Management
André Kudelski
Chairman of the Board
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
André Kudelski obtained a degree in physical engineering from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) in 1984. He then held the position of R&D Engineer at Kudelski SA and in Silicon Valley, before becoming Pay TV Product Manager and then Director of Nagravision, Kudelski SA’s pay TV division. In 1991, André Kudelski succeeded his father Stefan Kudelski to the post of President and Chief Executive Officer of Kudelski SA. He has been a member of Kudelski SA’s Board of Directors since 1987. He is also Chairman of the Board's Strategy Committee.
André Kudelski sits on the Board of the Edipresse Group, of Nestlé, of HSBC Private Banking Holdings and of Dassault Systèmes (France), among others. In addition, he is a member of the management committee of economiesuisse.
Pierre Roy
Chief Operating Officer (COO), Digital TV
Executive Vice President
After obtaining a degree in business management from HEC, the business administration school of the University of Lausanne, in 1975 Pierre Roy began his professional career as a financial analyst with Procter & Gamble. Building on this initial experience, in 1977 he joined IBM as a commercial engineer. In 1979, he began his international career with Digital Equipment Corporation, where he held various management positions both within the European center in Geneva as well as abroad in the finance & administration and marketing & business management departments.
In 1992 he joined Kudelski SA as Managing Director Nagra Audio, Business Development Director Nagravision and Managing Director of Precel SA (then a company belonging to the Kudelski Group).
Since 1999, he has managed his own business consultancy company and has worked in the telecommunications sector while continuing to contribute to strategic projects for Nagravision. In January 2003 he was appointed Chief Operating Officer for the Digital TV entity of the Kudelski Group and Executive Vice President.
Mauro Saladini
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Executive Vice President
Mauro Saladini holds a degree in electrical engineering from the ETHZ (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich) as well as an MBA from INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France.
After five years as a financial services consultant for Accenture, he joined Thema Consulting. He set up that company’s Zurich branch and managed its activities in the cash flow and risk management sectors. In 1997 he joined McKinsey & Co., where he became a partner in 2001. A major part of his work focused on corporate finance and strategy projects involving various industries, in particular media and telecommunications. In addition, Mauro Saladini was in charge of the Swiss Media Practice and joint head of the European Media Practice.
At the start of 2003 he joined the Kudelski Group as Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President.
Charles Egli
Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Nagra Public Access
Executive Vice President
Charles Egli has a degree in electronic engineering from the technical college ETS. He worked at Studer Revox in Zurich as an R&D engineer and then as a project manager until 1989, the year in which he joined Nagravision as project manager.
He was appointed Chief Operating Officer of Kudelski SA in 1992, then in January 2003 Chief Executive Officer of Nagra Public Access and Executive Vice President.
John Burke
Senior Vice President
Head of Group Human Resources
John Burke is an Irish national and graduate of Trinity College Dublin (Economics & Business Administration). He joined Procter & Gamble International in Geneva in 1977, was appointed Group Marketing Manager in 1982. His P&G career included assignments in Geneva, Athens, Cincinnati and Madrid.
In 1986 John Burke joined RotoVision SA, an international publishing company based in Switzerland, as Commercial Director. Following a period of substantial growth over five years and subsequent sale of this enterprise, John joined IUCN - The World Conservation Union as Director of Communications and Corporate Relations.
In 1996 he joined Novartis Consumer Health, initially as global Head of Human Resources & Communications. He was then appointed Global Head of the Medical Nutrition business and member of the Division Executive Committee and subsequently promoted to worldwide Head of Novartis’ Nutrition Business Unit.
In 2001, he joined the Geneva-based International Federation of Red Cross & Red Crescent Societies as Director of Support Services and from May 2004 to May 2006, was named Chief Administrative Officer of the Global Fund to Fights Aids, TB and Malaria.
John Burke joined the Kudelski Group in June 2006 as Senior Vice President and Head of Group Human Resources.
Lucien Gani
General Counsel
Head of Legal Affairs
Lucien Gani studied at the University of Lausanne. After obtaining a degree in commercial studies in 1971 and a Law degree in 1972, he obtained a PhD in Law in 1987 and was admitted to the Bar of Canton de Vaud in 1989.
He started his professional career in 1972 as a lawyer with the Federal Tax Administration in Bern; he then became Manager of the Administrative Services at "Compagnie Vaudoise d’Electricité" in Lausanne from 1974 to 1976. Between 1977 and 1983, he was a trader for "La Commerciale SA" in Lausanne. He started writing his doctorate thesis in 1984 and started his Bar practice training in 1987. He has worked as independent lawyer and partner in a law firm in Lausanne since 1990.
Lucien Gani took his function as General Counsel and Head of Legal Affairs within the Kudelski Group management on January 1st, 2006. Before that date, he contributed as an independent lawyer for several years to the Kudelski Group legal activity, particularly by drafting and negotiating strategic contracts.
Nicolas Goetschmann
Corporate Secretary
Nicolas Goetschmann is an economics graduate from the University of Fribourg. Between 1986 and 1989 he held the position of Private Client Executive for Crédit Suisse in Geneva, before becoming a Fund Manager for Kestrel SA in Neuchâtel.
In 1990 he joined the Kudelski Group as Director of Finance and Administration.
In January 2004 he became Corporate Secretary of the Group.
Alex Osadzinski
Executive Vice President
Director, Digital TV Product
Alex Osadzinski completed full-time and part-time university courses in the UK. His education was evaluated in 1991 by International Education Evaluations Inc. as equivalent to a USA BSc in Computer Science/Management Information Systems and Marketing.
He began his professional career in the United Kingdom in 1978, at two successful start-up companies. In 1984, he joined AT&T as European Sales Manager for Unix products.
From 1986 to 1994 he worked for Sun Microsystems, where he became Vice President for Markets and Product Strategy.
After two years with Grass Valley Group (Tektronix) as Vice President for Marketing and International Sales, President of Grass Valley Japan and General Manager, Mr Osadzinski returned to the world of start-ups and occupied similar positions at Be (1996-1998) and Vitria Technology (1998-2000). Both these companies were subsequently listed on the stock exchange. He then was CEO at another software start-up, Katmango. Between 2001 and 2008 he was a partner at Trinity Ventures, a leading Silicon Valley venture-capital firm focusing on software and digital media.
In December 2008, Mr Osadzinski joined the Kudelski Group as Director with responsibility for Product within the Digital TV Division.
Yves Pitton
Senior Vice President
Director, Corporate Development
Yves Pitton performed his PhD thesis at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and led several mandates with various international firms during the three years in which he wrote his thesis.
After obtaining a PhD in Material Sciences & Engineering, he joined Alusuisse (now called Alcan Aluminium Valais SA) as Project Manager and then Product Manager in 1997, with responsibilities for product development, marketing and business development. He left Alusuisse to study for an MBA, which he obtained in 2001.
Mr Pitton then worked as a consultant and engagement manager for McKinsey & Co in Europe and the United States, where he led strategic projects for international companies operating in various business sectors, including finance, TV & new media, high-tech, technology and industrial businesses.
He joined the Kudelski Group in October 2006 as Vice President in charge of Special Projects Strategy. In September 2008, he took over responsibility for Business Development activities, and on 15 December he was appointed to the Group Executive Board as Corporate Development Director.
