Ursula Wyss (born 8 February 1973 in

Davos Davos (, ; or ; ; Old ) is an Alpine resort town and municipality in the Prättigau/Davos Region in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It has a permanent population of (). Davos is located on the river Landwasser, in the Rhaetian ...

) is a Swiss politician, economist and urban planner. She represented the

Canton of Bern The canton of Bern, or Berne (; ; ; ), is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. Its capital city, Bern, is also the ''de facto'' capital of Switzerland. The bear is the heraldic symbol of the c ...

in the Swiss National Council as member of the

Social Democratic Party of Switzerland The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (, SP; ), also called the Swiss Socialist Party (; , PS), is a List of political parties in Switzerland, political party in Switzerland. The SP has had two representatives on the Federal Council (Switzerl ...

(SP) from 6 December 1999 to 3 March 2013. From January 2013 to December 2020 she was an executive member (Gemeinderätin) of the city of Bern.

Early life and education

Born and raised in the municipality of Davos in the Canton of Graubünden, Ursula Wyss is citizen of the Bernese municipalities of Buchholterberg and Köniz. In 1992 she attended higher education entrance qualification ('' Maturität''), and started to study political economy and ecology at the

University of Bern The University of Bern (, , ) is a public university, public research university in the Switzerland, Swiss capital of Bern. It was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the canton of Bern. It is a comprehensive university offering a br ...

, at the

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde () is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal charter in 1964 as the first techn ...

in Glasgow, and at

Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin; also known as Berlin Institute of Technology and Technical University of Berlin, although officially the name should not be translated) is a public university, public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was the first ...

. Back in Bern, she graduated in 1997, worked as science assistant and lecturer at the ''Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre'' of the Bern University from 2001 to 2005 where she earned her doctorate degree as ''Dr. rer. oec.'' in 2006. Later, she also obtained a Master in Urban and Regional Planning (MSc URP) at the University of Amsterdam. Wyss worked at the privately financed BASS research institute and at the national WWF Switzerland bureau.

Political career

Ursula Wyss became a member of the Social Democratic Party (SP) which she represented from 1997 to 1999 as member of the parliament (''Grosser Rat des Kantons Bern'') of the Canton of Bern. Between December 1999 and March 2013, she was member (''Nationalrätin'') of the Swiss National Council. She was Vice-President of the SP Switzerland from 2004 to 2006 and President of the SP parliamentary group in the Federal Parliament from 2006 to 2012. Wyss was a member of the Committee for the Environment, Spatial Planning and Energy (UREK), the State Policy Committee (SPK), the Finance Committee (FK) and the Office of the National Council. In 2013 Wyss was elected as successor of Regula Rytz as executive member (''Gemeinderätin'') of the city of Bern. She presides the department ''Tiefbau, Verkehr und Stadtgrün'' that provides the municipal civil engineering, transport and the urban green areas. At the municipal level, Ursula Wyss focused on the promotion of walking and cycling. With the "Velo-Offensive" launched in 2014, Bern is to become the cycling capital of Switzerland. Today, she runs her own consultancy firm for strategic urban development and urban mobility.http://www.seum.ch

Personal life

Ursula Wyss lives in Bern and is mother of two kids.

References

External links

*
Ursula Wyss on the website of the city of Bern
* Swiss economists 1973 births Living people Political economists Swiss women economists Women members of the National Council (Switzerland) Members of the National Council (Switzerland) 2011–2015 Members of the National Council (Switzerland) 2007–2011 Members of the National Council (Switzerland) 2003–2007 University of Bern alumni Alumni of the University of Strathclyde Technische Universität Berlin alumni Social Democratic Party of Switzerland politicians People from Bern People from Davos 20th-century Swiss women politicians 21st-century Swiss women politicians 20th-century Swiss politicians Women political scientists {{Switzerland-politician-stub