Executive Office
The Executive Office is responsible for the management of the center and its activities in research, education, outreach and communication.
Together with the Steering Committee, the executive office of ETH AI Center develops and implements the strategy of the center and builds strategic partnerships and collaborations. It is the central hub for facilitating exchange between members and external partners from academia, industry, start-ups, and government.
Operations
PD Dr. Alexander Ilic
Executive Director
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PD Dr. Alexander Ilic is the Executive Director and a co-founder of the ETH AI Center. He completed his habilitation at University of St. Gallen (HSG), holds a PhD from ETH Zurich, and a MSc from TU Munich. He was named twice "Entrepreneur of the Year" and won several entrepreneurship prizes including the Swiss Economic Award.
Letizia Turri
Chief of Staff
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Letizia is the Chief of Staff at the ETH AI Center. She holds a CEMS MSc in International Management from ESADE and NUS. She has worked with the Impact Team at UBS and at Merantix in Berlin’s AI venture capital ecosystem. Previously, she collaborated with Google in Singapore and gained experience in the Barcelona startup scene.
Natalia Marciniak
Operations Manager
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Natalia Marciniak is the Operations Manager at ETH AI Center. Her approach is to cultivate good relationships with everyone, and in that way to foster a cooperative environment. She thinks that this is the key to the success of big organisations, and also the prerequisite to have a pleasant and constructive working life.
Flori Olteanu
Finance Manager
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Flori is the Finance Manager at the ETH AI Center. She studied Finance at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies. After her studies, she moved to Munich and worked in administration at the Ludwig Maximilian University. She further developed her career at St Cross College, University of Oxford, where she supported several administrative departments and also managed the Events Office.
Trinh Ngo
Community Manager
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Trinh holds the position of Office and Community Manager at the ETH AI Center. She earned her Master's Degree in Management and Economics from the University of Zurich. With over 3 years of experience in event coordination and community management, she is deeply committed to fostering a collaborative working environment and cultivating an active research community at the ETH AI Center.
Ulrika Pettersson
Fellowship Programs Coordinator
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Ulrika is the Fellowship Programs Coordinator at the ETH AI Center. With extensive experience in event management and learning & development, she is passionate about fostering growth and learning at all stages of academic and professional development. Prior to joining ETH, she worked in learning & development at Google, organizing educational events and training programs.
Dr. Imanol Schlag
Technical Lead for Large Language Model Development at Swiss AI Initiative
Imanol Schlag is co-leading the Swiss AI Initiative's Large Language Model effort with Professors from EPFL. Before joining the ETH AI Center he was a PostDoc at ETH and a PhD student at USI/IDSIA. His doctoral research focused on Artificial Intelligence via connectionist models, encompassing innovative, scalable neural network designs. Some of these were created during his time at Microsoft, Google, and Meta.
Dr. Manuel Kaufmann
Technical Lead for Human-Centric Multi-Modal Data Acquisition
Dr. Manuel Kaufmann is a tech lead for human-centric multi-modal data acquisition. He holds a PhD and MSc in Computer Science from ETH Zurich, with a focus on human-centric Computer Vision. In his doctoral thesis he developed methods for 3D human performance capture from body-worn sensors and worked on human motion modelling.
Dr. Arnout Devos
Academic Program Manager
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Contact me for:
- Research: collaboration, funding, events
- Education: courses, TAs
- ELLIS Unit Zurich: membership, events
Entrepreneurship
Dr. Ann-Lauriene Schumacher (maternity leave)
Entrepreneurship Manager
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Dr. Ann-Lauriene Schumacher is the Entrepreneurship Manager at the ETH AI Center. With over 10 years of experience in innovation, company building, and leadership, she brings valuable insights to nurture scientific research into valuable start-ups. Holding a PhD in Physics from McGill University, Ann-Lauriene founded her own company and has extensive experience in company building through her leadership position at Sparrow Ventures. She is passionate about new technologies and is dedicated to enabling researchers to become entrepreneurial leaders by facilitating the transfer from research to start-up.
Nicole Barth
Entrepreneurship Coordinator
Nicole Barth is the Entrepreneurship Coordinator at the ETH AI Center, where she collaborates closely with affiliated startups, researchers and industry partners. She also supports the coordination of the AI Launchpad, a pan-European accelerator program led by ETH AI Center. With a master’s degree in health sciences and epigenetics from ETH, along with experience in an ETH spin-off, academia, and the startup ecosystem, she is passionate about facilitating the translation from research to practical innovation in society.
Viviana Gropengiesser
Strategic Advisor Entrepreneurship
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Viviana Gropengiesser is a graduate in business psychology with more than 10 years of management experience in startup and NGO environments. After building up the entrepreneurship side of the ETH AI Center as Director Entrepreneurship for the first 3 years since its foundation, she is now a Strategic Advisor at the ETH AI Center. She is also the CEO of Talent Kick, a Swiss-wide entrepreneurship program by the Kick Foundation and is passionate about enabling top talents to proactively and positively shape the future as responsible entrepreneurial leaders.
Isabelle Siegrist
Strategic Advisor Entrepreneurship
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Isabelle supports the entrepreneurship team of ETH AI Center in connecting internationally with other startup ecosystems and investors. Isabelle Siegrist has been building and investing in over 30 startups since 2016, is a Forbes 30u30 Alumna (2019), studied Business Innovation at HSG, and conducts research today on using AI in VC decision-making at ETH Zurich. She teaches at various universities on entrepreneurship topics and has published a book on business building called “Leg Los!" with Beobachter Verlag.
Melanie Gabriel
Entrepreneur in Residence / Entrepreneurship Manager (ad interim)
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Melanie Gabriel, Entrepreneur in Residence and Lecturer at the ETH AI Center, is a founder, board member, and angel investor. She co-founded Yokoy in 2019, a Swiss FinTech & AI company that grew to over 200 employees and raised over USD 107m from top venture capital firms like Sequoia and Balderton. She recently co-founded followthegradient.io to make startup knowledge more accessible. Melanie is a board member of Moodtalk and serves on various advisory boards. She holds a master’s degree in business management from the University of St. Gallen, was inducted into Switzerland’s 100 Digital Shapers Hall of Fame, and received the HSG Founder of the Year Award 2023.
Industry Partnerships
Daniel Naeff
Head of Innovation & Entrepreneurship
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Daniel is the Head of Innovation & Entrepreneurship at the ETH AI Center. With a background in mechanical and industrial engineering from ETH and MIT, he brings extensive experience in the buildup of and investment in early stage companies across multiple sectors - most recently as co-founder of impact venture studio Brainforest. He also serves on the board of several organizations, including the Board of Directors of ETH Alumni.
Alicia Rieckhoff
Partnership Coordinator
Alicia is the Partnership Coordinator at the ETH AI Center, where she works with industry members and academic stakeholders to grow and sustain the Center’s ecosystem. Previously, she led AI and innovation programs as a Program Manager at Swissnex in San Francisco. She holds a Master of Science in Global Health and International Affairs and is a former professional cellist.
Mauricio Moncada
Industry Collaborations Coordinator
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Mauricio serves as the Industry Collaborations Coordinator at the ETH AI Center. He works closely with our researchers, industry partners, affiliated startups, aiming to bridge the gap between cutting-edge AI research and real world innovation.
He has a Master’s Degree in Management and Economics from the University of Zurich, where he wrote his Master thesis on competition policy and AI regulation. Mauricio is deeply passionate about AI policy and the transformative effect of AI on society.
Marketing, Communications and Events
Dr. Helga Rietz
Science Communication Manager
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Contact me for
- Questions on media relations
- Strategic communication and editorial guidance
- Communication, Marketing and Events at ETH AI Center in general
Valeria Bella
Event Manager
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POC for
- AI+X Summit
- Zurich AI Festival
- Planning events with AI Center involvement
- Guidance on event operations and logistics
Diar Rachman
Marketing and Comms Coordinator
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Contact me for
- ETH AI Center's webpage, newsletter, and social media
- Marketing campaigns for AI+X Summit and Zurich AI Festival
AI for Education
Dr. Gerd Kortemeyer
AI for Education
Dr. Gerd Kortemeyer is the Center’s liaison to the ETH Rectorate and advances initiatives in the area of AI for Education. He holds a Ph.D. in physics from Michigan State University, where he is also an Associate Professor Emeritus of Physics Education. He brings a background in Educational Technology, in particular assessment and learning analytics.
