Swissport adds two new members to the Board of Directors

by Payload Asia

Janina Kugel, Non Executive Director at Swissport International AG & Julian Diaz Gonzalez, Non Executive Director at Swissport International AG

Swissport International AG, the global leader in airport ground services and air cargo handling, has appointed two new members to the Board of Directors. Janina Kugel, former Managing Board member and Chief Human Resources Officer of Siemens AG, and Julian Diaz Gonzalez, former long-serving CEO of Dufry (now Avolta), have taken over their new role as Non-Executive Directors in the Board from July 2024.

Janina Kugel is a highly experienced German executive known for her influential career in human resources, which she began at Siemens AG in 2001. As Chief Human Resources Officer from 2015 to 2020, she led the company’s cultural transformation with a focus on diversity, digitalization and the future of work. Following her time at Siemens, Ms. Kugel has served on a number of boards, including as a Non-Executive Director at TUI AG, and has also taken on a Senior Advisor role at Boston Consulting Group.

Julian Diaz Gonzalez is the former CEO of the travel retail group Dufry AG. During his tenure from 2004 to 2022, he led Dufry through significant growth and numerous acquisitions, transforming the Swiss-listed (SIX) company into the world’s number one travel retailer. Mr. Diaz Gonzalez spent almost his entire career in the travel-retail industry and has held leadership positions at Latinoamericana Duty-Free and Aeroboutiques/Deor.

“We are delighted that Swissport has been able to recruit two such exceptional individuals for a position on the Board of Directors,” says David Siegel, Chairman of the Board of Swissport International AG. “With their wealth of expertise, Janina Kugel and Julian Diaz Gonzalez are a perfect fit to support Swissport’s next phase of strategic growth and development, and to further strengthen its position as a global market leader.”

The Swissport Board sets the strategic priorities of the Swissport Group and continuously reviews and develops the corporate governance framework, policies and procedures to support the business activities and be compliant with corporate governance recommendations and statutory requirements.