“We mustn’t stop in our tracks”

Julia Dannath-Schuh has been appointed Vice President for Personnel Development and Leadership, Vanessa Wood Vice President for Knowledge Transfer and Corporate Relations (read the press release). ETH President Joël Mesot comments on this change.

Professor Mesot, the ETH Board has elected two new female vice presidents. Which of their attributes convinced you personally?
Both are outstanding personalities in their respective field. Julia Dannath-Schuh, who has a PhD in psychology, has helped many organisations to develop their leadership and corporate culture. And she has known the university since she worked here as a scientific assistant. Vanessa Wood I know and hold in high esteem not only as an excellent scientist, but also as a compelling leader, most recently as Head of the Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering.

Two new vice presidents will mean some changes for our workforce. Who in particular will be affected?
Expanding the Executive Board isn’t going to turn ETH upside down! In fact, many of the issues that the two vice presidents will be handling are not new. Those working in knowledge transfer and corporate relations, and in HR will feel the change most, as they’ll have a new vice president as top boss.

Will the professors also be dealing with the Vice President for Personnel Development and Leadership in future?
As President of ETH Zurich, I’ll continue to be responsible for appointing the professors, and for supervising them. But we need to improve how we guide and support our professors, both as leaders and as members of the university. Julia Dannath-Schuh will be playing a pivotal role here, and together with me will be in charge of the rETHink workstream “Supporting our professors”, which is to be launched next year.

Julia Dannath-Schuh is not a professor. Is this a disadvantage?
Absolutely not. The Executive Board all agree that managers with extensive practical experience have the necessary qualifications for a vice presidency, even without a professorial background. What’s more, they enhance the university professionally and enrich it on a human level. Robert Perich, our Head of Finance and Controlling, is an excellent example here. We need the best from both worlds, I’m sure of that.

Two new vice presidents will push up the number of Executive Board members from five to seven. Why do you need to expand?
The current system was reaching its limits: we’ve become a large university, and up till now the Executive Board has been comparatively small – each of the domains spanned many, very diverse responsibilities. And in recent years, society and the political arena have intensified their expectations of ETH. The expansion means that each board member can now concentrate on one specific area. We have gained two distinguished experts in Vanessa Wood and Julia Dannath-Schuh; the fresh knowledge and expertise they bring to the Executive Board will broaden our scope.

But more Executive Board domains mean more interfaces, more coordination – and probably more bureaucracy too…
The number of interfaces will increase only marginally, as the administrative departments being moved to the new Executive Board domains are already firmly established elements at ETH Zurich. Vanessa Wood’s area of responsibility will mainly be the transfer and corporate relations departments, while Julia Dannath-Schuh’s area of responsibility will primarily comprise a strengthened HR department. In both domains, small staff units are tasked with coordinating with the other areas. Like this we won’t lose time on bureaucracy.

You believe the restructuring to be essential for securing ETH’s leading position worldwide. How will the new vice presidents contribute here?
That today we can count ourselves among the world leaders shows ETH Zurich has done a lot of things right in the past. And we owe much to the endeavours of former vice presidents. But to keep pace with the frontrunners, we mustn’t stop in our tracks. And this calls for an effort from every single person at ETH. I’m convinced that we can and must work together even better. Among other things, Julia Dannath-Schuh is an expert in this field. In addition, business and society look to us for solutions, and we want more ETH research findings to benefit society – whether in the form of spin-offs, patents or collaborations with industry. This is exactly where Vanessa Wood’s expertise will be invaluable. By separating off the two new areas, we’re spreading the work burden over more shoulders, which means all the Executive Board areas can concentrate more on strategic issues. This is the essence of the restructuring.