PLEXUS can always call on its advisory board to support its operational team with advice and assistance. Exchanging knowledge and opinions, and jointly adopting new perspectives on society and the investment world – this has been part of our development since the company was founded in 2006.
The advisory board is a PLEXUS initiative for quality optimization. As required by Swiss law, our advisory board includes the Chairman of the Board of Directors of PLEXUS, Ulf Becker, whose profile you can also find below. The two other legally required members of the Board of Directors are PLEXUS founder and CEO Guenter Jaeger and his Co-CEO, Doris Di Marzio.
Chairman of the Board of Directors
CEO and Owner of Early Stage Management GmbH, founded 2011.
Besides running Early Stage Management GmbH Ulf Becker from 2017 until mid of 2021 Ulf Becker was Member of the Board and Co-CIO of Shareholder Value, a Frankfurt based investment boutique. Early Stage Management GmbH is focused on investments in young companies, to which he also provided operational support.
Prior to this, Ulf Becker was a partner at Lupus alpha from 2000, the year of the company’s foundation, until 2011; here, he was responsible for absolute return mandates. Ulf Becker began his professional career in 1997 at the management consulting firm PWC, having previously studied business administration at Justus Liebig University in Giessen. Before going to university, Ulf Becker completed a banking apprenticeship at Deutsche Bank in Iserlohn from 1989 onwards.
MEMBER OF THE ADVISORY BOARD
Florian Weigert is Full Professor and Chair of Digital Finance at the Technical University of Munich, Germany. His research focuses on the determinants of asset returns, performance measurement of investment and hedge funds, the financial impact of behavioural investor biases, and the use of artificial intelligence in portfolio strategies. He obtained his PhD in Finance summa cum laude from the University of Mannheim. Prior to joining TUM, he served as Full Professor at the University of Neuchâtel, Assistant Professor at the University of St Gallen and as a visiting scholar at several leading US universities, including New York University, Georgetown University and the University of Texas at Austin. His work has been presented at major international conferences, published in top academic journals and recognised with multiple awards. He is Co-Editor of Financial Markets and Portfolio Management and a board member of the Alpine Finance Summit.
Member of the Advisory Board
Ruxandra Farkas is an independent executive and non-executive advisor to insurance companies, banks, fintech firms and corporations, specialising in strategic risk management, governance and regulatory strategy across the EMEA region. As a Swiss Certified Actuary (SAA) and former risk manager at FINMA, she brings a rare combination of regulatory experience, financial and actuarial expertise, and strategic advisory skills at the highest executive level. At FINMA, she played a key role in shaping the national supervisory strategy for capital and investment risks. In her subsequent career, she worked as a financial risk specialist at Zurich Insurance and Aon; as Managing Director of the University of Zurich’s Blockchain Centre, she fostered links between industry and research; and as Head Actuary Western Europe at Willis Towers Watson, she advised boards and CROs of leading companies on the strategic optimisation of profitability, with a focus on solvency, ERM and regulatory strategy. Her passion for knowledge transfer and the promotion of young talent is evident in her long-standing lecturing activities at ETH Zurich, ZHAW and, not least, the University of Zurich — where she has taught the module ‘Regulatory Challenges: Banking, Insurance, Blockchain’ since 2018 — as well as in her role as Advisor to the Regulatory Developments Chapter of the Swiss Risk Association (SRA), through which she supports professionals and decision-makers.
Member of the Advisory Board
Peter Willner is Head of Asset Management for Pensions and Alternative Investments at Munich-based infrastructure, mobility and healthcare company Siemens.
Before joining Siemens AG in 2012, he worked as a portfolio manager at major bank HVB/UniCredit for seven years. Prior to this, he held various positions at Versicherungskammer Bayern, the largest public insurer of personal and property insurance in Germany. His achievements during this time include establishing the Alternative Investments division in joint responsibility. Peter Willner studied in Augsburg and Belfast. Following his degree in business administration, he began his professional career at Dutch shipping company Nedlloyd.