Patricia Seemann

Dr. Patricia Seemann has more than 15 years of experience as an adviser of leading executives of multinational organizations throughout the U.S. and Europe. She provides counsel on those issues that CEOs often find most intractable: people (in particular, the executive team), organizational culture, reputation and relations with Boards of Directors.

Her background includes marketing, strategy, organizational learning, corporate communications and developing organizational culture. She has successfully restructured and reoriented corporate departments, improved core processes, managed major crises through effective communications. With in-depth knowledge of the pharmaceutical and financial services industries, Dr. Seemann has served as an adviser to CEOs and Senior Executives of large multinational corporations on all soft aspects of organizations, such as talent, culture, brand, governance, etc.

Since 2012, Dr. Seemann is a member of the Board of Directors of Population Action International (PAI) and a member of its audit and finance committees. As a matter of principle, Dr. Seemann does not disclose names of her clients, but here are two examples that she has been permitted to share.

From 2008 to 2012 Dr. Seemann was the key adviser to the CEO of Swiss Re. During this time the firm recovered from an extremely difficult situation, tripled its share price and returned to its position as one of the leading firms in its industry. Dr. Seemann focused on advising the CEO about leading his executive team and managing his relationship with the Board of Directors, while at the same time designing a major cultural transformation program that has made the company more agile and able to perform at a higher level.

Dr. Seemann also has experience as a Senior Executive herself. From 1997 to 2000, she was the key strategic adviser to the Chairman and CEO of Zurich Financial Services. She joined the Group Management Board from 2000 to 2002 and was responsible for the organization’s global Group Communications. In this capacity, she managed all corporate communications activities during one of the most serious crises the firm had ever faced. She oversaw organizational learning, branding, internal communications, media/public relations and corporate intranet/internet activities.

Prior to joining Zurich Financial, Dr. Seemann advised executives on intellectual capital issues as the founder of Group 21, a successful consulting firm. She also was a Principal and head of Knowledge Management with Ernst & Young, where she was instrumental in working with the team to develop the firm’s successful knowledge management practice.

Dr. Seemann dedicated the early years of her career to various management roles within the pharmaceutical industry. She first assumed the position as group product manager with Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, with responsibility for global marketing of diverse pharmaceutical products. For the next two years, she headed the Corporate Regulatory Affairs and Scientific Documentation divisions of Ares-Serono Pharmaceuticals. She then joined F. Hoffmann-La Roche Pharmaceuticals, where she pioneered intellectual capital processes to streamline global drug development in her role as head of Knowledge Systems.

After earning a doctoral degree in medicine in 1981 from the University of Heidelberg, Germany, Dr. Seemann pursued four years of training in orthopedic surgery at the State Hospital, St. Gallen, Switzerland, and in biomechanics research at the Laboratory for Experimental Surgery in Davos, Switzerland.

Dr. Seemann is the co-author of Social Capital: Securing Competitive Advantage in the New Economy (2001) and a frequent speaker and lecturer on the topics of corporate governance, value creation and intangible assets, as well as on power, trust and the effective CEO. She holds Canadian citizenship, resides in Switzerland and is fluent in English, German, Swiss German and French.