Governance

Elected as Chair of the American Swiss Foundation in 2016, Robert Giuffra is co-chair of Sullivan & Cromwell and a partner in the firm’s Litigation Group. He focuses on bet-the-company, securities, commercial, banking, white-collar criminal, insurance, employment and tax litigation. He is a graduate of Yale Law School and Princeton University.

Mr. Giuffra has served in all three branches of the U.S. government. He was as a law clerk to Chief Justice William Rehnquist of the U.S. Supreme Court and to Judge Ralph Winter of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He was the Chief Counsel of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. He also served in the Reagan White House. He has been appointed by Governors of both political parties to serve in New York State government, including as a member of the New York State Commission on Public Integrity and the New York State Ethics Commission. He is an alumnus of the 1996 Young Leaders Conference.

Elected as Co-Chair of the American Swiss Foundation in 2021, Markus Diethelm most recently served as General Counsel at Credit Suisse from June 2022 until the merger of UBS and CS. From 2021 until the end of April 2022, Markus Diethelm was Of Counsel to UBS and for the previous thirteen years, he served as the General Counsel of UBS Group AG (2014 to 2021) and UBS AG (since 2008). From April 1, 1998 through August 2008, Markus served as the Chief Legal Officer of Swiss Re Group. 

From 1998 to 2008, Markus Diethelm served as Group Chief Legal Officer at Swiss Re, and he was appointed to that company's Group Executive Board in 2007. Prior to that, he was with Los Angeles-based law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and focused on corporate matters, securities transactions, litigation, and regulatory investigations while working out of the firm's Brussels and Paris offices. From 1989 to 1992, he practiced at Shearman & Sterling in New York, specializing in mergers and acquisitions. In 1988, he worked at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York. After starting his career in 1983 with Bär & Karrer, he served as a law clerk at Uster District Court in Switzerland from 1984 to 1985. 

Mr. Diethelm holds a law degree (lic. iur.) from the University of Zurich, a master's degree (JSM), and a doctoral degree (JSD) from Stanford Law School. He is a qualified attorney-at-law admitted to the bar in Zurich, Geneva, and New York State. He serves as Chairman of the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce's legal committee; and Member of the New York State Council of Business Leaders in support of Access to Justice.

Elected as Vice Chair of the American Swiss Foundation in 2021, Ed McMullen served as Ambassador of the United States to Switzerland and Liechtenstein from November 2017 to January 2021. Ambassador McMullen is now a Senior Policy Advisor with Adams and Reese LLP, a law and public affairs firm with offices throughout the southeastern United States. He opened the firm's Charleston office to focus on economic development, foreign direct investment, and public affairs. He has also joined a private equity firm based in London. He will serve on several corporate boards and as trustee for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

Ambassador McMullen was recognized for forging the strongest bilateral relationship between the United States and Switzerland in history. Focusing on foreign direct investments, he met with over 300 CEOs and boards of directors, fostering relationships and creating a favorable environment for economic growth. During Mr. McMullen’s tenure as Ambassador, Switzerland moved from the eighth-largest to the sixth-largest foreign direct investor in the United States.

Ambassador McMullen is a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College and an alumnus of the 1995 Young Leaders Conference. He is married to Margaret Ann (Wade) McMullen and they have two children, Thomas and Katherine. They reside in Charleston, South Carolina.

Steven G. Hoch is a partner of Brown Advisory, an investment firm advising private clients and institutions on diversified portfolios and related strategic and governance advice. The firm has been recognized for its strength in sustainable investing. Mr. Hoch was a founding partner of Highmount Capital LLC, an investment and wealth management firm was successfully merged with Brown Advisory Inc. in 2015. He began his career at Chemical Bank in New York and Zurich. He also had client advisory and leadership roles at Bessemer Trust in New York and Pell Rudman (now Atlantic Trust) in Boston.

Mr. Hoch is Chair Emeritus of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and previously chaired the Investment and Nomination Committees. He serves as the chair of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, and previously completed two terms on the Smithsonian National Board. Mr. Hoch is Chair Emeritus of the American Swiss Foundation and serves on the President’s Council of Ceres. Mr. Hoch is a former director of Nestle SA, where he served on the Nomination and Sustainability Committee.

Mr. Hoch has a BA degree in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a dual American/Swiss citizen and resides in Boston.