Head of International Partnerships

Name: Piera Waibel
Age: 47
Degree: Dr. in Business Administration UZH
Profession: Head of International Partnerships
Employer: Biovision Foundation

What does a Head of International Partnerships do?

At the Biovision Foundation, the International Partnerships department is responsible for building and maintaining partnerships with international organizations that implement projects and programs with us. Our goal is the agroecological transformation of food systems. The approach is holistic: sufficient and healthy food that is produced, traded, and consumed in an ecologically and socially sustainable way – from farm to fork. I lead a team of five program managers, each specializing in specific countries and topics. We scale best practices through other, larger organizations to achieve global reach. As department head, I am also part of the Executive Board and thus help shape the Biovision organization as a whole. 

What are the three core responsibilities of your role?

My responsibilities include the strategic development of our project and program portfolio in East Africa, as well as increasing our global impact by scaling best practices. Additionally, I am responsible for resource planning and personnel development within my department. 

What qualifications or prerequisites are required for this career?

You need holistic and systemic thinking, an understanding of how to engage with different cultures and organizational structures, leadership skills, in-depth expertise – in my case, in sustainable agriculture and food systems – and the ability to develop cohesive and forward-looking strategies based on   that foundation. 

What is the biggest challenge in your job?

Maintaining the balance between different worlds and managing conflicting goals between diverse demands as effectively as possible. This applies within the team, with other departments, with partner organizations, and on the Executive Board.

What do you wish you had known about this profession back when you graduated?

The importance of soft skills, especially leadership. That is definitely neglected during university studies. And when I studied business administration, there were unfortunately practically no lectures on sustainability or international topics. I always had to "pivot" to courses offered by ETH (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) and political science.

What advice would you give to students who are interested in this job?

It is essential to work abroad for a period of time to develop an openness to different approaches, to understand problems and solutions from other perspectives, and to be able to apply them in a context-specific way.

As of July 2026