On April 27, the first edition of the Gen A Day will celebrate the Gen A Community and its wide array of expertise. The event will gather both current Gen A Fellows and Alumni, and warmly welcome the wider Asia Society Switzerland community, including Board and Advisory Board Members, Patrons and Passport Members. General Members are welcome to join the session "On the Ground".

After graduating from the Gen A – Young Leadership Program, former Fellows stay involved and continue the conversation. On the Gen A Day, some of them will take the stage and discuss their takes on some of the big topics of our time, not just in Asia, and present their projects and research. This diverse group of young Asia experts will share their curiosity and perspective across regions and disciplines.

Designed to inspire, engage and (re)connect its participants, the Gen A Day is a special opportunity for exchange among the different Asia Society Switzerland communities and generations, and for all attendees to expand their Asia Competence.

Program

13:00 Welcome and Icebreaking session

14:00 Gen A Talks

> Demography: The Age of Ageing with Samira Hüsler, Adam Benacka, and Eunice Zehnder
> Culture Shock: Context and Awareness with Saghar Vosough, Lea Hasenzahl, and Angelika Li
> Sustainability: Recent Developments with Rachel Ann Go, Jonas Rüegg, and Bruno Basler

16:00 On the Ground: The Gen A Alumni Travel Grant*

17:00 Apéro*

19:00 Dinner

* Open to all Asia Society Switzerland Members. Learn more. 

The Gen A Alumni Sessions and "On the Ground" will be recorded and published on the Asia Society YouTube channel.

Patron

Asia Society Switzerland is deeply grateful to Nicolas Oltramare for his generous support in launching the Gen A Day. 
 

About the Gen A program and Alumni Community

Since the launch of the Gen A – Young Leadership Program in 2020, over 80 Fellows have graduated from the program. They all have spent a year at Asia Society Switzerland, participating in roundtables, workshops, and working on their graduation projects. With the Gen A Day, we are entering the next phase: our Alumni are the ones shaping the program and also execute it – including as experts on stage. 

The individual sessions and the topics have been shaped by the members of this year’s Gen A Alumni Core Group in a few sessions early this year. Since then, Liliane Krüsi, Jeanette Gautschi and Mhyma Bilbao have been working hard to make them come to live. We will see 9 Alumni (and counting) take the stage and share their expertise, and former experts of Gen A formats take on the role of moderators. 
 
 

Speakers

With expertise and experience in the history of art and architecture and cultural management, Angelika Li is committed to engaging with the essence of local culture, heritage and valued stories, and driving a continuous dialogue between local and international communities. Angelika is the founder and curator of HOMELAND in TRANSIT, a curatorial project between Basel and Hong Kong and is the co-founder of PF25 cultural projects, a research initiative focusing on the everyday life and ecologies of the two city regions. Angelika was the founding director of MILL6 Foundation in 2015, and the first gallery director of Sotheby’s Gallery in Asia in 2013. She lives and works in Basel and Hong Kong. 

Bruno Basler is President of the Board of Directors, Member of the Executive Board, Project leader and expert in strategy and management consulting at EBP since 1994. Additionally, he is Member of the Board of Directors in three family businesses: Robert Aebi, Vontobel Holding/Vontobel Bank, and Baumann Springs. Bruno Basler is Member of Asia Society Switzerland's Advisory Board.

Adam Benacka, Gen A Fellow 2021, has a first-hand experience with offshoring to India. Two out his ten years working for Swiss Re, Adam has spent in Bangalore growing and upskilling the local corporate actuarial team. His bond with Asia has been strengthened by rotation in Singapore working as pricing actuary for Asian markets and frequent travels to Hong Kong. Currently located in Zurich working in Treasury as Finance Data Lead taking care of IFRS 17 data onboarding and various data and tools related topics. Adam has a double degree in International Business and Healthcare Management. Adam also passed all three CFA exams (i.e. would be entitled to call himself a CFA charterholder against a fee).

Mhyma Melissa Bilbao, Gen A Fellow 2023, is a recent graduate of International Relations at Dublin City University. Born in Manila, Philippines then emigrated to Ireland at the age of 10, and at 23 to Switzerland – she now works as an associate in Zurich at a for-impact organization Aiducation International, aiding over 2,300 Filipino and Kenyan students to date in their education as a ticket out of poverty. Aside from international development, she is also fascinated by the historical colonial ties between Europe and Southeast Asia. In the context of EU-ASEAN relations, Mhyma wrote her master's thesis on a comparative case study of the Rohingya conflict in Myanmar and the Aceh Monitoring Mission by the European Union in Indonesia. Previously she has worked with the Embassy of Ireland in promoting Irish literature in Switzerland, attended the first EU-ASEAN Youth Summit in Brussels as a Youth Representative, and has lived in 6 European and Asian countries to date. In her free time, she loves to cook Filipino fusion dishes, travelling to Ireland, and enjoying the scenery in Switzerland. 

Rachel Ann Go, Gen A Fellow 2023, is currently pursuing a Master's Degree in Sustainable Development at the University of Basel, after working several years in a multinational company in the Philippines and in Switzerland. She spent time volunteering in an asylum center in Kanton Zug, an orphanage center in Malawi, and, most recently, in a political campaign for the 2022 elections in the Philippines. Rachel is excited to delve into the Sustainability field in Asia.

Lea Hasenzahl, Gen A Fellow 2022, is a PhD Candidate at the Institute of Digital Technologies for Communication – ITDxC (Faculty of Communication, Culture and Society) at Università della Svizzera italiana - USI (Lugano). In 2023, she was a visiting PhD student at SOAS University of London.   With her PhD research project, she aims to explore "the public discourse around Chinese Outbound Tourism in Western societies" (working title). Her academic background is in Economics, Communications Sciences and Sociology. Lea was born in Japan, graduated from high school in China and has been living in Switzerland since 2017.  

Samira Hüsler, Gen A Fellow 2021, is a social anthropologist specializing in Japan and ageing. She completed an internship in cultural tourism in Fukuoka and carried out several field studies on ageing in various regions of Japan as part of her studies. After graduating, she completed an internship at the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO in the Bilateral Economic Relations Asia / Oceania department. Today she works as a research assistant at the Institute for Ageing Research IAF in St.Gallen. In January 2024, she started her PhD thesis on intergenerational care in institutions in Japan and Switzerland.  

Adrian T. Keller is the Chairman of Asia Society Switzerland. He is also honorary Chairman of DKSH and Vice Chairman of Diethelm Keller Holding Ltd, a family holding company, and anchor shareholder of DKSH, a listed MES company in Asia. Since 2000, he is Vice Chairman of Diethelm Keller Holding Ltd, and earlier a Board Member of the predecessor company. In addition to holding various family business related Board seats, Adrian Keller is Vice Chairman of the private bank Bergos AG and is Chairman of Baur & Cie, a private real estate company. Among his pro bono involvements, he is a Trustee of Asia Society (Global) and a member of the Executive Board of the Swiss American Foundation.

Martín Mosteiro Romero, Gen A Fellow 2020,  is an energy systems engineer and a postdoc researcher at the Department of Architectural Engineering and Technology, TU Delft, Netherlands. He holds PhD and MS degrees from ETH Zürich as well as a BS from Rutgers University, and has professional experience in four continents. After graduating from Gen A 2020, he spent three years working at the National University of Singapore – as well as two months in South Korea supported by a Gen A Alumni Travel Grant. Contact Martín via email or reach out to him on LinkedIn. 

Jonas Rüegg, Gen A Fellow 2022, is a scholar in the field of environmental history of Japan, East Asia, and the Pacific. Having obtained his PhD from Harvard University in 2022, he now teaches at the University of Zurich. Before his studies in the United States, Jonas served the embassy of Switzerland in Japan, and is looking back on years of research at Tokyo University and Academia Sinica in Taiwan. His book The Kuroshio Frontier: Empire and Environment in the Making of Japan's Pacific will come out from Cambridge University Press in 2024. Jonas' projects investigate the social and environmental cost of Japan's industrial revolution and the transformations it brought to the Asia-Pacific's maritime peripheries. Building on sources in seven European and Asian languages, his research into the unequal histories of environmental change is dedicated to local perspectives on global challenges. In the context of his new, multi-year project on the history of the Japanese Empire in the Pacific, Jonas is also working with local artists and educators in Micronesia and other places at the forefront of climate change. In 2024 he won the MJHA Dissertation Prize. Jonas is a Asia21 Fellow.

Gabriel Ruggli, Gen A Fellow 2020, is CEO of C-Level, the leading Exchange Platform for Executives in Switzerland with over 2500 members. As a teenager his first start-up led him to China and sparked his love for the Asian continent. Studying between Beijing, Shanghai and Zurich he graduated his Master at HSG specializing in PRC’s commercial law and is a Gen A alumnus of 2020.

Saghar Vosough, Gen A Fellow 2023, is a researcher and clinical specialist in the field of ADHD and Emotion with extensive experience working with children and adult patients in European and Middle Eastern contexts. Her current research at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, focuses on neuroconnectivity impairments in ADHD during emotion processing. Her interest in the relationship between developmental disorders and the brain has grown since her undergraduate studies in “psychology of children with special needs” at the University of Allameh Tabatabai in Tehran, Iran. During her graduate studies in family psychology at Theran’s Shahid Beheshti University, she further explored the risk factors affecting the mental health and development of children. Having gained extensive clinical experience in the field of neuropsychology and, especially, neurofeedback therapy at the renowned Atieh Neuroscience Center in Tehran, she moved to Switzerland in 2019 to collaborate with the Brain and Trauma Foundation in Grisons on neuropsychology-based clinical and research projects. This year, she will complete her doctoral research at the University of Zürich with a focus on the neural underpinnings behind the emotional impairments in ADHD.

Eunice Zehnder-Lai is Vice Chair of the Geberit Group, Member of the Board of DKSH and the Julius Baer Group, and a Board Member of Asia Society Switzerland. Her other non-profit engagements are Trustee of the Orpheum Foundation for Young Soloists and Education.org. Previously, she worked in the finance industry for LGT Capital Partners, Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch, spanning the areas of asset management, private wealth management, and corporate finance in New York, London, Hong Kong and Zurich.

Support Gen A and the Gen A Day

We offer Gen A free of charge and are constantly trying to improve our program to make it even more attractive for Fellows and Alumni alike. If you want to support our work, here are a few suggestions.

• Are you professionally engaged with Asia? Become a Gen A expert! We are always looking for great speakers with interesting career paths and a passion to share their knowledge with our young leaders.
• Support us financially and sponsor a fellowship or an Alumni event like the Gen A Day! 
• Other ideas on how to enhance the program? Please get in touch with us, we would love to hear them!