Nora Kronig Romero named director of Swiss Red Cross
Nora Kronig Romero is to become the new director of the Swiss Red Cross (SRC). Her election comes at a turbulent time, with numerous departures and resignations at the aid organisation.
Kronig Romero, head of the International Affairs Division at the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), is expected to take up her new post on May 1, the SRC said on Friday.
The Red Cross Council said it was convinced that Nora Kronig Romero, “with her experience in managing complex projects in a federal environment and her experience on the international stage”, has the best qualifications as director of the SRC.
In her current role at the FOPH, Kronig Romero, 43, was responsible for health cooperation with neighbouring countries, the EU and international organisations, in particular the World Health Organization (WHO). During the Covid pandemic she was also responsible for national vaccine procurement and distribution as co-head of the Covid-19 Vaccination Task Force.
“I am delighted and honoured that I will soon be able to continue my work for the benefit of people’s health and humanitarian Switzerland in the service of the Swiss Red Cross,” Kronig Romero said in a statement from the FOPH.
The management of the SRC office includes coordination with the Red Cross organisations, namely the 24 Red Cross cantonal associations, four Red Cross rescue organisations and two Red Cross institutions. It also coordinates the SRC’s relations and activities with partners and authorities at national and international level.
The child of Swiss-German parents, Romero grew up in Geneva. She therefore knows the cultural diversity of Switzerland from personal experience, according to the SRC. Kronig Romero studied economics in St Gallen and trained as a diplomat. She then held various positions in the Federal Administration in Switzerland and abroad. She has been working for the FOPH since 2017.
SRC unrest
Kronig Romero’s predecessor, Markus Mader, was dismissed in December 2022. As a result, four members of the Red Cross Council also resigned. Since then, there has been unrest at the aid organisation. Observers spoke of an internal power struggle.
+ Swiss Red Cross president steps down after damning report
An external investigation report into the circumstances surrounding Mader’s departure had identified failings on the part of the Red Cross Council. According to the report, the conflict with the then director was based on a structural problem: as in other decentrally structured organisations, tensions had repeatedly arisen – particularly between some of the cantonal associations and the head office.
At the same time, the authors of the report criticised the president of the Red Cross Council, former Zurich National Councillor Barbara Schmid-Federer. In particular, they criticised the fact that the SRC management committee had not received a written proposal with a detailed justification for Mader’s dismissal.
At the beginning of June 2023, Schmid-Federer then announced her resignation with immediate effect “for health reasons”. Her successor was former FOPH Director Thomas Zeltner. At the time, it was said that the now 76-year-old Zeltner would hold the position on an interim basis for one year and that his involvement would be the transition to a long-term solution.
According to the SRC at the time, the internal crisis had hardly any financial consequences. No decline in the willingness to donate had been noticed among private individuals. Only the institutional donors had requested more discussions.
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