Leadership Team

As the Chairman of BFI Capital Group, Frank R. Suess heads up our group's overall business and strategy. He personally advises a select group of wealthy international investors and families with focus on cross-border planning and prudent wealth management. He is also the Chairman of aXedras, a blockchain start-up he co-founded in 2017 with the purpose of offering a 'know-your-product' solution for the precious metals industry.

Prior to his time at BFI, he held a senior management position with Price Waterhouse, working as a strategic and operational management consultant to a number of international corporations. He holds an MBA from the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley and a Bachelor's degree in Finance from Saint Mary's College.

Oliver Kehl, since 1998, has been a co-founder and managing partner of a renowned tax advisory firm in Zurich, Switzerland. His firm offers tax and accounting services. His focus is on international structures and cross-border tax advisory work for international institutions and wealthy entrepreneurs.

Prior to 1998, he served as a manager in the tax advisory department of Coopers & Lybrand and also became Co-Director at a major Swiss bank, establishing the bank's HNWI multi-family-office division.

He holds a post-graduate degree of Executive Master of Laws (LL.M.) in International Taxation and a Master of Business & Economics from the University of Zurich.

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Bernarda Pesantez has been with BFI since 2000. She heads up the group's wealth and insurance planning services and acts as the Chief Compliance Officer for BFI Infinity Ltd. Prior to joining BFI, she worked for a Swiss private bank.

​She holds a Bachelor's degree from the Equinoctial University of Ecuador and a Master of Laws (LL.M.) from the University of London. She also holds a Trust and Estate Practitioners qualification (TEP) and is a member of the Swiss branch of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners.

Dirk Steinhoff has been with BFI since 2007 and acts as the group's Investment Officer. He is also a managing partner of BFI Infinity and, as Chief Investment Officer (CIO), takes the lead regarding the firm's investment process and research.

Prior to joining BFI, he acted as an independent asset manager for over 15 years. Furthermore, he successfully founded and built two companies in the realm of infrastructure and real estate management. He holds a Master's degree in Civil Engineering and Business Administration from the Technical University of Berlin, Germany.

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Scott Schamber has been with BFI since 2002, most recently heading up our firm’s relationship management and client advisory team.  

Now with BFI Bullion, he leads a team dedicated to the purchase and storage of physically allocated metals in Switzerland. He is the co-editor of the “Digger Quarterly”, as well as the BFI Capital Group blog.

Prior to joining BFI, Scott worked as a supervisor for a large US insurance company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Daniel Zurbruegg is a managing partner of BFI Infinity and, as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), signs responsible for the executive management of the firm.

Prior to his tenure at BFI, Mr. Zurbruegg had founded and managed Swiss Infinity Global Investments GmbH, an independent investment advisor that merged with BFI Wealth Management (International) Inc. to form BFI Infinity in 2017. Mr. Zurbruegg was the Head Asset Manager for a private bank in Zurich, where he and his team managed the bank’s private client portfolio with total value of US$1.2 billion. His focus was on global asset management and asset protection. Prior to that, he was a Treasury Manager for Kraft Foods / Altria Group, focusing on foreign exchange management and global investments, and Compagnie Financière Richemont AG. Mr. Zurbruegg also managed institutional money for Richemont, which belongs to the Rupert family of companies.
Mr. Zurbrügg completed his business studies in Switzerland and later earned his CFA charter.

Alex Seidel is an independent board member and investor having gained over 35 years of experience in General Management and in Marketing & Sales with leading international companies such as Procter & Gamble and Mars. In his prior positions as Chairman at Unilever, Switzerland, and CEO of Bestfoods for Switzerland and for the Czech & Slovak Republics, he was able to demonstrate repeatedly his pragmatic focus on delivering results in challenging environments and his ability to lead teams through shared vision and values.

Mr. Seidel holds a Master's degree in Economics from the University of St. Gallen.

Katja Widmer has worked at BFI since 1999. She heads up the group's administration and HR matters.

Prior to working at BFI, Mrs. Widmer worked as an executive assistant at Price Waterhouse in Zurich. She holds a Swiss Commercial Diploma.

Marc D. Seidel heads up our Alternative Investment practice.

He previously worked at Google and Facebook, where he launched and led market activation programs for Switzerland. He worked with startups to multinational corporations, helping them scale their business and revenue through online advertisement. He also worked at BFI for 9 years, holding various positions within the group. He founded three companies, one each in the health care, law digitalization and sustainability ecommerce sector.

He holds a Master’s degree having studied at the Universities of St. Gallen, Oxford, Stanford and Zurich. He is also a CAIA Charter Holder.

Christian Brunner acts as the external legal counsel to BFI. In 2022, he joined the Board of Directors of BFI Consulting AG.

Christian started his career as a legal counsel with Bank Leu. He then held positions at Bank Heusser and Clariden, including the role of CEO for Clariden Asset Management Inc. in New York. In 2001, he became a founding partner and general counsel of Aquila Group. In 2002, he started his own legal firm, Brunner & Partner.

Christian was admitted to the Bar in 1990. He has focussed his career in the area of banking and wealth management. Since 2002, he has built a successful law practice, Brunner & Partner Law Office in Zurich.

Jürg Bühlmann is specialized in contracts and banking laws as well as blockchain-based technologies and transactions (Initial Coin Offerings, ICO). He advises clients from various industry sectors and the financial industry in  corporate law matters and examines regulatory aspects of new business models.

In addition, he has vast experience in sports law and represents his clients in court and administrative proceedings.

In 2012, he successfully founded a law firm in Zürich, where he still acts as a partner. In addition, he regularly holds speeches at conferences and seminars on current legal topics and has lectured at the Institute for Financial Services Zug IFZ as well as the University of Applied Sciences Lucerne.

Mr. Bühlmann was admitted to the bar in 2002. He holds an LL.M. from the Universtiy of Pennsylvania Law School and a lic. iur. (J.D.) from the University of Zurich Law School.

Oskar Kälin recently joined the BFI Group to lead the BFI Family Office initiative.Prior to his time at BFI, he held various directorships of Swiss subsidiaries of international companies. Furthermore, he signed responsible for the development and realization of various residential real estate projects in Germany. He also worked on projects in the renewable energy sector (Biogas) in Italy and Germany. Prior to that, Mr. Kälin was MD with Swiss Re, managing cross border financial transaction and asset management initiatives from a tax point of view and acted as CFO of a reinsurance subsidiary of Swiss Re, in Germany. At the beginning of his business career, he worked as a tax consultant at KPMG.
He holds a Master Degree of Economics from the University of Zurich.

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