Kaspar Villiger (born 5 February 1941) is a Swiss

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 businessman, politician and former member of the Swiss Federal Council

Swiss Federal Council

The Federal Council is the seven-member executive council which constitutes the federal government of Switzerland and serves as the Swiss collective head of state....

 (1989 – 2003). He currently heads Swiss bank UBS.

Political career

On February 1, 1989, he was elected to the Swiss Federal Council. He is affiliated to the Free Democratic Party

Free Democratic Party of Switzerland

The Free Democratic Party was a classical liberal political party in Switzerland. It was one of the major parties in Switzerland until its merger with the smaller classical liberal Liberal Party, to form FDP.The Liberals on 1 January 2009....

 (Liberals).

During his time in office he has headed the following departments:

• Federal Military Department (1989 – 1995)
• Federal Department of Finance
  Federal Department of Finance
  The Federal Department of Finance ; ; ) is one of the seven departments of the Swiss federal government. The department is headquartered in Bern and is headed by a member of the Swiss Federal Council, Switzerland's finance minister...
  
   (1996 – 2003)

He has been President of the Confederation twice in 1995 and 2002.

In September 2003, he announced he was to resign on 31 December 2003.

Business career

In 2004 he became member of the board of directors of Nestlé

Nestlé

Nestlé S.A. is the world's largest food and nutrition company. Founded and headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland, Nestlé originated in a 1905 merger of the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company, established in 1867 by brothers George Page and Charles Page, and Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé, founded in 1866 by Henri...

 and Swiss Re

Swiss Re

Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd , generally known as Swiss Re, is a Swiss reinsurance company. It is the world’s second-largest reinsurer, after having acquired GE Insurance Solutions. The company has its headquarters in Zurich...

. On 4 March 2009, UBS AG

UBS AG

UBS AG is a Swiss global financial services company headquartered in Basel and Zürich, Switzerland, which provides investment banking, asset management, and wealth management services for private, corporate, and institutional clients worldwide, as well as retail clients in Switzerland...

 announced that Villiger would be nominated to succeed Peter Kurer

Peter Kurer

Peter Kurer is a Swiss manager and lawyer. He was Chairman of UBS AG from April 23, 2008 until his dismissal in 2009. He chaired the Corporate Responsibility Committee and the Strategy Committee of UBS AG.-Education:...

 as chairman of Switzerland's largest bank.

Villiger is a Member of the Global Leadership Foundation

Global Leadership Foundation

The Global Leadership Foundation is a not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation founded in 2004 by former State President of South Africa and Nobel Prize laureate F.W. de Klerk....

, an organization which works to promote good governance

Good governance

Good governance is an indeterminate term used in development literature to describe how public institutions conduct public affairs and manage public resources in order to guarantee the realization of human rights. Governance describes "the process of decision-making and the process by which...

 around the world.

On 15 April 2009 he was elected Chairman of the Board of Swiss banking giant UBS.

External links