BOARD OF TRUSTEES

The Board of Trustees is the Foundation’s supreme decision-making body. New members are chosen by vote of the current members, and the Board elects its Chair in consultation with the Jacobs family council. The Board is composed of distinguished international experts who have expertise and connections across the Foundation’s activity areas.

Former trustees

NameYears in Office
Prof. Dr. Patrick Aebischer
President EPFL
2017 – 2022
Nathalie Albin-Jacobs2012 – 2019
Prof. Paul B. Baltes (†)
Director Max-Planck- Institute
1989 – 2005
Prof. Jürgen Baumert2006 – 2012
Prof. Ernst Buschor
Former Member of the Government and Minister of Education of the canton of Zurich
2010 – 2012
Flavio Cotti (†)
Former President of Switzerland
1999 – 2010
Pascal Couchepin
Former President of Switzerland
2010 – 2012
Prof. Pierre Ducrey
University Lausanne
1989 – 1998
Dr. David A. Hamburg (†)
President Emeritus, Carnegie Corporation of New York
1991 – 1998
Prof. Michael Hubermann (†)
Senior Reasearch Associate, Prof Harvard University
1991 – 1995
Klaus J. Jacobs (†)
Founder & Chairman
1991 – 2007
Walther J. Jacobs (†)
Honorary Chairman
1991 – 1995
Prof. Eduardo Missoni
Prof. Bocconi University in Milan
2006 – 2011
Lázló Nagy (†)
President
1991 – 1998
Dr. Auma Obama2010 – 2015
Prof. Sir Michael Rutter (†)
Institute of Phsychiatry
1998 – 2003
Prof. Marta Tienda, Ph.D.1999 – 2021
Prof. Laura Tyson, Ph.D.2012 – 2017
Prof. Heinrich Ursprung
Former Swiss State Secretary
1995 – 2003

Strategy 2030

Learning is at the heart of what we do throughout our lives. We learn in the womb, at school, at work, and at play. In the early years, children have an enormous capacity to learn. However, the Jacobs Foundation’s three decades in child and youth development have shown us that learning systems often fail to nurture children’s full learning potential.