Former TASIS Board Members

2006–2008  

Giovanni Barone Adesi holds a BA in Electrical Engineering from the University of Padova, Italy, and an MBA and Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago. He is a citizen of Canada and Italy, resident in Lugano with his wife, Kris, parents of a TASIS alumna. Prof. Barone Adesi is currently Professor of Finance Theory, and was formerly Dean, Economics Faculty, at the University of Italian Switzerland, and Director of the Lugano section of the Swiss NCCR in Finance. Previously, he was Professor of Financial Engineering, City University Business School, London, and Professor of Finance, Faculty of Business, University of Alberta. Prof. Barone Adesi is the author of over 40 refereed publications in major scholarly journals. He is the author or co-author of several widely used financial models, including the most used model to value American options on currencies and equities. He advises several organizations on risk-management issues.

2010–2016

Richard (Rick) Bell II, PG '65, TASIS alumnus and father of alumnus Michael Bell ‘05. Rick attended Ohio Wesleyan University, where he majored in Philosophy, spending his junior year abroad in the Loyola University (Chicago) Program in Rome. A real entrepreneur, Rick lived in California and now Delaware where he has built successful companies. Since 1981 he has been President and Founder of Harvard Business Services, Inc., which currently serves as Delaware Registered Agent for more than 60,000 companies in Good Standing, including some Ticino companies. Rick and his wife Paulise donated the Bell Biology Lab and the Kay Hamblin Terrace among other gifts to TASIS. They have four children and six grandchildren. Rick served as Chairman of the TASIS Board Development Committee.

2008–2010

Stefano Borghi holds a M.Sc. in Economics from the London School of Economics and a M.Sc. in Business Administration from Bocconi University. He started his career in BP in London in 1987. His last position in the BP Group was CEO of a petrochemical unit in Spain, which he restored to profitability and sold. He worked in telecommunications from 1994, at first in Cable and Wireless in London and then developing Nokia in Italy as its CEO. He is managing director of Convergenza, which he co-founded in 1999, a company that successfully invested over EU200 million in private equity. He is a director of a UK listed oil company and he is Chairman of “Swiss Income Partners”, which he started in 2009. With his wife Carol and his children Matthew and Christopher, he founded a family charity that has sponsored educational projects for young people in Mexico, Congo, and Cameroon. His current interests are raising his boys, together with Carol, establishing his Swiss partnership, and developing his charity further. His children attended TASIS.

2009–2015

Riccardo Braglia attended Bocconi University in Milan, where he took a Master’s in Business Economics with a specialization in Industrial Management. He has international working experience in the USA, UK, and Portugal. Mr. Braglia is a Member of the Board and CEO of the chemical pharmaceutical group HELSINN, based in Lugano, Dublin, and New Jersey. He also chairs the Board of Helsinn Therapeutics, which focuses on cancer research and development, and he also is a Board member of various other organizations. He is Honorary President of the Lugano Basketball Club, and he has received awards for Best Entrepreneur of the Year in Ticino in 2011 and Swiss Entrepreneur of the Year in 2012. Riccardo has been a member of the Management Committee of the Ticino Chamber of Commerce. He also has taught management courses at IMB Lausanne, and at Bocconi and Cà Foscari Universities. Riccardo and his wife Giuseppina are involved in different charity institutions and programs in Europe and in Africa, where he has built schools for girls in Ethiopia and South Sudan. TASIS students volunteered to teach in the TASIS Global Service Program at his school in Ethiopia. Mr. Braglia also is the main administrator of the Braglia Foundation (Modern Art), which was set up by his parents. A generous donor to TASIS throughout his association with the School, Mr. Braglia's donations include the Helsinn Chemistry Lab and Prep Room. His sons Gabriele and Giacomo graduated from TASIS.

2009–2017

Jennifer Bullard Broggini is a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors and Chair of the Audit Committee of TechnoServe, a non-profit organization based in Washington D.C. with annual revenues of over $90 million and operations in 29 countries, which helps entrepreneurial men and women in poor areas of the developing world to build businesses. She is a Director of the Ticino Chapter of the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce and has been an elected member of the town council of Savosa, Switzerland. Formerly she was a Director of Kieger AG, an institutional investment consulting company in Zurich, and also a Director of Banque Fiduciary Trust in Geneva, Switzerland (part of the Franklin Templeton Group), where she was Chair of the Audit Committee. Previously, Jennifer held a number of positions during 15 years with Manufacturers Hanover Trust in New York and Switzerland (which merged during this period to become JPMorgan Chase), including Vice President of Corporate Banking, Head of Swiss Mergers and Acquisitions, and Vice President of Private Banking.  Jennifer was raised in the United States but has lived in Switzerland and France. In addition to English, she speaks Italian, French, and German fluently. Jennifer is married to Andrea Broggini, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Migros, and they have two daughters who graduated from TASIS. 

2005–2020

Fernando Gonzalez attended Andover Academy, Harvard College (B.A. in Visual Studies), and the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He started working at TASIS in 1972 as Chairman of the Art Department. Before becoming Administrative Director of the TASIS organization in 1997, Mr. Gonzalez was Director of Development for TASIS. He served on the TASIS Executive Board for eight years and as Interim Headmaster of TASIS England from 2004–2005. Mr. Gonzalez served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of TASIS England for three years and currently remains on the Board as a Director. Mr. Gonzalez serves on the TASIS Foundation Board and has two sons who attended TASIS England for all their pre-college careers.

2006–2008

Alex Korach, Licence de Droit and Ph.D. (University of Zurich), is a founding partner in the law firm of Korach, Simonius & Partner, Zurich. Dr. Korach is a specialist in business law and serves an international clientele. A Hungarian refugee to Switzerland in 1956, Dr. Korach is a fine linguist and very much a citizen of the world. Since 1984, he has worked for TASIS as its legal advisor. Dr. Korach is a founding member of the TASIS Foundation in Switzerland, and served as Chairman for six years. He and his wife Kathrin have two children who attended TASIS summer courses. In addition to his work as a lawyer, Dr. Korach is a board member of various Swiss and international companies, and serves the Republic of the Marshall Islands as its honorary consul in Switzerland.

2005–2020

Dr. Berkley Latimer is a retired career educator and graduate of Davidson College (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa), where he majored in French before earning Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in European History at Duke University. His long career spans teaching and senior administrative appointments at prominent independent schools across the United States, the last 19 years at St. Paul’s School (Concord, NH), one of the country’s leading boarding schools. His love for TASIS stems from his 1999 to 2004 tenure as Director of the TASIS Summer Language Program in Lugano. At St. Paul’s School, Dr. Latimer assumed leadership roles in a variety of curricular and administrative areas, as well as holding the McFadden Endowed Chair in European History. Particularly interested in international education, Dr. Latimer has traveled widely, leading educational trips to China, Russia, Poland, Greece, and Germany, and also has summer experience teaching in Korea. He has a special interest in educational technology and has served on accreditation teams across the United States. A former member of the Test Development Committee for the Advanced Placement Examination in European History, Dr. Latimer also served as an AP Examination reader. He and his wife Peggy now reside in Pennsylvania.

2005–2021

Curtis McGraw Webster ’75 is a music producer and philanthropist in New York City. His music production facility, the Vertical Corporation, is a state-of-the-art recording studio which has played host to a wide range of musical artists, including one with whom he has had a charted U.K. and European hit. His work in the arts extends to theatre where Curtis has written original music and worked on sound design for productions in New York City and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Edinburgh, Scotland. Curtis is the President of the Curtis W. McGraw Foundation, overseeing the non-profit’s support of the arts, education, medical research, and social services, working with over a hundred groups annually. Of particular interest is HIV/AIDS outreach and research. He is also the Executive Vice-President of the Lisa McGraw Figure Skating Foundation which supports individual figure skaters and figure skating organizations in order to promote the art and sport of Figure Skating. A native of Princeton, New Jersey, he attended Princeton Day School, The Lawrenceville School, and The American School in Switzerland. Besides serving on the TASIS Board of Directors, Curtis supports TASIS outreach programs and has escorted TASIS students on humanitarian and learning travels amongst AIDS foster orphanages in Romania. Curtis also serves on the Boards of the Princeton Hospital Foundation, Patriots Theater in Trenton, NJ, and The Blue Curtain Foundation, a group for the support of young performers and new music.

2010–2017

Arne Jan Opsahl '68, TASIS alumnus and first international student, was born in Norway. Jan is a real estate developer and assets manager. After graduating from TASIS with honors and as class president in 1968, he attended Dartmouth College, followed by Dartmouth’s Amos Tuck School of Business, where he received his MBA in 1973. Jan Opsahl started his business career in New York City at the headquarters of the Singer Company before moving back to Europe as Chief Financial Officer for Singer’s operations in the Nordic countries. In 1978 he moved back to Hamar, Norway, managing the family business of Hotel Interior Design. After several years of frequent travels to Lugano to support his aging parents, he sold the Norwegian business and, at the end of 2007, he and his wife Birgitta moved back to Lugano. As a member of Rotary International, Jan Opsahl encouraged and partially funded the Club’s support for eye-clinics in remote areas of Nepal. He recently most-generously funded the new TASIS Global Service Program with his endowment gift to the TASIS Foundation, and in 2017 the program was renamed the Opsahl Global Service Program to honor Jan's devotion to transforming lives by providing every High School student with a unique opportunity to connect across borders—whether geographic, economic, or social—through comprehensive experiences that build empathy and encourage personal responsibility.

2006–2018

Gianni Patuzzo, Swiss citizen born in Lugano, after having graduated in mathematics from the University of Geneva, he worked for five years as a system analyst with a large American computer company. He then obtained an MBA at INSEAD, in Fontainebleau, and subsequently served in multinational companies as business controller, dealing particularly with Latin America, South Africa, and Australia. He joined TASIS in 1997 to serve as Financial Director on the Executive Board, overseeing the financial position of the entire TASIS group. He is now Financial Director for the TASIS Foundation.

2006–2009

John Pritzlaff ’72 operates Aviation Technology & Solutions in Denver, Colorado. In 2001 he founded the Pritzlaff Leadership Award, which recognizes a TASIS junior not only for service to and on behalf of the TASIS community, but also for setting an example that would encourage others to become involved. (The winner of the Pritzlaff Leadership Award is given $2.500, which can be applied to college expenses, or can be donated to a favorite charity.) John is on the Board of Claremont McKenna College (CMC) in California and several foundations. The CMC soccer field is named after him. John’s sister Barbara ‘74 also attended TASIS. Their parents gave the initial and largest gift to build the M. Crist Fleming Library. His mother, Mary Dell Olin Pritzlaff, was a loyal, generous friend of Mrs. Fleming and long-time supporter of TASIS. The Pritzlaff/Fleming-TASIS family connection has been strong for over 40 years. 

2020–2023

Headmaster, TASIS Switzerland: 1982–84, 2007–2008, and 2015–2017 
Headmaster, TASIS England: 1984–98 and 2009–2010 
Member, TASIS England Board of Directors

Lyle Rigg, the longest-serving Headmaster in TASIS history, joined the TASIS Switzerland Board of Directors in November 2020 and served until 2023.

A product of Defiance, Ohio, Lyle earned a B.A. from Miami University (Ohio), an M.A. from West Texas A&M, and an Ed.M. from Harvard University. Following teaching stints in Ohio, El Salvador, and Brazil, he began his storied TASIS career in England in the fall of 1979, taking on the roles of Assistant Headmaster, Head of Residence, and History teacher. 

Three years later, TASIS Founder M. Crist Fleming asked Lyle to come to Switzerland to serve as Headmaster, a post he held for two academic years before returning to England in the fall of 1984, where he served as Headmaster until 1998. He then moved to the United States to lead the Pennington School in New Jersey until his initial retirement in 2006.

Mrs. Fleming coaxed Mr. Rigg out of retirement to serve as the Interim Headmaster at TASIS Switzerland for the 2007–2008 academic year, and this became something of a pattern. He left retirement again for the 2009–2010 school year to become Interim Headmaster in England. After stepping away for five years, he agreed to come out of retirement a third time in 2015 and served as Headmaster in Switzerland for two full academic years. 

To celebrate Mrs. Fleming's centenary in 2010—a year after she passed away—Lyle pored over her speeches, yearbook messages, private notes, and interviews and edited them into The Wit and Wisdom of Mary Crist Fleming, a memorial book full of charming, witty, and inspiring life lessons. Two years later, he was honored to learn that TASIS England had renamed its library the Lyle Rigg Upper School Library.

Lyle and his wife, award-winning children’s author Sharon Creech, currently reside in Camden, Maine, where they moved years ago to be closer to their children and grandchildren.