Prof. Dr. Robert Perich

Robert Perich has been a Professor of Practice and Academic Director of the Swiss School of Public Governance (SSPG) in the Department of Management, Technology and Economics (D-MTEC) since 1 April 2023.

For 20 years (1 April 2003 - 31 March 2023) Robert Perich acted as the Chief Financal Officer (CFO) of ETH Zurich, first in the role of Director of Finance & Controlling and Member of the Extended Executive Board, and as the Vice President Finance & Controlling and Member of the Executive Board since 1 October 2008. In this capacity he was in charge of the Executive Board domain for Finance & Controlling and was responsible in particular for the ETH-wide financial strategy, continuous medium-term financial planning and the budgeting process, financial management, cash & asset management, reporting and controlling, procurement and the supervision of partner organisations (catering, sports association, ETH Store, Business Tools), as well as risk management. He coordinated the respectives processes across the university and promoted the digitalisation of the appropriate tools (in particular SAP S4/HANA / ETHIS and for Institutional Research).

Born on 8 November 1961 in Basel, Robert Perich graduated in 1986 from the University of St. Gallen (HSG) in Management and Business Administration, specialising in organisational sciences, and in 1992 took his doctorate with a dissertation on 'business dynamics' which was awarded numerous accolades. For two years he worked as a research assistant at the Institute of Business Administration at HSG and spent a year at the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, thanks to a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation. Before moving to ETH Zurich, Robert Perich worked for 12 years in various executive and management support posts for a major Swiss bank, and finally as a Member of the Board and CFO of the 'Private Banking Switzerland' division.

For many years, Robert Perich had a teaching post at the University of St. Gallen in the field of 'Strategy and Organisational Methodology'. He is currently a regular lecturer at the Swiss School of Public Governance (SSPG) at ETH Zurich and at the Center for Higher Education Studies (CHESS) at the University of Zurich.

Robert Perich is Vice Chairman of the University Council of the University of Cologne.