A message from the Global Infrastructure Basel Foundation (GIB) on our Board leadership:

Dear partners and colleagues,

Today, we are pleased to announce a leadership transition at the Global Infrastructure Basel Foundation (GIB).

After 16 years of outstanding service, Daniel Wiener is stepping down as Chair of the Board and handing over the role to André Schneider, who has been elected by the Board as his successor.

This transition marks an important moment for GIB as we prepare to launch and operationalise the Foundation’s new Strategy. As Board members over the past years, both Daniel and André have played pivotal roles in shaping our vision for the future, by working to expand GIB’s impact and accelerate the transition towards sustainable, resilient, and regenerative infrastructure.

Daniel's contribution to GIB has been immensely valuable. As our founder and Chair since inception, he has been a visionary at the forefront of our thought leadership. Long before sustainable infrastructure became a mainstream topic, Daniel recognised the need for a credible way to assess infrastructure quality and connect it to investment decisions, as well as a path towards establishing sustainable and resilient infrastructure as an asset class.

Over the past 16 years, Daniel has consistently challenged conventional thinking and pushed both GIB and the wider infrastructure community to aim higher. During his tenure, he drove GIB through many important developments, such as the launch of the Global Infrastructure Basel Summit, which ran from 2010 to 2014, the development of the SuRe® Standard in 2015, as a globally adopted tool to integrate sustainability and resilience into infrastructure development, followed by GIB’s role as the FAST-Infra Label Secretariat from 2023 onwards, among many other achievements. During that time, GIB has supported more than 300 infrastructure projects across more than 50 countries to become more sustainable and resilient.

Through his leadership and advocacy, Daniel’s influence has extended well beyond our organisation, shaping important conversations across sustainable finance, infrastructure development, and impact investing. These efforts have played an invaluable role in helping to move the sector toward more comprehensive and long-term approaches to value creation.

On behalf of the Board, staff, and our partners around the world, I would like to express our deepest gratitude for his remarkable contribution and enduring legacy.

Building upon this tradition of excellence, we are now delighted to welcome André Schneider as the new Chair of the Board at GIB.

André, who has served as Vice-President of the GIB Board since 2011, brings a wealth of leadership experience from business, sustainability, and international collaboration. He has held senior roles across the public and private sectors, working with governments, businesses and investors to advance climate action and sustainable development. André has worked as an engineer, software developer, and senior executive, as well as an accomplished concert musician. From 2016 to 2024, he served as CEO of Geneva Airport, where he led the development of a net-zero-by-2037 sustainability roadmap, guided it through the COVID-19 crisis, and transformed it into one of Europe's leading airports while implementing innovative sustainability and noise reduction initiatives.

In addition, he has played influential roles across numerous boards, advisory bodies, and international initiatives focused on sustainability, innovation, economic development, and global cooperation. André chairs the Aviation Research Center Switzerland (ARCS), a national research body founded in 2017 following a Swiss Federal Council mandate, and the World Climate Foundation, where he has served for over a decade. He sits on the board of SolarStratos, a solar-electric aviation venture, and serves as an advisory board member at the Leonardo Centre on Business for Society at Imperial College London. Earlier in his career, he was at IBM for over a decade, served as Vice-President for Resources and Infrastructures at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), and served as Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Over the years, André has become a highly valued member of the GIB Board and has already contributed strategic insight and a strong network to the organisation. He combines entrepreneurial thinking with practical execution, and brings experience building partnerships across the public, private, and non-profit sectors

These qualities position him well to guide GIB through our next phase of growth. As infrastructure systems around the world face increasing pressures and opportunities arising from climate change, resilience, urbanisation, and economic transformation, André's experience convening leaders and driving collaborative action will be invaluable.

This leadership transition reflects both continuity and evolution. It builds upon the strong foundations established by Daniel while supporting the next stage of GIB's ambition and impact. The transition has been thoughtfully planned, with Daniel and André working closely together and playing central roles in the development of GIB's new strategy, ensuring a seamless handover and a shared commitment to the organisation's future direction. To support a smooth leadership transition, Daniel will continue to serve as a Board Member for a period before stepping down.

We are profoundly grateful to Daniel for his 16 years of exceptional leadership and service, and it is with great enthusiasm that we look forward to working alongside André as he leads GIB into our next chapter.

Please join us in thanking Daniel for his extraordinary contribution and congratulating André on his appointment as Chair of the Board.

Louis Downing,

Chief Executive Officer,

Global Infrastructure Basel Foundation (GIB)

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