Urs Schwaller was born in Fribourg on 31 October 1952 and lives in Tafers in the Canton of Fribourg. Important milestones in his career to date include the roles as Director of the Police Department in the Canton of Fribourg, Prefect of the Sense District, and State Councillor at the Cantonal Government of Fribourg, initially as Director of Internal Affairs and then as Financial Director. For many years, Urs Schwaller was a member of the Council of States for the Canton of Fribourg and President of the Christian Democratic People’s Party of Switzerland/Evangelical People’s Party of Switzerland (CVP-EVP) Group, and was a delegate in the Permanent Representation of Switzerland to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg between 2011 and 2015. Urs Schwaller is a self-employed lawyer in Fribourg and has also gained entrepreneurial expertise on various boards of directors and in associations.

The outgoing Chairman, Peter Hasler, resigned from the position on reaching the age limit of 70 years. In his six years in office, Swiss Post achieved significant milestones, including the entry into force of the revised Postal Services Act on 1 October 2012, the conversion of Swiss Post from a public institution into a company limited by shares subject to a special statutory regime in June 2013, and the consistent positioning of the diversified Group at the interface between the physical and digital worlds. 

With operating income of 8,224 million francs and Group profit of 645 million francs, the annual financial statements as well as the Annual Report for the 2015 financial year were adopted at the third Swiss Post Ltd General Meeting. The dividend of 200 million francs to the Confederation was also approved by the General Meeting.