Albert Rösti (; born 7 August 1967) is a Swiss businessman, lobbyist and politician who has been a

Member of the Swiss Federal Council The seven members of the Federal Council (Switzerland), Swiss Federal Council (; ; ; ) constitute the federal government of Switzerland and collectively serve as the country's head of state. Each of the seven Federal Councillors heads a departm ...

since 1 January 2023. He previously presided over 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 ...

(SVP/UDC) from 2016 to 2020 and served as a member of the National Council for 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 ...

from

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

until 2022. Rösti resides in

Uetendorf Uetendorf is a municipality in the administrative district of Thun in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. Uetendorf is close to the city of Thun, and connected to traffic through the A6 motorway and the BLS AG's Thun-Belp-Bern railway line. Due ...

near

Thun Thun () is a List of towns in Switzerland, town and a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the administrative district of Thun (administrative district), Thun in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Canton of Bern, Bern in Switzerland. ...

Early life and education

Rösti was born 7 August 1967 in

Kandersteg Kandersteg is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Frutigen-Niedersimmental (administrative district), Frutigen-Niedersimmental administrative district in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Bern (canton), Bern in Switzerland. ...

, in the

, into a

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

mountain farmer family. He studied agronomy at

ETH Zurich ETH Zurich (; ) is a public university in Zurich, Switzerland. Founded in 1854 with the stated mission to educate engineers and scientists, the university focuses primarily on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. ETH Zurich ran ...

. He graduated in 2002 to study at the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded in 1850 and moved into its current campus, next to the Genesee River in 1930. With approximately 30,000 full ...

as a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...

Professional career

Rösti entered the

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

Department of Economic Affairs in 1998, and he served as Deputy Secretary General from 2001 to 2003 and as Secretary General from 2003 to 2006. He then became the director of Swiss Milk Producers. Since 2013 he is owner and manager of the business and politics consulting firm ''Büro Dr. Rösti GmbH''. From 2007 to 2014, Rösti was president of the Agricultural Information Service (LID). In May 2014. He was elected as the president of ''Action for a Sensible Energy Policy Switzerland'' (AVES). In May 2015, Rösti replaced

Caspar Baader Caspar Baader (born 1 October 1953) is a Swiss politician, attorney and member of the Swiss National Council from the canton of Basel-Landschaft Canton of Basel-Landschaft or Basel-Country, informally known as Baselland or Baselbiet (; ; ; ; ...

as the president of ''Swiss Oil'', the Swiss association of fuel traders. Rösti lives in

, is married, and has two children.

Political career

From 2000 to 2007, Rösti served as the president of

chapter of the SVP. Since January 2008 he was a member of the local council of Uetendorf, and in 2014 he became the mayor of Uetendorf, replacing Hannes Zaugg-Graf. Rösti ran unsuccessfully in 2010 in the Bernese Government elections. He was first elected in the

2011 Swiss federal election Federal elections were held in Switzerland on 23 October 2011. All of the Federal Assembly were to be elected: all 200 seats in the National Council and all 46 seats in the Council of States. Voter turnout was 49.1%, compared to 48.9% in 2 ...

to the National Council. For the

2015 Swiss federal election Federal elections were held in Switzerland on 18 October 2015 for the National Council and the first round of elections to the Council of States, with runoff elections to the Council of States being held in various cantons until 22 November. R ...

, Rösti was the SVP's campaign manager, and he ran unsuccessfully for the Council of States for

. Rösti served in the National Council until December 31, 2022. In November 2015, the Bern chapter of the SVP nominated Rösti as a candidate for the

Swiss Federal Council The Federal Council is the federal cabinet of the Swiss Confederation. Its seven members also serve as the collective head of state and government of Switzerland. Since World War II, the Federal Council is by convention a permanent grand co ...

for the

2015 elections Africa * 2015 Beninese parliamentary election 26 April 2015 * 2015 Burkinabé general election 29 November 2015 * 2015 Burundian legislative election 29 June 2015 * 2015 Burundian presidential election 21 July 2015 * 2015-16 Central African gene ...

, but he withdrew his candidacy for the Council two weeks later. On 23 April 2016, Rösti was unanimously elected as the Chairman of the SVP, replacing retiring Chairman

Toni Brunner Anton "Toni" Brunner (born 23 August 1974) is a Swiss farmer and politician who presided over the Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC) from 2008 to 2016. He was a member of the National Council from 1995 to 2018. Biography Born in Wattwil ( St. Ga ...

. He resigned from the party leadership in 2020 after the election of

Marco Chiesa Marco Chiesa (born 10 October 1974) is a Swiss politician who presided over the Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC) from 2020 to 2024. He served as a member of the Grand Council of Ticino from 2007 to 2015 and National Council from 2015 to 2019. Ch ...

. On 7 December 2022, Rösti was elected to the Federal Council in the

2022 Swiss Federal Council election By-elections to the Swiss Federal Council were held on 7 December 2022, after federal councillors Ueli Maurer ( SVP- ZH) and Simonetta Sommaruga ( SP- BE) announced they would leave the Council effective 31 December of the same year. The parliame ...

, replacing

Ueli Maurer Ulrich "Ueli" Maurer (; born 1 December 1950) is a Swiss politician who served as a List of members of the Swiss Federal Council, Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2009 to 2022. A member of the Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC), he was Pres ...

. He assumed office on 1 January 2023.

Personal life

Since 1994, Rösti has been married to Theres Neuenschwander, a

flight attendant A flight attendant is a member of the aircrew whose primary responsibility is ensure the safety of passengers in the cabin of an aircraft across all stages of flight. Their secondary duty is to see to the comfort of passengers. Flight attenda ...

with

Swiss International Air Lines Swiss International Air Lines AG, stylized as SWISS, is the flag carrier of Switzerland and a subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group, as well as a Star Alliance member. It operates scheduled services in Europe and to North America, South America, ...

. They have two children; * André Rösti (born 1995), an alum of

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...

, married to Markelle Kelly, a native of

Washington state Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

, who was also pursuing a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

. * Sarina Rösti (born 2000), a former flight attendant. Rösti resides in

near

References

External links

Biographical entry
on the Federal Assembly website
Personal homepage
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Rosti, Albert 1967 births Living people People from the canton of Bern ETH Zurich alumni University of Rochester alumni Swiss People's Party politicians Members of the Federal Council (Switzerland) Ministers of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications of 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