Ursula Wyss

Wyss completed her Matura at the Gymnase Numa-Droz in Neuchâtel in 1992. She subsequently studied economics and general ecology at the University of Bern, the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow and Technische Universität Berlin. She graduated from the University of Bern in 1997 and obtained a doctorate in economics (Dr. rer. oec.) in 2006. She later earned a Master of Science in Urban and Regional Planning (MSc URP) from the University of Amsterdam.

After working at the Bureau for Labour and Social Policy Studies (BASS) and WWF Switzerland, she worked at the Institute of Economics at the University of Bern.

Today, she runs SEUM, a consultancy specialising in strategic urban development and urban mobility, and works as an adviser and expert in Switzerland and elsewhere in Europe.

She is also active in higher and continuing education, including at Bern University of Applied Sciences and OST – Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences.

From 2013 to 2020, Wyss chaired the board of directors of Bernmobil, Bern's municipal public transport company. She also chaired the Swiss Cities Conference on Mobility and served in an advisory capacity on the board of the Swiss Conference of Directors of Public Works, Planning and Environmental Protection.

Wyss was for many years a board member of the Bern section of the Swiss Association for Transport and Environment (VCS), a member of the patronage committee of the Energy Science Center at ETH Zurich and a member of the supporting association of the Institute of Communication and Media Studies at the University of Bern.

She chairs the Swiss Transport Foundation and, since 2026, the Alliance for Physical Activity, Sport and Health. In November 2024, she was elected to the board of Pro Velo Switzerland. She is founding member of Women in Cycling Switzerland.

Wyss lives in Bern and has two children. Her partner is Thomas Christen.

Wyss joined the Social Democratic Party in 1989. From 1997 to 1999, she was a member of the Grand Council of the Canton of Bern.

She was elected to the Swiss National Council in 1999 and re-elected in 2003, 2007 and 2011. From 2004 to 2006, she served as vice-president of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland, and from 2006 to 2012 she chaired the Social Democratic parliamentary group in the Federal Assembly. She served on the Environment, Spatial Planning and Energy Committee, the Political Institutions Committee, the Finance Committee and the Office of the National Council.

During her tenure as parliamentary group leader, Wyss played a significant role in the political process that led to the non-re-election of Federal Councillor Christoph Blocher in 2007.

At national level, her political work focused particularly on environmental, climate and energy policy, European policy and education.

On 25 November 2012, Wyss was elected to the five-member executive government of the City of Bern with the highest number of votes of all elected candidates. She left the National Council in March 2013 and was succeeded by Nadine Masshardt.

In Bern's city government, Wyss headed the Directorate for Civil Engineering, Transport and Green Spaces. She was re-elected to the executive in November 2016. She left the city government at the end of 2020.

Today, she runs her own consultancy firm for strategic urban development and urban mobility.