The Board of Directors at Swiss Post appointed Ulrich Hurni as the new Head of the PostMail Group unit at a meeting held on 23 February. He will take up his new position on 1 March 2009 while at the same time joining Executive Management. Ulrich Hurni was formerly Deputy Head of PostMail and has gained a wealth of national and international experience during his long career at Swiss Post. He succeeds Michel Kunz, new CEO of Swiss Post.

With the appointment of 51-year-old Ulrich Hurni, the Board of Directors has been able to ensure continuity for the largest of Swiss Post's Group units. The experienced successor – a German-speaker from Fribourg – took over as Deputy Head of PostMail in mid-2007. His responsibilities on the current Board of PostMail include managing the print media market segment and PostMail's shareholdings. He is responsible for pricing, address management and franking solutions. Ulrich Hurni has also undertaken various directorships on behalf of Swiss Post, most recently overseeing the expansion of Swiss Post's early delivery business.

Experience and liberalization

Ulrich Hurni's experience with Swiss Post dates back to his apprenticeship days as a business secretary.  He later spent around eight years in various positions at PostFinance before taking on the post of controller in the IT department of former Telecom PTT. From 1995 he made his mark on the international unit of Swiss Post in a number of different management functions. He developed SPI's product market strategy and prepared the unit for the liberalization of the export letters market in 1998.  In 2000, Ulrich Hurni became CEO of SPI Management AG and Head of SPI's European business. He played a key role in the international expansion of the entire Swiss Post Group.

The PostMail unit for which he will be responsible as of 1 March 2009 has some 17,000 employees – amounting to more than one third of the entire Swiss Post workforce – and represents an important source of income for the Group. The letter business is set to change significantly in the coming years. Volumes continue to decline and the Federal Council plans to abolish the letter monopoly in stages over the next few years. PostMail has a daily presence throughout Switzerland through its delivery staff and postboxes and thus portrays an important image for the Group.

Ulrich Hurni, Head of PostMail as of 1 March 2009

Born 21 February 1958, resident in Fräschels (FR), married with two children.

Education

Apprenticeship as commercial employee and business secretary at Swiss Post, Swiss certified marketing planner, various training qualifications in controlling, marketing and project management, Executive MBA at the University of Zurich