Hansjörg Wyss (Founder)

Hansjörg Wyss built his fortune as an entrepreneur and businessman. When he took over management of the American subsidiary of the Swiss company Synthes in 1976 it only had a team of 12 people. By the time it was sold to Johnson & Johnson in 2012, Synthes had become an organisation with around 8,500 employees that had revolutionised the market for medical instruments and changed the surgical approach towards healing traumatic injuries.

As an active philanthropist, Hansjörg Wyss has financed countless initiatives aimed at promoting new methods for tackling significant challenges around the world in the areas of medicine, conservation, art and humanitarian causes.