NOMIS Leadership
NOMIS is shaped by people who understand the responsibility of supporting frontier research.
The foundation’s governance, leadership and advisory structures bring together scientific, scholarly, institutional and strategic expertise. Their role is to protect the integrity of the mission, strengthen the foundation’s perspective and ensure that NOMIS continues to support research with clarity, discipline and care.
Board of Directors
The NOMIS Foundation Board of Directors provides strategic oversight and scientific guidance for the foundation, ensuring it fulfills its purpose and mission.
Its members bring distinguished experience across research, academia, institutional leadership and philanthropy. The Board helps define NOMIS’ direction, uphold its standards and ensure that the foundation’s funding decisions remain aligned with its purpose and values.
The Board is responsible not only for governance, but also for stewardship: protecting the foundation’s long-term development and ability to support exceptional people, bold research and meaningful insight.
About Manuel Liatowitsch Manuel Liatowitsch has been chairman of the board of the NOMIS Foundation since 2022 and a board member since 2014. He is the group general counsel/CLO and head of the Corporate Center at Ringier AG, a leading European media and technology company based in Switzerland and active in 20 countries, and a […]
Chairman of the NOMIS Foundation
NOMIS Foundation
About Ernst Fehr Ernst Fehr is a NOMIS board member and has been professor of microeconomics and experimental economics at the University of Zurich since 1994. He also serves as director of the UBS International Center of Economics in Society and has been a Global Distinguished Professor at New York University since 2011. Born in […]
Member of the NOMIS Foundation board of directors
NOMIS Foundation
University of Zurich
About Nilüfer Göle Nilüfer Göle is a NOMIS board member and professor of sociology at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS; Paris, France). She led the project Public Space Democracy (PublicDemoS) and is currently leading the project AgorAkademi – Creative Inquiry for Public Space. Göle is the author of several books, including Islam […]
Member of the NOMIS Foundation board of directors
École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales
NOMIS Foundation
About Christian Haass Christian Haass is a NOMIS board member and has been professor of biochemistry and the head of the Department of Metabolic Biochemistry at the Biomedical Research Center at Ludwig Maximilian University (Munich, Germany) since 1999. He has also served as the spokesman of the German Center for Neurodegenerative Disorders (DZNE) in Munich […]
Member of the NOMIS Foundation board of directors
German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE)
NOMIS Foundation
About Martin W. Hetzer Martin W. Hetzer is a NOMIS board member and the president and CEO of the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA). He led the Determining Biological Age in Humans project. Hetzer received his PhD in biochemistry and genetics from the University of Vienna (Austria), and completed postdoctoral work at the […]
Member of the NOMIS Foundation board of directors
Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA)
NOMIS Foundation
About Catharina Kahane Catharina Kahane is a NOMIS board member. Kahane studied art history and classical archaeology at the University of Vienna (Austria) and is an expert on the paintings of Pieter Bruegel the Elder as well as on the theory and practice of contemporary art. She has published in both research areas and has […]
Member of the NOMIS Foundation board of directors
NOMIS Foundation
University of Konstanz
About Victoria Orphan Victoria Orphan is a NOMIS board member and a 2018 NOMIS Awardee. She is the James Irvine Professor of Environmental Science and Geobiology in the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech; Pasadena, US). Born in the US, Orphan earned a BA in aquatic biology in […]
Member of the NOMIS Foundation board of directors
California Institute of Technology
NOMIS Foundation
About Georg Heinrich Thyssen Georg Heinrich Thyssen† was the chairman of the NOMIS Foundation from 2008–2022. Thyssen studied mathematics at the University of Munich (Germany) and received a law degree from the University of Zurich (Switzerland). For several decades, he held a series of key executive positions within the Thyssen-Bornemisza Group (TBG) and was Chairman […]
Former Chairman of the NOMIS Foundation
NOMIS Foundation
Management
The NOMIS management team leads the foundation’s programs, partnerships, grants, communications and community engagement.
Working in Zurich, the team translates NOMIS’ vision into daily practice. It supports researchers, cultivates institutional relationships, coordinates funding processes and keeps the NOMIS community connected, visible and purposeful. Their dedicated and deeply human work is built on trust, sustaining momentum and ensuring that every NOMIS experience reflects the caliber of the research the foundation supports.
About Markus Reinhard Markus Reinhard has served as managing director of the NOMIS Foundation since 2015. Born in Vienna, Austria, Reinhard earned an MS in psychology in 1991 and an advanced MS in public relations in 1992 from the University of Vienna (Austria). Prior to his NOMIS appointment, he spent 25 years as an executive […]
Managing director of the NOMIS Foundation
NOMIS Foundation
About Jörg Heldmann Jörg Heldmann has served as deputy managing director at the NOMIS Foundation since May 2023. He studied political science, economics and public law at Philipps-Universität Marburg, Universidad Católica del Uruguay and the University of Minnesota. In the course of his PhD thesis on the Cuban economic and political integration in Latin America, […]
Chief Operating Officer & Deputy Managing Director
NOMIS Foundation
About Anne Kerstin Aeberli Anne Kerstin earned an MA in business administration in 1992 from the University of Zurich. Prior to her NOMIS appointment, she worked at UBS Asset Management as a strategy project manager and at the Department of Economics at the University of Zurich as Senior Relationship Manager at the Excellence Foundation. She […]
Director, Communication and Programs
NOMIS Foundation
About Sally Peggs Sally Peggs has served as Program Manager at the NOMIS Foundations since April 2022. Sally earned an MA in business administration in 1994 from the University of Zurich and a DAS on fundraising management from the ZHAW in 2020. Prior to her NOMIS appointment, she worked for the Department of Economics at […]
Director, Grants and Events
NOMIS Foundation
Honorary Council
Established in October 2023, the NOMIS Foundation Honorary Council brings together distinguished scientists and leaders whose expertise, reputation and long-standing connection to NOMIS strengthen and support the foundation’s mission.
As trusted global ambassadors and advisors, its members enhance the foundation’s visibility, foster meaningful partnerships and contribute to shaping its strategic direction. Comprising accomplished personalities from different fields, the Honorary Council reflects the international outlook and high standards of the NOMIS community.
About Sandra Diaz Sandra Díaz is a member of the NOMIS Honorary Council and a professor of community and ecosystem ecology at the National University of Córdoba in Argentina, and a senior member of the National Research Council of Argentina. Sandra Díaz earned a PhD in biology (cum laude) from the National University of Córdoba. […]
Professor of community and ecosystem ecology
National University of Córdoba
About David Freedberg David Freedberg is a NOMIS board member and is professor of the history of art at Columbia University (New York, US) as well as director of its Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America. Born in Cape Town, South Africa, Freedberg studied classical philology at Yale University and cultural and art history […]
Member of the NOMIS Foundation board of directors
Columbia University
NOMIS Foundation
About Michael Hagner Michael Hagner is professor of science studies at ETH Zurich (Zurich, Switzerland) and co-led the Science and Philosophy Between Academia and the Public Sphere project. Hagner studied medicine and philosophy at the Freie Universität Berlin (Germany) from 1980-1986. After earning an MD in 1986, he worked as a neurophysiologist at the FU […]
NOMIS Honorary Council member and professor emeritus of science studies
ETH Zurich
About Michael Hengartner Michael Hengartner is a member of the NOMIS Honorary Council and the President of the ETH Board and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the ETH Domain. The Swiss-Canadian citizen, born in St. Gallen, Switzerland, grew up in Québec City, Canada, and studied biochemistry at the Université Laval. After his PhD studies at […]
President of the ETH Board
ETH Zurich
About Helga Nowotny Helga Nowotny is professor emerita of science and technology studies at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, founding member and former president of the European Research Council, and scientific advisory board member of the Complexity Science Hub Vienna. She is co-leading two projects: The Socioscope: A Pioneering Methodology for Understanding Societal Transitions, and Mapping the […]
NOMIS Honorary Council member and professor emerita of science and technology studies
Complexity Science Hub Vienna
ETH Zurich
About Svante Pääbo Svante Pääbo is a 2017 NOMIS Awardee and has been director of the Department of Evolutionary Genetics at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (Leipzig, Germany) since 1997. Pääbo was born in Stockholm, Sweden. He earned his PhD from Uppsala University, Sweden, in 1986 and did postdoctoral research at the Department of Biochemistry […]
NOMIS Honorary Council member; director, Department of Evolutionary Genetics
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology