Urs Rohner

Urs Rohner (born 1959) is a Swiss lawyer, businessman and banker. He is the former CEO of ProSiebenSat.1 Media and former chairman of Swiss bank Credit Suisse.^[1] After his 10 year tenure the share price lost 75% of its value leaving the bank engulfed in various scandals and subsequently apologizing for his poor performance at the last shareholder meeting.^[2][3] He is considered one of the worst chairmen in Swiss banking.^[4][5]

Urs Rohner
Born	1 December 1959 (1959-12) (age 65) Zürich, Switzerland
Education	University of Zurich
Occupation	Lawyer
Successor	António Horta-Osório
Board member of	Credit Suisse (2011-2021)
Spouse	Nadja Schildknecht

Early life

Rohner was born 1959.^[6] He competed as a hurdler in the 1982 European Athletics Championships.^[7] He earned a master of laws from the University of Zurich in 1983.^[6][7]

Career

Rohner began his career at the law firm Lenz & Staehelin in Zurich,^[7] where he was a partner from 1992 to 1999.^[8] He subsequently practised for Sullivan & Cromwell in New York City.^[8]

Rohner served as the chief executive officer of ProSiebenSat.1 Media from 2000 to 2004.^[7]

Credit Suisse, 2004–2021

Rohner became the chief lawyer at Credit Suisse in 2004.^[7]

After moving to the company's board of directors, Rohner served as its vice chairman from 2009 to 2011.^[8] Since 2011, he has served as its chairman.^[6] In 2017, he was criticized by investors for his poor performance.^[7] In 2020, shareholders voted to re-elect Rohner for a final term in office with 77.5% support; the 21.6% opposition he faced was the highest in his nearly a decade as chairman.^[9] He retired in May 2021 from the Board of Credit Suisse - during his 10 year tenure, the stock price has fallen by over 70%.^[10] In the last year of his tenure, Rohner appointed Lara Warner with no prior risk management experience to Chief Risk Officer of the bank in a push for diversity. Consequently, Credit Suisse's clients lost around $3bn due to the collapse of Greensill.^[11] Furthermore, with the collapse of Archegos Capital Credit Suisse lost over $5.5bn exposing its weak risk management, which Rohner in the aftermath of the financial crisis promised to reform.^[3]

For his poor performance at Credit Suisse, Rohner received 43.5 million CHF ($47m) in pay.^[5]

Other activities

Corporate boards

• Investcorp, Member of the International Advisory Board (since 2021)^[12]

Non-profit organizations

Rohner serves on the board of trustees of the Lucerne Festival,^[8] and the Zürich Opera House, as well as the board of governance of the International Institute for Management Development.^[8]

Personal life

Rohner is in a relationship with Nadja Schildknecht, the managing director of the Zurich Film Festival and has a son with her. He has three children from his first marriage.^[13]