Roger Büchel: From Stage Lights to Alpine Heights
Many people say they’re entrepreneurial. Roger Büchel bought a mountain.
Today he is majority owner and CEO of Gemmi Bahnen, an all-year excursion destination above Leukerbad in Valais. Two cable cars connect the spa town with the Gemmi Pass at over 2,000 meters and with Daubensee, a high-altitude natural lake. Guests come to hike, ski, snowshoe, and enjoy a car-free high-alpine landscape with wide views and plenty of space.
His journey to the Alps began with music. As a teenager Roger studied drums, played in orchestras, big bands, and rock groups, and soon handled sound systems and lighting as well as rhythms. “Step by step I moved from being on stage to being behind it,” he recalls. At 18 he founded an event-technology company, renting equipment and crews to organizers.
Over about ten years he grew and later sold that business, shifting from club gigs to corporate events such as annual general meetings and product launches. He then joined Habegger Group, taking on leadership roles in the live-communication and events industry and learning, as he puts it, “how larger organizations tick.”
In 2017 Roger added a new challenge: the Exective MBA from the University of Zurich. With young children at home, proximity and schedule were crucial. “UZH was family-friendly; I could keep working and still be present with my family,” he says. Just as important was the program’s applied nature: real cases, professors with industry experience, and classmates bringing their own practice to the room. Finance and planning modules, an international stay at Yale, and media-training sessions with Gabriela Amgarten stand out as personal highlights.
In December 2019, shortly before finishing the EMBA, he became CEO of Kongresshaus Zürich. The venue was still a construction site, and Roger was the first employee. He oversaw the renovation while designing a modern organization, implementing new digital systems, and recruiting around 600 staff. “Being in the EMBA at that moment definitely helped,” he notes. “I could combine long experience in events with up-to-date management thinking.”
After successfully reopening the congress center, he felt drawn back to entrepreneurship. A LinkedIn post from a former neighbor led him to Gemmi Bahnen, then a family business seeking a successor. The car-free, rugged landscape convinced him emotionally; the due diligence and ten-year business plan had to convince him rationally. “The finance part of the EMBA was essential,” he says. “It gave me the tools to understand the numbers and structure a deal investors could support.” Today he holds just over 60 percent of the holding company and serves as both chair and CEO.
Looking ahead, Roger is focused on developing Gemmi Bahnen further – from examining options for a historic mountain hotel to creating staff housing in the valley – while keeping the area’s quiet character. “For me it’s still about creating experiences and memories for guests,” he says. “Only the setting has changed.”