Varnholt holds a PhD from the University of St. Gallen (HSG) where he also lectured on Finance and Investments. He has also lectured at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Massachusetts and Stern School of Business, New York University, New York. He has published extensively and authored four books.

He is a passionate collector of contemporary art and served as a member of the Acquisition Committee of the Tate Modern in London. In 2004, Burkhard founded and built an orphanage for about 50 homeless children in Kampala, Uganda, for which he runs a Swiss charitable organisation (www.kids-of-africa.com).

See also: 04.30 pm ‘Financial Megatrends: how the new world of IT continues to reshaping markets’