Peter A Wuffli

Myriad financial periodicals praise the quiet firepower of UBS AG’s CEO Wuffli, a 1999 graduate of Wharton’s Advanced Management Program. Often described as a classic, understated Swiss banker, Wuffli has dramatically improved performance at UBS, bringing earnings and return on equity to all-time highs. During his college years at University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, Wuffli began a career as a business journalist, instinctively avoiding his banker father’s footsteps, and today believes his early training of writing under tight pressure has served him well. He completed a doctorate in 1984 and began advising banks and insurance firms for McKinsey. He was a McKinsey partner by 1990, and, in 1994, became CFO of Swiss Bank Corp. (SBC) before it merged with Union Bank of Switzerland to form UBS AG in 1998. Wuffli was appointed president of the Group Executive Board of UBS in 2001 and chief executive officer in 2003. In 2003, all UBS business groups — UBS PaineWebber, UBS Warburg, UBS Asset Management — were rebranded under the UBS name, unifying its image as one firm and one brand. During his time at the UBS helm, the financial firm has managed risk more effectively, controlled costs, and gobbled market share in investment banking and wealth management worldwide.