Our leadership team

The members of the board ensure our operations, services and standards reflect the values we hold true to.

Dr. Christoph Gebald

Director, Founder and Member of the Board
Christoph is a mechanical engineer (ETH Zürich and UC Berkeley) and holds an MSc with distinction and a PhD from ETH Zürich. Together with Jan, Christoph is responsible for the management of the company. Christoph’s passion is the exploration of new places on a kitesurf board, skis or mountain bike.

Dr. Jan Wurzbacher

Director, Founder and Member of the Board
Jan is a mechanical engineer (ETH Zürich and University of New South Wales, Sydney) and holds an MSc with distinction and a PhD from ETH Zürich. Together with Christoph, Jan is responsible for the management of the company. Besides Climeworks, Jan is dedicated to windsurfing, skiing, and discovering new cities and beaches.

Jan Wurzbacher, co-founder and co-CEO of Climeworks

Dr. Rainer A. Rueppel

Dr. Rainer A. Rueppel

Member of the Board

Dr. Rueppel is a serial entrepreneur and angel investor with a focus on technology and finance. He is a founder or co-founder of several companies and holds several board positions.
His background is computer science and applied mathematics. He holds a PhD from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich) and was Assistant Professor at the University of California in San Diego (UCSD).

Christoph Bechtler

Christoph Bechtler

Member of the Board

Christoph Bechtler is responsible for the direct and real estate investments of Hesta AG, a Swiss investment company. Before joining the family business, he successfully founded several e-commerce businesses in Switzerland and worked as consultant for Bain & Company. Christoph studied at the University of St. Gallen.

Dr. Iur. Martin Burkhardt

Dr. Iur. Martin Burkhardt

Member of the Board

Dr. Burkhardt is Partner at Lenz & Staehelin where he represents parties in commercial litigation and international arbitration. He also sits as arbitrator. His practice areas include dispute resolution, international legal assistance, contract and commercial, international private law, insolvency and restructuring as well as internal investigations.
He studied law at the University of St.Gallen (lic. iur.) and the University of California Berkeley Law School (LL.M.). He holds a L.D. from the University of St.Gallen (Dr. iur.) and has been admitted to the New York Bar and the Zürich Bar.

Alfred Gantner

Alfred Gantner

Member of the Board

Alfred Gantner is the Co-Founder of Partners Group. He is an executive member of Partners Group Holding AG’s Board of Directors, based in Zug. Alfred Gantner is also Chairman of the Board's Investment Oversight Committee. He served as Chief Executive Officer of Partners Group from 1996 to 2005 and subsequently as Executive Chairman from 2005 to 2014. He was also Chairman of Partners Group's Global Investment Committee from 2011 until June 2017. Furthermore, he served as a board member at various Partners Group portfolio companies such as Careismatic Brands, Universal Security, VAT, USIC, PCI Pharma Services and currently serves as a board member of Breitling, Fermaca and Confluent Health. Prior to founding Partners Group, he worked at Goldman Sachs & Co. He has over 30 years of industry experience and holds an MBA from the Brigham Young University Marriott School of Management in Utah, USA.

Ulf Berg

Ulf Berg

Member of the Board

Ulf Berg is founding partner at BLR Partners AG active in PE, investment and advisory. He holds a M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the Technical University of Denmark and a BBA from CBS. He has been working for BBC, ABB, SIG, Sulzer as well as board positions in Bobst, EMS Chemie, Sulzer and numerous portfolio companies of EQT and BLR.