PM Talks 1: Gender Intelligence Report by Advance - Gender Diversity in the Swiss workplace

Alkistis Petropaki

General Manager for Advance Alkistis Petropaki has joined Advance as General Manager in 2015. She has more than 20 years experience in leading positions in well known FMCG companies like e.g. L’Oreal, Nestlé, Mövenpick and Lindt & Sprüngli. Before joining Advance she was the Country Manager of Yves Rocher in Switzerland.

She studied economics and holds a MBA from ESCP-EAP. She also has a Master’s degree in German literature and psychology from the University of Athens. Alkistis strongly believes in the benefits of mixed-gender teams for society, for organisations as well as for individuals.

With her engagement with Advance she is convinced to be able to make an impact in the Swiss economy. Alkistis is married and has two grown-up children.

Mafalda Amaro

Social Impact & Youth Coordinator for PMI Switzerland An Architect, turned into a procurement manager, turned into a project manager. And loving it! Always evolving, always learning. Currently, a project manager at Swiss Re, specialising in IT, Data & Analytics, Procurement and Construction projects, with over 13 years of professional experience.

When she is not managing projects, she is travelling or volunteering volunteering at PMI Switzerland, serving as Board member. Coordinating Social Impact & Youth for PMI Switzerland Chapter, and driving initiatives with social responsibility for NGOs, humanitarian organisations, with additional focus on Sustainability and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in Project Management. Mafalda move to Switzerland in 2019 and is based in Zurich.

Joanna Keller

DEI Co-Lead for PMI Switzerland Joanna Keller comes with 12 years of experience as project manager spanning both IT and business dimensions. She's spent four years in the banking sector and eight years with a BIG 4 consulting company. Joanna specializes in Agile and scaled Agile methodologies.

She has solid expertise in building and managing Request for Proposal (RFP) procurement documentation, translating complex business requirements into technical language.

A career highlight for Joanna includes successfully launching the EY Intranet – a SaaS cloud vendor solution. Over an 18-month period, this initiative impacted 330,000 users across 150+ countries. Joanna is married and lives in Zurich. Passionate about sports, she enjoys running and skiing, along with a love for travel and quality time with loved ones.