developing customer specific liquid mass flow sensor for various types of industries, including medical devices and industrial process control. The projects required hands-on product design and testing, as well as managing multidisciplinary project teams covering skills such as electronic / mechanical design, software and production processes. My biggest achievement was to bring a new product for the semiconductor industry from concept to market in 1.5 years.
During my Post-Doc I worked on various research projects including polymer replication technologies for optical biosensing & micromirror arrays, and process development for the watch making industry in close collaboration with industrial partners.
During my PhD I investigated and developed novel hydrogen sensor technologies for fuel cell powered vehicles. My work was part of the EU Project HySYS (FP6) including close collaborations with several academic and industrial partners.