Leadership change at the helm of responsAbility

Reto Schnarwiler, who has been a member of the Board of Directors of responsAbility since 2009, has been appointed as successor to Kaspar Müller, who had held the post of Chairman since 2005. During Kaspar Müller’s term in office, responsAbility developed from a start-up to a leading impact investor regulated by FINMA.

The new Chairman Reto Schnarwiler has many years of experience in emerging economies and developing countries – including his work with development organizations and governments in particular.

In addition to leading strategic initiatives at Swiss Re, Reto Schnarwiler is a member of the Board of Directors of APA Insurance Group in Kenya and he chairs the Insurance Council of the African Leadership University.

Reto Schnarwiler holds a degree in Economics from the University of St. Gallen and an Executive MBA in Financial Services and Insurance. He is 48 years old and is married.

Reto Schnarwiler SHORT BIO

Reto Schnarwiler is assuming his new role with a commitment to lead the company towards a successful future.

“The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris climate agreement will generate increased demand for impact investments over the long term. With our broad product offering and motivated employees, responsAbility is very well positioned. We want to now build on this to sustainably increase value creation for our clients, shareholders and employees.”

Kaspar Müller has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of responsAbility since June 2005. At the time, the company – which was headed by founder Klaus Tischhauser – had five employees and managed USD 30 million of assets – primarily private debt for microfinance institutions.

Today, 13 years later, responsAbility is well established as a successful impact investor with 250 employees and USD 3 billion of assets under management. Through 15 investment vehicles, it supplies private debt and private equity to companies in the micro and SME finance, sustainable agriculture and renewable energy space.

Kaspar Müller left the company at the Annual General Meeting of 28 June 2018. He commented: “I am delighted that Reto Schnarwiler, who has an excellent knowledge of responsAbility’s culture and operating environment, is taking over as Chairman of the Board of Directors. I wish responsAbility and all its employees every success.”