Leadership Announcement Gi Group Switzerland

Gi Group Holding announced last week the successful completion of its acquisition of the European Staffing business of Kelly (Nasdaq: KELYA, KELYB), a leading global specialty talent solutions provider, making it the largest acquisition in Gi Group Holding’s history and increasing its revenues to five billion Euros.

The transaction accelerates Gi Group Holding’s growth strategy to become a leader in the global staffing and recruitment industry as it expands its activities in eleven countries, including: France, Portugal, Switzerland, and additionally bringing its services to Belgium, Luxembourg and Norway. It is especially notable given Kelly’s distinguished history in staffing services across these locations, further consolidating Gi Group Holding’s standing as a trusted, expert and reliable partner.

Gi Group a leading player on the Swiss staffing and recruitment market

On the Swiss front, this transaction further strengthens Gi Group Holding's position in the staffing and recruitment industry, especially across the sectors: Industrial & Manufacturing, Transport, Retail & Logistics and Life Sciences. Gi Group Switzerland is now present in 35 locations with over 250 employees, making it a leading player in the Swiss recruitment market.

Appointed Leadership Team under the lead of Balz M. Villiger

With the closing of the acquisition, the new leadership team of Gi Group Switzerland has been appointed, consisting of leading members of both organisations. Balz M. Villiger leads the new Swiss organisation as President of the Board and Country Manager of Gi Group Switzerland.

Balz M. Villiger has gained extensive experience as a leader in an international environment. Since 2021 he has held the position of Country General Manager Switzerland and now at Kelly has been promoted to take responsible for the country group Switzerland and the BeNeLux from January 2023. Prior to that, his career path at the RUAG Group took him through various functions in sales and marketing until he was promoted to Managing Director and SVP in 2018. Balz M. Villiger strengths lie in the development of growth strategies. Hereby, he puts a strong emphasis on the needs of customers and candidates to create unique and sustainable customer experiences. Balz M. Villiger is married, has two children, and lives close to Lucerne.

Additional members of the Swiss Leadership Team are:

• Silvano Castellani, Deputy Director Staffing Operations
• Gregory Cavaco, Director Finance
• Burak Cetin, Director Grafton
• Angela Dies, Director Human Resources
• Kathrin Gasser, Director Marketing & Communication
• Dominik Hirt, Director IT & Services
• Guido Hofmänner, Director Sales
• Stéphane Miras, Director Life Sciences
• Davide Riboni, Director Staffing Operations

Maurizio Uboldi, Head M&A at Gi Group and new Chief Regional Officer for Switzerland, emphasizes: "The strong synergy of our organisations in the portfolio and geographically makes Gi Group a leading player in the Swiss recruitment market with immediate effect. This leadership team brings a broad range of experience that will form the basis for our future growth and success."

About Gi Group Switzerland

Gi Group Holding is present in Switzerland since 2016. The goal of the Group is to help the growth of the Labour Market by providing 360° solutions that can fulfil the needs of candidates and clients. This goal is reached by the knowledge growth on the local market, while the vision of a worldwide HR company is kept. The Group is active in temporary, permanent and professional staffing, management search and selection, business processes outsourcing, training, outplacement and a variety of complementary HR consulting activities.

More about Gi Group and its acquisition of Kelly’s European Staffing Business can be found here in the global press release of Gi Group Holding.