André Wyss climbed the career ladder at the pharmaceutical company Novartis after completing an apprenticeship as a chemical technician. He has been the CEO of the construction giant Implenia for almost six years. In 2026, the flexible manager is set to take over the presidency at the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB).
André Wyss will step down as CEO of Implenia at the end of March 2025 and then move to the board of the SBB.
André Wyss is transitioning from construction to railways. As announced on Wednesday, the well-known Swiss manager will resign as CEO of Implenia at the end of March 2025. After that, he is expected to be elected to the board of the SBB and replace the current president, Monika Ribar, after a year. Ribar, also an experienced manager, will step down from her position in 2026 due to term limits.
Long Career at Novartis
Wyss, now 57 years old, has been at the helm of the largest Swiss construction company, Implenia, since October 2018. Previously, he worked for the pharmaceutical company Novartis and its predecessor Sandoz for over 30 years, which merged with competitor Ciba-Geigy in 1996.
Wyss has had a textbook career. At the beginning of his career, he completed an apprenticeship as a chemical technician at Sandoz. Five years after completing his apprenticeship, he studied economics at the Higher School of Business and Administration (HWV).
This, along with attending seminars at Harvard Business School starting in 1996, paved his way into management at the newly formed company Novartis. He worked his way up to the corporate management after holding various positions, including head of the American business and responsible for pharmaceutical production in Europe.
His last post at the Basel pharmaceutical giant was leading the corporate unit Operations from 2016 to 2018. In this role, Wyss was responsible not only for the entire production but also for global procurement, IT, and HR and accounting.
Ending Foreign Adventures
Upon joining Implenia, the Fricktaler native, who resides in Bottmingen, not only transitioned into the CEO role but also had to prove himself in a new industry. However, Wyss did not falter and led the company with a steady hand.
He implemented a strategy to withdraw from several foreign markets that Implenia, under his risk-taking predecessor Anton Affentranger, a former banker (Swiss Bank Corporation, Lombard Odier), had entered.
Wyss’s successor as CEO of Implenia will be Jens Vollmar. With this choice, the construction company, whose board is still chaired by former Credit Suisse manager Hans-Ulrich Meister, has opted for an internal solution. The 40-year-old from Grenzach-Wyhlen, who is 17 years younger than Wyss, has been with Implenia for over ten years. Since 2019, he has led the company’s construction division (Buildings).
Rich in Self-Confidence
At Implenia’s half-year conference, Wyss expressed his belief that he would leave his successor an “optimally” positioned company. This wording reflects a great deal of self-confidence, which the manager will also need in his future role as SBB president.
Indeed, Wyss managed to ensure stable development at Implenia. Unlike in the past, the company under his leadership hardly undertook projects that resulted in significant losses due to inaccurate cost calculations and untimely countermeasures.
Implenia focused on large, complex construction projects in both building and civil engineering, such as hospitals, laboratory buildings, tunnels, and bridges, which require specialized knowledge and face relatively little competition.
Additionally, following last year’s acquisition of Wincasa, the company reinforced its presence in property management, which allows for higher margins than the construction business.
Competitors of Implenia are More Profitable
In the past first half of the year, revenue rose by 1 percent to 1.7 billion Swiss francs despite the challenging situation, in which large parts of the construction sector were struggling not only in Switzerland but throughout Europe due to sharply rising costs. In local currencies, growth was nearly 3 percent.
The operating profit margin (Ebit) remained at 2.9 percent. As such, Implenia is still somewhat away from the mid-term target of over 4.5 percent. For certain foreign competitors like Strabag and Webuild, this target is already within reach.
Valuable Experiences for the SBB as Well
At the SBB, Wyss is likely to benefit from the experience he has gained over the past years in managing large construction projects. The SBB must also tackle numerous challenges in upgrading and expanding their rail network.
Ribar made a late but pointed contribution to the discussion on railway expansion. Wyss, with his background in the construction industry, is expected to bring new impulses. Notably, Implenia was involved in the construction of the Gotthard Base Tunnel.
For the SBB, it is crucial that politics decides on expansions where there is also a need. However, the increasing dependence on federal funding makes it more difficult to be heard.
Another important pillar of the state-owned company is real estate. Many train stations have turned into shopping centers in prime locations. Wyss also brings valuable experiences in this area, considering the SBB must take public expectations into account.
Moving Away from Increasing Subsidies
Operationally, the federal railways are currently well positioned. Their reliability and punctuality are high. However, entrepreneurial challenges remain significant.
Demanding more and more subsidies has become part of the industry’s DNA, criticized Peter Füglistaler, the long-time director of the Federal Office of Transport. The federal railways are heavily indebted and need to generate higher revenues. The freight division remains a concern. Now, temporary subsidies are intended for transporting individual cars and groups of cars as well as for transitioning to digital, automatic couplings. For SBB Cargo, this is likely the last attempt to put freight transport on a sustainable basis in the coming years.
Furthermore, the current chairwoman of the board also came from the private sector to the SBB. However, the federal railways operate within a tight framework. They conduct long-distance transport on a commercial basis, but according to the stipulations of the federal concession, such as minimum service levels.
The SBB have more entrepreneurial leeway in international long-distance transport, which is to be opened to competition. Ribar defends the current model of cooperation with partner railways from Switzerland’s neighboring countries. The chairwoman sees little room for new direct connections offered by the SBB themselves, as she stated in an interview with the NZZ. Whether Wyss will bring new accents here remains to be seen.