Candidates are either elected or appointed, depending on the position and the organisation. The FDFA, sometimes in collaboration with other federal departments, campaigns to have Swiss nationals appointed or elected to executive roles.
The following is a list (non-exhaustive) of Swiss nationals holding executive roles in international organisations:
- Philippe Baechtold, Director PCT Service Department, World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)
- Christophe Bernasconi, Secretary General, Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), 2023-28
- Peter Binder, member of the Executive Council of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), 2019–23
- Peter Blattner, President of the International Commission on Illumination (CIE)
- Didier Chambovey, Chair of the General Council of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), 2022-23
- Thomas Cottier, Member of the Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (MPIA) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO)
- Daniel Endres, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General (Humanitarian) a.i., United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA)
- Daniel Fink, member of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), for the period 2018–20 and 2021-24
- Christian Frutiger, Chair of the Multilateral Organisation Performance Assessment Network (MOPAN), 2022
- Marianne Gasser, Head of Damascus Office for United Nations Special Envoy for Syria
- Major General Patrick Gauchat, Head of Mission of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO)
- Henri Gétaz, Secretary-General of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA)
- Sabina Handschin, Chair of the Council of the International Bureau for Education (IBE) of the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)
- Marie-Claude Hofner, Member of the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO), 2023-2027
- Philip D. Jaffé, member of the UN Committee on Contributions, 2023-2025
- Marcel Jullier, member of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), 2017–19 and 2020-22
- Walter Kälin, expert of the High-Level Panel on Internal Displacement
- Christine Kaufmann, chair of the Working Party on Responsible Business Conduct of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
- Nora Kronig Romero, member of the Executive Council of the World Health Organisation (WHO), 2023-2026
- Renato Krpoun, chair of the ESA Council at delegate level, European Space Agency (ESA), 2023-2025
- Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), 2020-23
- Nicolas Levrat, Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Office of the High-Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
- Mirko Manzoni, UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for Mozambique
- Beatrice Maser, Special Representative for Western Europe, International Finance Corporation (IFC) 2022-20204
- Bobjoseph Mathew, President of the International Committee of Legal Metrology (CIML), International Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML)
- Niklaus Meier, member of the Governing Council of the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT), 2019-23
- Chitra Narayanaswamy, Director and Controller, Department of Programme Planning and Finance, World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)
- Daniel Neuenschwander, Director for Human and Robotic Exploration at the European Space Agency (ESA)
- Bruno Oberle, Director General, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
- Stéphane Rey, member of the Advisory Group of the UN Peacebuilding Fund, 2022-2024
- Philippe Richard, Vice president of the international Committee for Weights and Measures, International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM)
- Markus Schefer, member of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), 2023-2026
- Thomas Schneider, Chair of the Committee on Artificial Intelligence, Council of Europe, 2022-23
- Florian Schütz, Chair of the Working Party on Security in the Digital Economy (SDE) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
- Gaudenz Silberschmidt, Director Health and Multilateral Partnerships at the World Health Organization (WHO)
- Georges-Simon Ulrich, Vice-Chair of the Statistical Commission of UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), 2022-2023
- Dorothea Winkler, member of the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA), 2017–20 and 2021-24
