Séb is a serial entrepreneur and digital marketing expert from Jura Bernois. He dived into the startup world in 2008 and was active during more than 4 years as a startup mentor and business developer for a technology park, before leaving in 2012 to launch his own venture, Coteries (which was, at the time, a mobile fan club of musicians, now a digital agency developing prototypes, Minimum Viable Products, web & mobile applications), where he acts as the CEO and as a digital marketer. Sébastien also launched several new venture, such as Planify.io, PlanYourMove.ch or local-heroes.ch. Séb is a startup evangelist for years who also run the independent Swiss startup blog, startupolic.com. Séb used to run several startup events in Biel/Bienne & Lausanne (SICTIC) and was active as the first ever Program Director of the fintech startup accelerator, Fintech Fusion.

He's now also involved in be-advanced, the innovation agency of canton Berne.

Nadine is an experienced business woman, previously active for Startup training program
venturelab among other ones, and now President of Club des femmes entrepreneurs and lecturer at HEC Lausanne.

Today, Tobias is Head of Marketing Strategy for SBB shaping strategy and initiatives on SBB group level, previous to roles in consultancy and creative agency and media industry. He has strong expertise in digital marketing, brand management, communication and innovation and he pairs analytical & strategic skills with creative thinking. Entrepreneurial experience in strategy and execution he gained especially at Atizo (today Hyve Innovation Software), his role at SVOX (today Nuance Communications) and consultancy and entrepreneurial activites during the last 17 years.

Gilles Ruffieux – Founder & CEO - Business Transformation - Digital and Organization Architect

Gilles is commited to help organizations create the best conditions to disrupt their market by leveraging individual and collective talents.

With more than 20 years of experience in information systems and organization and more than 8 years as an entrepreneur, he challenges his customers' business model, organization, culture and systems to accelerate the delivery of great products or services that fit market needs.

Gilles has founded Qibud (www.qibud.com) to develop a technology able to foster innovation, collaboration and employee engagement, as well as Agilbility (www.agilbility.com) to empower Business Agility through a systemic approach.

He is the co-creator of the Agile Circles, a methodology that helps companies experiment & develop an agile mindset.

Gilles shares his experience and knowledge as a coach in innovation-related events or by teaching at several HEGs.

Daiana Cocora - Digital Marketing Expert | Entrepreneur | Startups Mentor.

Passionate about marketing and digital transformation, Daiana is helping businesses to become visible and successful in the "digital days".

She has more than 10 years of pharma and retail corporate experience by leading international marketing projects.

Daiana has also founded her advertising agency Days Events - www.daysevents.com in 2007, which offers online and offline marketing solutions.

As Daiana is also the Co-Founder of the Swiss Startup Club Zurich, she is coaching startups on different topics, as MVP, culture, co-founding, management crisis, personalities match, winning mindset since 2015.

Daiana is looking forward to support again the' Startup Weekend Biel' event.

Nelio is a UX Design manager born in Brazil and based in Zurich working on Design and User Experience and helping clients push design and creative boundaries at the intersection of code, business and UX with an expert eye for craft and execution.

Visakha is a Business Development Manager at Swiss Re (Digital Innovation & Technology dept. based Zürich) working closely with the startup ecosystem for partnership opportunities and scaling businesses. She is a passionate of Innovation & Startups!

Previously, she helped launch & scale various startups as mentor & coach, from ideation to execution incl. fund-raising. Visakha has many years of experience as serial-entrepreneur and was also part of the Management of a successful startup, having raised $26M in 2016.

Her expertise lies in: business planning/development, investor pitch deck, finance, sales & marketing, growth-hacking, customer validation, MVP planning and go-to-market.

CFO

"Malika has extensive corporate experience in strategy, controlling and finance in diverse environnements (industrial, education, public service)

She specializes in transformation &change topics, as well as smart and fast business planning, and has helped several startups to launch or scale their business.

Malika is French and Tunisian and has fallen in love with Switzerland a few years ago. She's an avid traveller and has lived in several countries.

She's also passionate about entrepreneurship and new working methods, and has a genuine interest in how start-ups and new business codes are redefining the economic scene worldwide."

BSc. in Environmental Health »at Polytechnic Leeds (UK) and« MSc. in Applied Acoustics» at the University of London. Followed by a dissertation in the field of human-computer interaction at the ETH in Zurich. Professional stations were u.a. the EMPA in Dübendorf, where Urs Guggenbühl led a research group at the ETH in the area of Human Factors, he was also head of the Ergonomics & Technology Group at the Technopark Zurich, a VR and CEO and co-owner of two simulation start-ups for 15 years & Training and occupational hygiene and started the innovation center for the University of Applied Sciences St.Gallen.

After graduating from a technical college as "Diplom-Ingenieur (Textil)" and working at the Institute for Textile and Process Technology ITV in Denkendorf, Germany, Bärbel Selm started a scientific career at Empa (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research) in St. Gallen in 1994. There she was involved in several projects in the field of medical textiles. From 2007 to 2009, Bärbel Selm built up Empa's industry portal as a link to the economy. She then moved to the Bern University of Applied Sciences and took over as Head of Knowledge and Technology Transfer of the Department of Engineering and Information Technology.

In 2009, Bärbel Selm was elected Managing Director of the Foundation for Technological
Innovation (STI) in Biel, where she continues to support young entrepreneurs today. She is also a
guest lecturer on the topic of "Research Funding" in the continuing education program at the
Bern University of Applied Sciences.

currently: Co-Head Youngpreneurs Program
2019 President of the association Startup Weekend Switzerland
2018 Expert at "Die Höhle der Löwen Schweiz" at TV24
2018 Vice President Association Startup Weekend Switzerland
2017 Member of the board Startup Weekend Switzerland
2015 -2017 Head of Startup Weekend Bern & Biel
2016 Organizer AAL Hackathon St. Gallen
2015 Founding member & board Global Shapers Bern

With over 20 years in Microsoft and over 35 in the software industry Andrew has held various leadership positions within and prior to Microsoft. The one consistent element over the last 18 years has been engagement and enablement for Startups and new business. He remains fascinated by the art of the possible, and the impact that technology can have in every aspect of life.