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Stories of our Alumni

Below you can find some stories of different Swiss AIESEC Alumni who talk about their experience in AIESEC.

Uwe Doerken : AIESEC story

My life in AIESEC

I joined AIESEC in 1981, within four weeks of starting my business studies at St. Gall University in Switzerland. After some work on projects, my first management challenge was to revitalize the local committee as its LCP. We succeeded in doubling the number of traineeships and the budget.

I also became active in reactivating local committees at other Swiss universities where AIESEC had problems. A year later, I was elected NCP of AIESEC Switzerland. We succeeded in saving and fortifying all Swiss local committees during that year, and in significantly increasing traineeships again. I could convince our sponsor group to double the national sponsorship budget so that the NCP could be a paid full time position from then onwards. (read more)

Hans Maerki : Wanted: An Intercultural Experience

AIESEC – the School for Global Leadership

In between flying to the Middle East for a royal meeting with the Sheiks and a business chat with Mr. Schroeder of Germany, AIESEC managed to catch hold of Mr. Maerki. Today Mr. Maerki is the Chairman of the board of IBM in Europe, Middle East and Africa, thereby heading a USD $28 billion business with more than 106, 000 employees in 124 countries around the globe.

His long road to success includes three years spent with AIESEC, first in Switzerland and then one year with AIESEC International. It all began in 1969, when LC Basel was hunting for a new leader. Mr. Maerki was recruited into AIESEC and went straight from being a new member into the top leadership position of Local Committee President. (read more)

Heinz Albrecht : The Culture of Business

From the SwissAir skies to the Buchberg vines: Heinz Albrecht

Meet Mr. Heinz Albrecht. The man who negotiated several crucial agreements between SwissAir and Crossair and retired in 1997 as the Vice President of SwissAir, after spending 34 years with this world-renowned company.

We met him at his country home in Buchberg, where he has also been Deputy President of the community council for the last 12 years. He’s short, has salt and pepper hair and a bright spark in his eyes. When we sat down to talk to him, it didn’t feel like there was any difference in our ages, although there was the constant realisation of his wealth of experience.

Towards the end of a long and successful career with Swissair, Mr. Albrecht took on a volunteer position with his home community and is responsible for education and social welfare on the community council. In this capacity over the last twelve years, he has been in charge of also looking into cases where people are in acute financial distress and is responsible for authorising either aid or low-interest loans to tide them over rough times. This sort of long term thinking or holistic perspective is a trait that Mr. Albrecht has practised throughout his life. (read more)