Leadership Team

Frank R. Suess 

Managing Partner & Chairman of the Board

Frank R. Suess heads up BFI Consulting and the BFI group's overall business and strategy. He personally advises a select group of wealthy international investors and families with focus on cross-border planning and prudent wealth management. 

His professional journey started in the realm of corporate re-engineering and management consulting. Prior to his building up the BFI group, Frank worked as a consultant at Andersen Consulting (today Accenture), and he later held a senior management position with Price Waterhouse, working as a strategic and operational management consultant to a number of international corporations. He holds an MBA from the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley and a Bachelor's degree in Finance from Saint Mary's College. 

Bernarda Pesantez

Partner & Member of the Board 

Bernarda worked for a Swiss private bank prior to joining BFI in 2000. During her tenure she has gained profound experience in trust and estate planning as well as regulatory considerations. She holds a Bachelor's degree from the Equinoctial Technological University of Ecuador, and a Master of Laws (LL.M.) from the University of London. She also holds a Trust and Estate Practitioners qualification (TEP) and is a member of the Swiss branch of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners. 

Dirk Steinhoff

Partner & Member of the Board

Dirk Steinhoff acts as the Chief Investment Officer of BFI. Prior to joining BFI in 2007, he acted as an independent asset manager for over 15 years . Furthermore, he successfully founded and built two companies in the realm of infrastructure and real estate management.

Dirk holds a Master's degree in Civil Engineering and Business Administration from the Technical University Berlin. 

Christian Brunner

Member of the Board, General Counsel

Christian Brunner acts as the external general counsel to BFI. In 2022, Christian joined the Board of BFI Consulting. 

Christian was admitted to the Bar in 1990. He has focussed his career in the area of banking and wealth management. Since 2002, he has built a successful law practice, Brunner & Partner Law Office in Zurich.  

Marc D. Seidel

Partner & Head of Alternative Investments

Marc heads up BFI's Alternative Investments practice. He previously worked at Google and Facebook, where he launched and led market activation programs for Switzerland. He worked with startups to multinational corporations, helping them scale their business and revenue through online advertisement. He also worked at BFI for 9 years, holding various positions within the group. He founded three companies in the health care, law digitalization and sustainability ecommerce sector.

He holds a Master's degree having studied at the University of St. Gallen, Oxford, Stanford and Zurich. He is also a CAIA Charter Holder. 

Katja Widmer

Head of Administration

Katja has worked at the BFI Group since 1999. She heads up the group's administration and HR matters. Prior to working at  BFI, Mrs. Widmer worked as an executive assistant at Price Waterhouse in Zurich. She holds a Swiss Commercial Diploma.