Dr. Matthias Oberholzer

Dr. Matthias Oberholzer is the firm's Regional Coordinator for EMEA. He focuses on assignments for insurance, banking and private equity. Based in Zürich, he serves both national and international clients with assignments in general management as well as senior functional positions. Recent assignments within the financial services sector include working closely with global insurance companies to find a Global CEO, CHRO, CMO, COO, Head of Strategy as well as Regional CEOs and Country CEOs. Matthias also supported the appointment of a Head Investment Banking Switzerland for a European financial services provider and various CEO and MD-level positions for Swiss based private banks. He has also recently conducted a leadership assessment of several top executives during a merger of two banks. In the insurance sector, Matthias has been advising a number of European insurance companies on various Executive Board positions such as Head of Group Life, Head of Distribution, CTO and Head of Asset Management. Prior to joining Russell Reynolds Associates, Matthias was with McKinsey & Company for eight years, serving insurance, banking and sports clients in Germany and Switzerland as well as throughout Africa, Europe and North America. As an Associate Principal, he led assignments for European insurance companies on strategic and operational topics. Matthias worked in leadership roles in the European and Swiss insurance practices and led knowledge development in the areas of claims management, underwriting, bancassurance, innovation and the Swiss insurance market. Matthias has also founded and sold several companies as an independent entrepreneur. Matthias received his B.A. in business administration and his M.B.A. in insurance economics from the University of St. Gallen. He received his M.S. in e-commerce from Carnegie Mellon University and his Ph.D. in insurance economics from the University of Basel. Matthias is a member of YPO.