The Idiap Research Institute congratulates Mr Marc-André Berclaz, member of its Foundation Council, for his nomination as Operations Director of the new EPFL Valais Wallis

Mr Marc-André Berclaz has been appointed as Operations Director of the new EPFL Valais Wallis academic cluster. Marc-André Berclaz is the current director of HES-SO and has an in-depth understanding of the academic and political environment in Valais and in Switzerland as well as in the fields of the future cluster. Starting from March 2013, he will gradually take up his functions within the project, and will work fulltime as from July 2013.

Currently President of the HES-SO Steering Committee (Western Switzerland’s University of Applied Sciences) in Delémont, Marc-André Berclaz was born in 1955 and originally comes from Mollens and Randogne (Valais). Having graduated in Economic Sciences at HEC Lausanne, he first managed the Ecole Supérieure d’informatique de gestion in Sierre before being elected to Sierre’s town council. Then, from 2000 to 2003, he was the Director of the HES Valais (renamed HES-SO Valais Wallis) in Sion and Sierre. Having a solid entrepreneurial spirit, he is one of the founders of TI Informatique, a major software publisher, as well as TECHNO-pôle, the hub of technological activity in Sierre. He is also president of the Board of Rectors for Swiss Applied Sciences Universities and Vice-President of Swissuniversities, the main entity bringing together the leaders of universities, Applied Sciences universities and Teacher Training colleges of Switzerland.