Switzerland’s insurers hold decades of policyholder data under some of the strictest regulatory oversight in Europe, and the six CISOs below protect some of the country’s best-known names in property, life, and health insurance. Their paths into security cross languages, sectors, and borders. One began as a food chemist at Nestlé, developing a method to measure iron in milk powder on production lines. Another worked as a cybersecurity consultant in Madrid before returning to Switzerland. A third started in IT consulting at Nixdorf in 1982 and spent nearly 18 years at Swiss Post, and a fourth took a career break to help found a private school for children before joining Allianz Suisse.
Sandra Känzig – Group CISO, Helvetia Baloise Group
Sandra Känzig began in banking as a private client adviser at Bank Linth and a compliance officer at Zuger Kantonalbank, handling anti-money laundering and FATCA. She moved into security as an online security and payment analyst at ricardo.ch, managing anti-fraud and payment security, then worked in Spain as a business continuity consultant at OYLO Trust Engineering and a senior cybersecurity consultant at Ecix Group in Madrid, where she managed ethical hacking and forensic projects and audited clients against ISO 27001. After serving as cyber security officer at Viseca in Zurich and senior information security officer at Baloise, Känzig became Group CISO of Helvetia Baloise Group in December 2025. She has lectured on information security management at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts since 2024, and spoke at the SVV Insurers Day in 2026 and Meet Swiss InfoSec in 2025.
Raphael Pina – CISO, Allianz Suisse
Raphael Pina spent nearly eight years at IBM in Zurich, first consulting for Swiss banks on process re-engineering and large-scale banking platform replacements, then owning IBM’s IT change management process across Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. At Alpiq he managed the IT service portfolio and quality management before becoming information security manager, strengthening the company’s ISMS and audit readiness. In 2022 he took a career break to help found a local non-profit offering private schooling for children. Pina joined Allianz Suisse as a senior information security officer in 2023 and became CISO in January 2024, leading an ISMS aligned with ISO 27001 and NIST, advising AI use cases on security by design, and ensuring compliance with FINMA and Swiss data protection rules.
Thierry Jonin – CISO, Vaudoise Assurances
Thierry Jonin began his career as a food chemist at Nestlé, developing a new method for measuring iron in milk powder on production lines. He moved into training and communications for Nestlé’s e-learning and SAP rollouts, then into security as team leader for identity and user management and later infrastructure security, leading 13 people. As security services manager, he oversaw all information security operations for the Nestlé group, and as technology and systems security manager he supported ISO 27001 certification across the group. At Galderma he became director of information security and IT risks, running a program aligned with GxP requirements. Jonin has served as CISO of Vaudoise Assurances in Lausanne since September 2020, defining its security strategy and helping the insurer take on new opportunities securely.
Sébastien Picard – CISO, Assura
Sébastien Picard spent eight years as a consultant, first at Altran and then at Innovatica, before joining BNP Paribas as a project manager in 2007. He moved to BNP Paribas in Switzerland in Geneva in 2010 as an IT architect, then took on security as architecture and software security manager. In 2015 he became CISO of BNP Paribas in Switzerland, leading security for the bank’s Swiss operations for six years, more than a decade in all with the bank in Geneva. Picard joined health insurer Assura as CISO in August 2021, where his work spans security monitoring and ISO 27001. He has shared his perspective on cybersecurity as a speaker at Le Temps Santé in 2024 and in a Financial Times video in 2023.
Tobias Schoch – CSO, AXA Switzerland
Tobias Schoch started as an IT security and IT auditor at EY in Bern, then spent more than four years as IT security officer at Raiffeisen Switzerland and four as information security officer and business continuity lead at LGT in Liechtenstein. After serving as CISO of FLYNT Bank, he joined AXA Switzerland in 2018 as deputy head of IT risk, security, and compliance, then led ISMS and governance oversight before becoming CISO and deputy CSO in 2021. Schoch has served as chief security officer since October 2023. He lectures at the ZHAW School of Management and Law, joined the board of Silenccio in 2026, and delivered a keynote at a security conference in 2023.
Christian Zeller – Group CISO, Mobiliar
Christian Zeller began in IT consulting and software development for the financial sector at Nixdorf in Bern and London, then spent 12 years in sales leadership at Digital Equipment Corporation and EMC. He joined Swiss Post in 2000 as head of IT operations, served on the overall project leadership for its mail reengineering program, and led its information technology for eight years. Zeller has served as Group CISO and head of cyber, information, and IT security at Mobiliar since March 2018. He has commented on cloud security in Netzwoche and spoke at a digitalswitzerland cyber event hosted by Mobiliar.
Protecting Policyholders
These six leaders show the range of experience behind Swiss insurance security. Känzig and Schoch built their careers through banking, compliance, and security roles across Switzerland, Spain, and Liechtenstein, while Pina and Zeller brought deep IT governance and operations backgrounds. Jonin carried a scientist’s curiosity from the lab into security leadership, and Picard moved from banking to health insurance. Together they protect the data and systems that policyholders across Switzerland trust with their most important risks.
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John Kevin Hao is a news and feature writer covering cybersecurity, technology, and business targeted for professional audiences.