Thomas Aeschi (; born 13 January 1979) is a Swiss businessman, politician and former banker. He currently serves as a member of the National Council for the

Swiss People's Party The Swiss People's Party (, SVP; , PPS), also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre (, UDC; , UDC), is a national-conservative and right-wing populist political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Marcel Dettling, it is the largest party in ...

since 2011. He previously served on the Cantonal Council of Zug from 2010 to 2012.

Early life and education

Aeschi was born 13 January 1979 in

Baar, Switzerland Baar () is a municipality in the canton of Zug in Switzerland. History Baar is first mentioned in 1045 as ''Barra''. Geography Baar has an area, , of . Of this area, 51% is used for agricultural purposes, while 25% is forested. Of the rest o ...

, the oldest of three sons, to Siegfried Aeschi, a tax consultant, and Margrit Aeschi (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Brun), who was a nurse. He has two younger brothers. He was raised in the hamlet of Allenwinden. In 1996, he completed an international exchange year at Lisle Senior High School in

Lisle, Illinois Lisle ( ) is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, DuPage County, Illinois, United States. The population was 22,390 at the 2010 census, and in 2019 the population was recorded to be 23,270. It is a south-western suburb of Chicago in the Illinois ...

a suburb of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. He completed his education by earning a Type B Matura in 1998 and went to college at

University of St. Gallen The University of St. Gallen (HSG) is a research university located in St. Gallen, Switzerland, that specialises in business administration, economics, law, international affairs, and computer science. It was established in 1898. It consistent ...

where he completed an undergraduate degree in Economics (class of 2002). Aeschi also obtained a

Master of Public Administration A Master of Public Administration (MPA) is a specialized professional graduate degree in public administration that prepares students for leadership roles, similar or equivalent to a Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the ...

from

Harvard Kennedy School The John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), is the school of public policy of Harvard University, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Kennedy School offers master's de ...

Career

In 2004, he started his banking career in M&A at

Credit Suisse Credit Suisse Group AG (, ) was a global Investment banking, investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. According to UBS, eventually Credit Suisse was to be fully integrated into UBS. While the integration ...

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, where he stayed in various positions until 2006. He currently is Managing Partner of his independent consulting firm ''Aeschi & Company, LLC'' in Baar. He is currently on various boards such as Helvetische Bank in Zurich founded by Thomas Matter.

Political career

His parliamentary career began in 2010 when he was elected to the Cantonal Council for a term of two years (2010-2012). He was elected to the National Council in 2011. In November 2015, The SVP parliamentary Group in the federal council presented Aeschi as its official candidate for the 2015 federal council election and in 2017 he became president of the SVP Parliamentary Group. From 2015 to 2021 he served as president of SVP Kanton Zug. In 2022, he made a racist comment against

Nigerians Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was derived from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jo ...

calling them rapists. Apology was tendered on his behalf by a member of his parliamentary group.

Personal life

Since May 2022, Aeschi got engaged in Taormina, Italy to Valeria Geissbühler (*1991) to whom he got introduced at an event of the

in 2019. She works as laboratory technician at the

University of Zürich The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...

and currently also serves on the municipal council of

Schübelbach Schübelbach is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in March District in the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. Geography Schübelbach has an area, , of . Of this area, 48.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 42.8% is forested. O ...

. They have one daughter; * Julia Aeschi (born February 2024) Aeschi resides in

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aeschi, Thomas Living people 1979 births Swiss businesspeople University of St. Gallen alumni Harvard Kennedy School alumni People from Baar, Switzerland Members of the National Council (Switzerland) 2011–2015 Members of the National Council (Switzerland) 2015–2019 Members of the National Council (Switzerland) 2019–2023 Members of the National Council (Switzerland) 2023–2027 Candidates for the Federal Council (Switzerland)