Thomas Helbling (born 1961) is a Swiss lawyer. He held the office of

Vice-Chancellor of Switzerland The Vice-Chancellor of Switzerland was initially named Federal Secretary (''Bundesschreiber''). The title of the Vice-Chancellor was established in 1851, first as Federal Chancellor Deputy, then formally as Vice-Chancellor in 1881. In order to prov ...

between 2008 and 2016, in charge of the Federal Council sector. After leaving office, he became the CEO of the Swiss Insurance Association (2017-2021). A native of Bern, Thomas Helbling studied law at the

University of Bern The University of Bern (german: Universität Bern, french: Université de Berne, la, Universitas Bernensis) is a university in the Swiss capital of Bern and was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the Canton of Bern. It is a compreh ...

and holds a

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. After spending his early career as a lawyer in Bern and London, he entered public service in 1998, when he became advisor to Federal Councillor

Adolf Ogi Adolf Ogi (born 18 July 1942) is a Swiss politician from the village of Kandersteg in the Swiss Alps. He was elected to the Swiss Federal Council on 9 December 1987, as member of the Swiss People's Party from the Canton of Berne. He handed over o ...

and his successor,

Samuel Schmid Samuel Schmid (born 8 January 1947) is a Swiss politician who served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2000 to 2008. He was the head of the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports (notably acting as a defense minis ...

. In 2001, Helbling became the project manager for the joint Austrian-Swiss bid to host the

UEFA Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

football championship, the second such multinational joint bid to succeed so far. After retiring from the organization committee in early 2003, Helbling joined private insurance company Swiss Life as head of public relations, and was appointed board member of the Swiss Football League, where he was in charge of games security and pushed for restrictive legislation against

hooliganism Hooliganism is disruptive or unlawful behavior such as rioting, bullying and vandalism, usually in connection with crowds at sporting events. Etymology There are several theories regarding the origin of the word ''hooliganism,'' which is a d ...

in anticipation of the Euro. Thomas Helbling was appointed Vice Chancellor of the Swiss Confederation in February 2008 and took office on 1 June 2008, successor to

Corina Casanova Corina Casanova (born 4 January 1956) is a Swiss politician who was the Federal Chancellor of Switzerland between 2008 and 2015. Born in Ilanz, Graubünden, Casanova worked as a lawyer in the practice of the former President of the Swiss Federa ...

who had been named Chancellor in the meantime. Although there had been several rows tied language representation in the Federal Chancellery during the appointment of his predecessors - Swiss French politicians having complained that the chancellery was in purely Swiss-German hands after the nomination of both Corina Casanova and

Oswald Sigg Oswald Sigg (born 1944 in Zürich) is a Swiss journalist. In August 2005, he was elected Vice-Chancellor of Switzerland and Spokesman of the government of Switzerland, the Swiss Federal Council. He served as Spokesman until his retirement on 31 ...

. Swiss-German Helbling's appointment, raised no such issues. In his role, Thomas Helbling oversaw the Federal Council sector of the Swiss Chancellery, which looks after planning and managing the Federal Council's meetings, the Legal Section, the Official Publications Center and the Central Language Services.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Helbling, Thomas 1961 births Alumni of the University of London Living people 20th-century Swiss lawyers Swiss politicians