SMG Webinar Schweiz-USA

State Secretary Helene Budliger Artieda has been director of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) since 2022. Prior to that, she was Switzerland’s ambassador in Bangkok, Thailand, with additional accreditations to Cambodia and Laos. Until 2019, she held the same position in Pretoria, South Africa, with cross-accreditations to Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mauritius and Namibia. From 2008 to 2015, Helene Budliger Artieda was head of the Directorate for Resources at the FDFA. In this capacity, she was advisor to the Head of Department on resource matters and a member of the FDFA Management Board. She graduated from the Universidad Externado de Colombia in Bogotá (Colombia) with a Master of Business Administration (MBA). After graduating from commercial school in Zurich with a Federal VET Diploma in Commerce, she completed internal training at the FDFA as a consular officer.

Monika Rühl has been Chairwoman of the Executive Board of economiesuisse since September 1, 2014. The umbrella organization of the Swiss economy represents the interests of the business community in the political process and advocates for optimal framework conditions. Its members include 100 industry associations, 20 cantonal chambers of commerce and a number of individual companies. In total, economiesuisse represents 100,000 Swiss companies from all sectors with 2 million jobs in Switzerland. After studying Romance languages and literature (French and Italian) at the University of Zurich, Monika Rühl trained as a diplomat in Bern, Brussels and Geneva. After working in the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA, including at the Swiss Mission to the United Nations in New York, she was a personal assistant to Federal Councillor Joseph Deiss (2002 in the FDFA, 2003-2006 in the Federal Department of Economic Affairs FDEA) and then Head of the Bilateral Economic Relations Division at the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO with the title of Ambassador and as a member of the Executive Board. In 2008, she was appointed Delegate of the Federal Council for Trade Agreements. From 2011-2014, she headed the General Secretariat of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research EAER.