Lluc Farrera Soler was born in Vilafranca del Penedès (Spain). After studying the bachelor’s in chemistry at the university of Barcelona Lluc decided to move to Switzerland to do the master’s in chemical biology. Later Lluc stayed in Geneva to do the PhD in chemistry, and he is currently a postdoctoral researcher in EPFL in collaboration with Bühlmann laboratories developing diagnostic assays. His expertise is in the field of drug discovery and diagnostic assays.

During his PhD, Lluc had the opportunity to be elected as the president of the young Swiss Chemical Society (youngSCS) and in there he learnt that he likes to manage projects. For this reason, Lluc decided to take the PMP exam which he hopes to finish by mid-October. Moreover, Lluc is currently looking for job opportunities as Project Manager in a pharmaceutical/biotech company.

Lluc likes running and doing triathlons, and sailing when he has time to go to the sea.

You can learn more about Lluc by visiting his LinkedIn profile.

Kristy brings 15 years of combined project management experience from research, education, consulting, civil engineering and life sciences. Experience in varied sectors gives her a broad range of knowledge and ability to coordinate stakeholders, problem-solve and negotiate from different sides of government and industry. She considers the uniqueness of each project and digs deep to find the root cause of the problem. In her approach, she employs an open mind and positive attitude, which combined with critical thinking and leadership, leads to positive results. Kristy enjoys the challenges of a career in project management and employs a strong mindset towards continuous improvement in all tasks.

Kristy holds a Masters in Urban Planning from UW-Milwaukee and a Bachelor’s in Science from UW-Madison. To further her career and deepen her network, she is currently obtaining a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification and has recently joined the PMI Switzerland Chapter. She is also eager to improve her language skills and has achieved the A2 FIDE language competency in German.

Relocating to Switzerland from the United States in 2020, Kristy began working as a project management contractor in GMP Quality Systems and also Quality Control. In her free time, she enjoys long-distance bicycling and has already cycled over 4,500 km in 8 countries since the start of 2023.

James is 33 years old, British, living in Switzerland for the last 4 years and planning to stay for a lot longer.

James is an experienced project professional (10+ years) with a focus on delivering Operational Excellence programmes both as an external consultant and internal project manager. He has worked across industries such as Financial Services, Government, Technology, Pharmaceuticals and Industrial Manufacturing. In addition to the PMP James also holds a Masters in Aeronautical Engineering, is a Chartered Management Accountant and holds Lean qualifications as well.

In their spare time as a family they like to enjoy all that Switzerland has to offer, hiking, skiing lakes and more!

James joined the PMI and did his PMP to formalize his project experience, access the wider network of project professionals and continue his professional development.

You can learn more about James by visiting his LinkedIn profile.

After his PhD in bioinformatics at the University of Birmingham, Alex Upton completed a Marie-Curie postdoc at the University of Malaga, before moving to Switzerland in 2016. Since moving to Switzerland, he has worked as a project manager in a number of high-profile national and international research projects, and currently works as a research project manager at the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS).

Alex recently obtained his PMP, and as such decided to join the PMI Swiss chapter to expand his professional network in Switzerland and keep up to date with the latest project management trends and perspectives in Switzerland.

In his free time, he enjoys cooking and playing sports, as well as spending time with his family.

You can learn more about Alex by vising his LinkedIn profile.