The Pakka Team – the people behind the products
Carmelo Martinez
Administration, logistics, purchase
Whenever Carmelo tells us of a homemade paella from his home town Valencia, it makes all our mouths water. Since 2013 he lives in Switzerland and every time the entire team is delighted when Carmelo brings a Spanish specialty into the office after a holiday at his parents place in Spain. At Pakka Carmelo is in charge of logistics and purchasing. He takes care of the entire organization and the transports of our products, both for imports as well as exports. In addition to traveling and hiking, he also likes to play football. But no matter what sports he does or which holiday trip he makes, he always takes along a bag of his favorite “Hunza-Mix”!
Email: martinez@pakka.ch
Tel: +41 44 454 22 85
Kathrin Engel
Office Manager
Kathrin joined Pakka in 2018 as an office manager. She supports the whole team in the office, getting a quick and deep insight into the Pakka World. She would love to visit the Hunza Valley in Pakistan on the spot. After her University degree in geography she worked for Schweizer Berghilfe in fundraising . Her great passion is sports: she used to be a member of the first team at Volero Zurich and today she plays tennis regularly – always with her a pack of salted almonds from the Hunza Valley. She usually spends her summer weekends sailing with her family on Lake Greifensee and in winter she enjoys the Lower Engadine – where she can easily get by with her knowledge of the Romance language.
Email: engel@pakka.ch
Tel: +41 44 454 22 88
Eliane Wanner
Marketing & Communication
To market enjoyable, sustainable products, Eliane finds a task to apply herselve. That Pakka nuts are organically produced and fairly traded is therefore a matter close to her heart. This also includes the stories of the small farmers behind the Pakka products. Who knows that Brazil nuts only grow wildly in the Amazon region, that when they are ripe they fall from trees up to 60 m high and are collected by the farmers in the hot and humid climate? Roasted Brazil nuts Sea salt are an integral part of Eliane’s aperitif repertoire. In addition to her fondness for convivial moments, she loves hiking in the mountains, doing her laps in the swimming pool and, more recently, spending time on playgrounds in and around the city of Bern.
Email: wanner@pakka.ch
Phone: +41 44 454 22 83
Christian Neeser
Head of Marketing & Communication
Christian joined Pakka in May 2018, holds a Master in Business Communications from Zurich University of Applied Sciences and has worked for various communications agencies in the past years. During this time he was involved in the most diverse disciplines in digital marketing and communications and was responsible for various customer projects. This enabled him to gain a fund of valuable experience, which he now contributes to Pakka.
Besides the professional challenges, Christian loves to travel to distant countries, to get in touch with foreign cultures and people and to taste the finest exotic dishes. His favourite nuts are roasted curry cashews.
In his free time, he enjoys mountain biking through the beautiful Swiss countryside or kite-surfing – always with him the Pakka Nuts as a healthy source of energy.
Email: neeser@pakka.ch
Telefon: +41 44 454 22 81
Erol Bay
Trade & Wholesale
Erol has been working in the commodity trade for more than two decades and is responsible for selling the raw materials at diract sourcing. He is passionate about travelling to distant countries and particularly appreciates getting in touch with foreign cultures and tasting their exotic foods. In his spare time, he enjoys spends a lot of time with his family with outdoor activities, such as hiking through beautiful Toggenburg. Of course, on these hikes the exquisite Pakka snacks are always part of his backpack: the chocolate-covered peanuts for his kids and the delicious cashews with Peppadew for his wife and himself. Erol simply loves them for their perfect spiciness and flavor!
Email: bay@pakka.ch
Tel: +41 44 454 22 80
Marco Righetti
Finance
Marco provides Pakka with the necessary portion of Italianità. He not only loves Italian food, but also convinces In general he likes it “all’arrabiata” and this also with Pakka: The hot Cashew Chili Guntur are Marcos all time favorite nuts.
In addition to his passion for culinary arts, Marco is an accomplished social entrepreneur. He has start-up experience in the food tech coffee sector and in setting up a water project in Mali. After his studies in Business Administration at the HSG and a Master in International Business in Paris, he worked for various national and international banks where he dealt with the topic of Impact Investing.
Born in Ticino, he is a globetrotter and surfer at the same time. He likes to spend his holidays on the surfboard, the more exotic and warmer the destination, the better.
Email: righetti@pakka.ch
Phone: +41 44 454 22 82
Lukas Furrer
Finance and Accounting
Lukas is born and raised in Zurich. He supports Pakka in financial administration out of conviction: Only bookings committed to sustainability run across his desk. Lukas’ commitment is also reflected in other things: since his 4 children have been among the Pakka nut eaters, he has been able to record an abrupt growth in turnover.
In addition to working at his desk, Lukas is also very much in motion, be it playing badminton, swimming or hiking. Recently he has been pedalling for Biovelo, according to the credo “from the field to the front door by bike”. When he pauses and nibbles on a handful of his favourite Pakka salt almonds, he dreams of a car-free city.
Email: furrer@pakka.ch
Telefon: +41 44 454 22 91
Martin Lichtenegger
Project Leader
Martin is an Agronomist at ETH Zurich, has studied International Relations in Geneva and Environment and Sustainable Development in London and has worked on several continents. Most recently, he worked for Biovision, where he participated in a study on agroecology and climate resilience of farmers together with FAO and FiBL. With solid experience in dealing with agroforestry systems, he is now involved with the Pakka Foundation for sustainable development in nut cultivation.
In this way, Martin can process natural Pakka nuts with a clear conscience in his specially developed muesli mixture. When he nibbles in the morning, he not only recharges his batteries for his work, but also for river surfing, mountain biking and for his association activities, which aim to establish permaculture as a cultivation method in agriculture.
E-mail: lichtenegger@pakka.ch
Phone: +41 44 454 22 84
Tom von Euw
CEO
Tom holds a degree in production and operations engineering from the Zurich ETH, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and for many years he worked in management consulting. Even more important were the ten years he spent before coming to Pakka founding, building up, and managing his own catering business. Tom’s favorites are Pakka’s Cashews Curry Madras with a glass of bold-flavored red wine. His wife craves anything with black pepper. “Daddy, why aren’t there any cashew nuts with paprika, the way there is on potato chips?” his twin daughters recently asked him. Who knows, that might just be Pakka AG’s next product in development!
Email: voneuw@pakka.ch
Tel: +41 44 454 22 86
Ueli Baruffol
Trade & Chairman of the board
Ueli is one of Pakka’s founders and a member of the management team. He looks after our brand products, which in recent times has meant in particular producing ‘white label’ products and developing new items for retailers. As a forestry graduate, tending new shoots comes naturally to him. Many seeds of product ideas have blossomed thanks to his persistence. When Ueli sets off to play his favourite sport with those yellow felt balls, he always takes a pack of Pakka cashews with him to keep his energy levels up. Our plain chocolate cashews are Ueli’s favourite product, whereas his kids go for our salted cashew nuts.
Email: baruffol@pakka.ch
Telefon: +41 44 454 22 80
Ruedi Schoch
Senior Advisor
Ruedi holds a Ph.D. in Geography and a diploma in organisational and personnel development. He has a long-standing experience as management consultant in development in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe and as a Country and Regional Director of Swiss Cooperation Offices (SDC/SECO) in various destinations. During his career, Ruedi specialised on developing sustainable value chains for agricultural production. He is fascinated by promoting ethically just development interventions. During his leisure time he travels all over the world or explores mountains by foot during winter and summer time. Pakka products are always part of his in-between snacks.
Email: schoch@pakka.ch
Tel: +41 76 441 91 82