A rail expert for the Executive Board

The first thing you see when you enter Ulrich Weidmann’s office on the Hönggerberg are the train models typical of a professor who deals with public transport. If you keep looking around, you will notice that most folders and document cases are green. “Green relaxes me and gives me a sense of serenity and well-being at work,” he explains to justify his colour choice.

To keep this sense of well-being at work, the professor of transport systems always performs his tasks efficiently and “doesn’t invest time in events that don't add value," he says. He also has certain rules for his daily and weekly routine: “ETH defines my schedule during the day, but evenings and weekends are for my family," says the father of a daughter (16) and a son (14).

In January Ulrich Weidmann will leave his office in the HIL building on the Hönggerberg campus and move into a new one in the ETH main building. At this point he will become ETH Vice President and assume responsibility for the Executive Board domain Human Resources and Infrastructure, which has been led by Roman Boutellier since 2008. He is pleased with the appointment by the ETH Board: “Participating in the management of one of the world’s top universities is a once in a lifetime opportunity."

The ETH Vice President position will not be Weidmann’s first management role. He currently heads up the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering (D-BAUG). Prior to his appointment as an ETH professor, he was section chief in the passenger division at SBB rail from 1998 to 2004 before becoming CTO of the infrastructure division.

"I am delighted about the election of Ulrich Weidmann as a member of the executive board and I look forward to working with him," says ETH President Lino Guzzella. "He is the ideal choice for the next Vice President of Human Resources and Infrastructure. With his diverse expertise and wealth of experience in challenging leadership roles both in and outside of the university, I have no doubt that Ulrich will make a valuable contribution to the development of ETH Zurich in the coming years."

Career continuity

Weidmann is motivated by management duties that connect strategy, policy and human resources with infrastructure and technology development. As ETH Vice President Human Resources and Infrastructure, Weidmann will be responsible for property, ICT management, environment, health and safety at ETH and human resources. He sees his new role as a natural next step in his career and wants to use his experiences at the SBB and ETH to help in his role on the Executive Board.

For example, both long-term financial liabilities and current user needs must be considered in any investment decisions regarding new buildings and infrastructure. “My time in rail infrastructure has influenced me,” says Weidmann. The ETH, like the SBB, has a large-scale infrastructure with high fixed costs and regular maintenance requirements. That’s why it’s important to build properties that can be easily modified to meet future user needs – adaptation instead of building anew.

Ulrich Weidmann believes that it is important for his future department to have a customer-oriented service culture. Here, too, his past experiences come into play: in the passenger division, Weidmann experienced how the SBB was transformed from an administrative branch into an independent and market-oriented rail company in which a new market focus was developed. "Customer orientation is key for me. The Executive Board domain Human Resources and Infrastructure should be seen as a sought-after service provider," he explains.

Customer orientation at ETH Zurich should be just as pronounced, insists Weidmann. Needs are constantly changing over time – much like the people involved. This means they can never be satisfied once and for all. “In fact every organisation is constantly evolving – sometimes it’s closer to this goal and sometimes it’s further away,” says Ulrich Weidmann, adding: “A process-oriented mindset helps everyone involved recognise their individual contributions to the whole. It’s not the precise organisational structure that holds the key, but rather the desire to work together,” he recalls, looking back on his experiences in the transformation of the SBB infrastructure division.

"I will re-invent myself"

When he looks ahead to his future as ETH Vice President, Ulrich Weidmann says he is aware that he is taking a major step in his career: “By joining the Executive Board, I will re-invent myself both professionally and personally to a certain degree." Today, as a department head, he already moves between the two worlds of science and university management. As a member of the Executive Board, the management aspect will move into the spotlight, and his ‘reinvention’ will have consequences. "Realistically this means that I will gradually withdraw from the scientific community," explains Weidmann. He will continue to supervise the current doctorates until graduation, and he will not abandon his group and department during the transitional period until a successor is found. He also wants to pass on his knowledge through textbooks on rail infrastructure, service concepts and service planning in public transport, for example. But will he find the time for this? “Hopefully – because I still have my lecture notes. But they require some work before they’re ready to be published."