BFI Consulting Team

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 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 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 has acted as legal counsel to BFI for many years. In Spring of 2022, he joined the Board of Directors of BFI Consulting AG, acting as the general counsel to the firm.

Mr Brunner started his career as a legal counsel at Bank Leu. He then held positions at Bank Heusser and Clariden, including the role of CEO for Clariden Asset Management Inc. in New York. In 2001, he became a founding partner and general counsel of Aquila Group. In 2002, he started his own legal practice, Brunner & Partner.

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.

Oskar Kälin recently joined the BFI Group to lead the BFI Family Office initiative.Prior to his time at BFI, he held various directorships of Swiss subsidiaries of international companies. Furthermore, he signed responsible for the development and realization of various residential real estate projects in Germany. He also worked on projects in the renewable energy sector (Biogas) in Italy and Germany. Prior to that, Mr. Kälin was MD with Swiss Re, managing cross border financial transaction and asset management initiatives from a tax point of view and acted as CFO of a reinsurance subsidiary of Swiss Re, in Germany. At the beginning of his business career, he worked as a tax consultant at KPMG.
He holds a Master Degree of Economics from the University of Zurich.

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