Dr. Raphael Ruess serves as CFO of the Faradea Group, a full-service provider of switch cabinets and switchgear systems operating across Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Germany with more than 150 employees. As a senior finance executive in a private equity-backed industrial environment, he oversees financial strategy, capital allocation, and value creation initiatives that drive sustainable growth in the technical manufacturing sector.
Background
Raphael began his career at EY (Ernst & Young) in Transaction Advisory Services, where he worked across financial due diligence, lead advisory, valuation, business modeling, and economics through a rotation program that provided exposure to multiple perspectives on transactions.
He later moved to AlixPartners in Zurich, one of the world’s premier firms for complex M&A, turnarounds, and corporate transformations, where he progressed to Senior Vice President. At AlixPartners, he worked in a uniquely senior environment characterized by small teams and direct collaboration with partners and C-level clients on high-stakes engagements including carve-outs, post-merger integrations, and distressed transactions.
While working full-time in consulting, Raphael simultaneously pursued and successfully defended his PhD at Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt in 2023, focusing on “Distressed M&A in Emerging Markets with Special Consideration of Company Valuation”. This demanding parallel commitment required consistency and discipline, with early mornings, evenings, weekends, and holidays dedicated to research.
After nearly a decade in consulting, Raphael transitioned to operational roles, first as Group CFO at a private equity-backed portfolio company where he led digital transformation initiatives including implementing real-time production KPIs and CRM systems, and subsequently joining Faradea Group, which was formed through a buy-and-build strategy by EOS Partners, a DACH-focused private equity firm specializing in industrial SMEs.
Across his career in transaction advisory and private equity portfolio companies, Raphael has navigated multiple M&A cycles, post-merger integrations, and value creation programs while building deep expertise in distressed situations and emerging markets.
Core Expertise
Dr. Raphael Ruess specializes in corporate finance, M&A transactions, value creation, and strategic transformation for private equity-backed companies, particularly in capital-intensive industrial sectors. He is known for a hands-on, Swiss Army knife approach to leadership, emphasizing adaptability, cross-functional problem-solving, and the ability to roll up his sleeves across financial, operational, and strategic challenges.
His expertise spans post-merger integration, digitalization of core processes (ERP systems, CRM implementation, production digitization), liquidity management, debt structuring, and working capital optimization. He brings deep technical knowledge of distressed M&A situations and valuation methodologies for companies in financial difficulty and emerging market contexts.
Raphael excels at bridging the gap between financial rigor and interpersonal leadership, understanding that motivating operational teams requires not only technical competence but also clear communication of the “why” behind projects, earning trust, and aligning stakeholders around a shared vision.
Academia
Dr. Raphael Ruess holds a business degree with a focus on finance, economics, statistics, and supply chain management.
He completed his PhD (Dr. rer. pol.) at the Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät Ingolstadt of Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt in 2023. His doctoral thesis, “Distressed M&A in Emerging Markets unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Unternehmensbewertung” (Distressed M&A in Emerging Markets with Special Consideration of Company Valuation), addresses a critical gap in valuation practice by examining how classical valuation methods often fail when applied to distressed companies in emerging markets without adjusting underlying assumptions.
The dissertation develops frameworks that simultaneously account for both financial distress and emerging market characteristics, moving beyond binary classifications of companies and markets to instead use insolvency probability and degree of financial market integration as more nuanced analytical dimensions.
Throughout his PhD journey, Raphael combined rigorous academic research with a demanding executive consulting role, an experience he describes as requiring unwavering consistency and reaching a “point of no return” where the investment of time and effort made completion inevitable.
Key Perspectives that Dr. Raphael Ruess Shares on the Podcast
Dr. Raphael Ruess brings a rare dual perspective on private equity value creation, having both advised on transactions from the consulting side and executed value creation strategies as an operator inside portfolio companies, all while developing academic frameworks for distressed M&A valuation.
He demystifies the private equity model for SMEs, explaining how leveraged buyouts work, how buy-and-build strategies create value through both standalone improvements and synergies across acquired companies, and why the right people and leadership are often the most critical factor in successful value creation beyond deal structure or investment thesis.
In the conversation with Dr. Raphael Ruess, you will gain practical insight into what it truly takes to transition from consulting to an operational CFO role in private equity, including the cultural shifts required when moving from project-based advisory work to long-term ownership of outcomes, the differences in motivating consultants versus operational teams, and why interpersonal skills matter just as much as financial expertise in an SME environment.
You will also hear candid reflections on pursuing a PhD while working full-time in high-pressure consulting, the discipline and consistency required to reach the point of no return, and how lifting the burden of parallel commitments ultimately frees mental energy for new professional and personal projects.
A Quote from this Conversation with Dr. Raphael Ruess:
“I could actually see myself running a company and putting into practice what I’ve learned at EY and AlixPartners, kind of leverage this toolkit… I just wanted to make decisions rather than advising on them.”
