Influential Businesswoman Awards 2026 | 41 are equally represented in media. Susanne explained: “It uses datadriven tools like the EqualVoice Factor to measure visibility in articles, images, and videos, helping organisations identify and reduce bias.” The broader goal here is to increase female role models and create more balanced communication in these spheres. Last but not least, Susanne is proud to serve on the foundation board of explore-it, a Swiss educational initiative promoting hands-on STEM learning for primary school children. By providing experiment kits and teaching materials that allow students to build, test, and explore concepts themselves, these technical subjects are made both more accessible and engaging. In turn, the hope is that more young people, especially girls, will pursue careers in STEM. Susanne has always recognised that the changes she advocates for cannot happen overnight, and the obstacles of biases towards women and overcoming traditional thinking when it comes to the roles of men and women remain firmly in place, in some industries more than others. To this end, Susanne has changed HR processes across her workplaces to make part-time work, job sharing, and other initiatives which benefit women possible. Of course, there is more still be done, and for women looking to follow in her footsteps, Susanne recommends staying persistent in the pursuit of goals (even when the path is not linear, as setbacks are part of progress), remaining authentic and confident in who they are (even in environments traditionally dominated by men), and being visible and active when it comes to networking and fostering diverse teams, with mixed perspectives leading to better decisions. Having ushered in brighter futures for women and leaders through her immersive leadership development and behavioural changes on a corporate level, Susanne Ruoff is more than fitting of being named the Executive Leadership & Diversity Champion of the Year 2026 (Switzerland) in this programme. More on her latest work can be found below. Contact: Susanne Ruoff Company: Ruoff Advisory & folx global Web Address: https://ruoffadvisory.ch/ & https://folxglobal.org/ Executive Leadership & Diversity Champion of the Year 2026 (Switzerland): Susanne Ruoff Across a more than 35-year career, Susanne Ruoff has served as CEO and board member of numerous companies with a presence in Switzerland and throughout wider Europe. In all of these companies, Susanne has always kept one eye on diversity and furthering the careers of women, culminating in her current roles with Ruoff Advisory and folx global. Ruoff Advisory supports organisations in leadership, transformation, and governance, with a strong focus on coaching and accompanying executive leaders. Its aim is to align strategy and execution whilst also strengthening decision-making processes and the effectiveness of leaders. Similarly, folx global helps organisations unlock the future of inclusive learning and organisational transformation, delivering immersive experiences for leaders based around technology and leadership. These are formatted as modular blocks and can be completed either independently or as part of a wider learning journey, supported by AI. Transformations of this nature have been a common theme throughout Susanne’s career in this space, and across all the companies she has ever been involved with, there were more women in management positions upon her leaving than when she began. She has also supported men in engaging and motivating their female team members and advocating that half of a recruitment longlist must be women, reflecting her focus on diversity. Another common theme across her career, Susanne has fostered greater diversity for major organisations such as IBM, where she led its diversity programme while also managing the biggest service unit, IBM Global Technology Services. Across all the boards she has served on, she has encouraged women into leadership positions and supported more women entering management. At British Telecom Switzerland, where she was one of only two BT CEOs in Europe at the time, she was again involved in the diversity team and in recruiting women into the management team. At Swiss Post, she was the first female CEO and the only woman on its executive board when she joined (there were three women by the time she left). Impressively, this is still just the beginning when it comes to the work Susanne carries out across these environments, as she is also on the advisory boards of both the Swiss Diversity Board and EqualVoice. The former is a network of senior leaders in Switzerland committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at the highest levels of organisations. The goal here is to accelerate systematic change in companies across Switzerland. EqualVoice, on the other hand, is an initiative launched by Ringier in 2019 and aims to improve gender equality by ensuring that men and women Few people have had a career as impressive as Susanne Ruoff, a woman whose presence in Switzerland’s business environments needs no introduction. From leading projects relating to Y2K to pioneering in the age of AI, Susanne has done it all, with a rigorous focus on developing leaders and promoting diversity along the way. It is her work in these latter two areas that has seen Susanne recognised as part of our Influential Businesswoman Awards 2026. She commented more on this below. Ruoff Advisory & folx global
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