Loredana Sorg and Martin Schmid, who are both very experienced in international cooperation in nature conservation, are taking over the management of Paneco in Berg am Irchel.

Irena Wettstein and Marcel Etterlin are convinced that the timing for the change is right, as the foundation is now optimally positioned and financially stable: «Thanks to their wealth of professional experience, the new co-managers will tackle the goals set out in the development strategy together with the team. We are very happy to entrust the future of the foundation to competent hands.»

The new management team

Loredana Sorg studied agricultural sciences at ETH Zurich and worked in agricultural economics consulting and regional development in Switzerland.

International activities have taken the 38-year-old to the UN’s FAO in Rome and to Ukraine and Georgia for several short-term assignments with FiBL and national research institutions. She is also a member of the Trademark Committee at BioSuisse. Over the past ten years, she has worked for the non-profit organisation Biovision, first as a programme manager and most recently as a member of the Executive Board together with Martin Schmid as Co-Head of International Partnerships.

Martin Schmid has many years of experience in environmental issues and international co-operation.

After studying environmental sciences at ETH Zurich, the 46-year-old worked as an environmental consultant in Switzerland and in Burkina Faso in the field of natural resource management. Martin Schmid supported many projects in African and Eastern European partner countries as a long-standing advisor for rural development at the Swiss aid organisation HEKS. For the last four years, he has been a member of Biovision’s Executive Board and, together with Loredana Sorg, Co-Head of International Partnerships.

Thanks to Irena Wettstein and Marcel Etterlin

Marcel Etterlin, responsible for the Foundation’s finances and fundraising, and Irena Wettstein, responsible for communications and the PanEco programmes, have been responsible for the professionalization of the Foundation with great personal commitment and in-depth expertise, first as Head of Finance and Communications respectively from 2014 and then as Co-Managing Directors from 2019. With great skill, they have built sustainable structures that they were able to consolidate over the course of eleven years. Last year, in a participatory process together with the Board of Trustees, the Advisory Board, the team and our most important partner organisations, they drew up a development plan for the foundation that will set the direction for the coming years.

«On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I would like to thank Irena Wettstein and Marcel Etterlin for their successful work and their great personal commitment to our foundation and our goals. We hope that they will pursue equally fulfilling activities in the future and carry them out with the same warmth and joy that we have been able to experience over the past eleven years. After taking some time out with their families, they will both be taking on new professional challenges. We wish them all the best in their future endeavours. With Loredana Sorg and Martin Schmid, the PanEco Foundation will continue to develop new strengths and expertise. It will certainly be exciting, and we look forward to shaping the future with the new management team.»

Regina Frey, President of the Board of Trustees