We have welcomed 11 new employees to Habegger since June 2023. These include four “young talents” who are learning their trade from scratch at Habegger. We warmly welcome you and look forward to gaining a wealth of new expertise in the Creation, Event Technology, Project Management, Venue Services, Logistics, IT, Corporate Services and Warehouse areas.
Find out who “the new ones” are. What fascinates them about live communication and what were their first weeks and months at Habegger like?
Antonio Mrsic | Logistics Expert
After completing his training in photography, the trained logistics specialist took the plunge and set up his own business as a freelance stagehand. “I really wanted to know what kind of technology is needed backstage to make a concert work. It’s impressive how much equipment is needed.” Antonio Habegger saw the branded lorries at concerts at the Hallenstadion, had a look around the website and applied. He has been a permanent member of the logistics team since September 2023 and is delighted with the smooth collaboration between the individual departments. “You can feel the spirit, everyone is passionate about the same thing and pulls together.” The Zurich native particularly remembers the set-up for the Indian superstar AR Rahmen’s concert at the Hallenstadion. “This spontaneous order required highly complex logistics, we loaded a total of 7 articulated lorries, 2 HGVs and a Sprinter van. It was a cool project.”
Charles Murdock Lucas | Event Scenographer
LinkedIn makes it possible. Born in the USA, Charles moved to Zurich with his family in order to work at Habegger. “I was explicitly looking for a full-service provider like Habegger, where all of the competences are united under one roof.” The scenographer with a love of the outdoors has been working in live communication since 2008. In the USA, he designed stage sets for opera and theatre, worked as a video designer and was responsible for the design of the opera “La Bohème” in Korea and the musical “Shrek” in Bulgaria. In addition to this, the creative was also a lecturer in scenography. Before his permanent position, Charles – known as Murdock – was already working for Habegger as a freelancer. “I now enjoy being an integral part of Creation, how we implement creative projects together and work with the client. We learn a lot from each other thanks to the diversity of expertise.” The world of virtual reality is his creative home. The family man is looking forward to expanding his VR expertise in-house, merging it further with scenography and making the content for the service portfolio even more interactive and reactive.
Dominic Johonyak | IT Administrator
Dominic is a qualified logistics technician with the Swiss certificate of proficiency, but IT has been his dream job since school. He completed a two-year part-time apprenticeship as an IT systems engineer with the Swiss certificate of proficiency. The communicative IT specialist got to know Habegger through his previous employer, optimo AG, within joint projects. “Working at Habegger is very varied and we have a great team spirit.” He is part of a team of seven. He still remembers his first few days very well, as his trip to the Hallenstadion Zurich, where he got to take a look behind the scenes of the venue, was a highlight for Dominic. Even though Habegger was not entirely new to him, he has learnt a lot since joining the company. He also thinks the company benefits such as the Last Thursday and the annual Christmas party are great. “I enjoy these events because they allow me to talk to colleagues on a personal level and get to know them better.”
Jan Zwiebel | Venue Service Operator
Jan has music in his blood and plays keyboard and drums. The trained bricklayer quit his job at the age of 26 to gain a foothold in the music industry. He successfully completed his Bachelor of Arts in Music in London and started his own business offering technical solutions to musicians. Even today, the venue service operator still can’t believe his first order. “I toured the world with George Ezra for 80 concerts and accompanied him as a playback engineer and keyboard technician. That was a unique time.” This tour also brought the Thun native to the Hallenstadion Zurich, where he got to know Habegger. Right from the start, he felt very welcome at his workplace, the Kursaal Bern. “I’m learning a lot and am particularly interested in concert productions. I appreciate that I am listened to and supported by the leaders.” Although there is a small Habegger team on site in Bern, he feels the expertise of the entire company and the close cooperation with the head office. He really appreciates the fact that they invest a lot in new technologies and solutions in the partner venues.
Jan Eric Weber | Senior AV Dispatcher
Jan Eric has had a connection to Habegger for a long time. He had previously taken part in joint projects through his former employer PRG. Born in Cologne, he has been in Switzerland with his wife since 2016 and enjoys the work-life balance in the mountains while skiing or mountain biking. The trained electrician started his career as a lighting technician for film and television productions before switching to live communication. He moved into project management over 10 years ago and has been part of the Habegger family since December 2023. “I had a great start, was warmly welcomed by everyone and was already given the opportunity to supervise small projects.” Jan Eric is primarily responsible for planning and organising materials for projects in close cooperation with the project managers. “We also hire equipment, both nationally and internationally, or work closely with our sister company Satis & Fy and help each other out with event material.”
Patrick Westerhold | Project Manager
Patrick, too, is an old hand at Habegger and not actually a new employee. He was already in contact with Peter Habegger over 30 years ago and thus became familiar with event equipment. The passionate sailor brings expertise from the fields of architecture, lighting design and interior design. However, his enthusiasm for live communication has never left him. He worked as a freelancer at Art on Ice in 2023 and so it was only natural that he would take up a permanent position. “I really enjoy my job, the variety of projects and the close teamwork are fantastic. I feel at home.” One highlight from the last few months was a special pitch with an extraordinary implementation idea – currently still top secret, of course – and then ultimately winning the pitch. “I love challenges, constructing special solutions that are not run of the mill.”
Ayel Danker | Apprentice Event Technology
At the age of 15, Ayel is already familiar with live communication and has known for some time that he would like to complete his apprenticeship in this field. His mother is a nationally renowned singer. The budding event technician has been backstage with her from an early age and has often attended her concerts in recent years. In his private life, he also enjoys listening to and making music, playing the piano, drums and ukulele. Ayel was delighted with the Habegger taster day last summer. “It was a great day, a great team and there are so many different projects being implemented. I want to be part of that.” The best highlight for the sporty Zurich resident was the Seaside Festival. It was his first big job and he was on site for three days. “I really learnt how a festival is set up from A to Z and just what it takes. It was very strenuous, but a lot of fun. That showed me once again that this is the right training programme for me.” He had a lot of questions at first, but the team was always patient and helpful. He is already looking forward to his 18th birthday, when he will finally be allowed to work full-time.
Julien Cadisch | Trainee Corporate Services
Julien is set to begin his internship in the Marketing, HR and Customer Centre departments in August 2023. In his private life, he can often be found at sporting events and would like to become a presenter later on. The one-year internship is part of the HMS training programme. Julien is very interested in the entertainment industry and enjoys communicating and working with people. “The industry is so diverse, just like my area of responsibility, I would probably get bored in a bank.” The different departments mean that the working week is very structured, but it also offers the 19-year-old a lot of variety and he can learn a great deal in the individual areas. “I was quickly introduced everywhere and became an integral part of the team.” He also experienced an excursion into the world of events with the set-up at Greifensee Openair – a long and eventful day. “It’s fascinating that an empty site is transformed into a festival location by the end of the day.”
Kayo Bosshard | Apprentice Event Technology
Kayo knew early on that he wanted to work in the events industry. Born in Zurich, he started his apprenticeship in August 2023 and is enthusiastic about his work. “I’m very happy to be at Habegger because my everyday life couldn’t be more varied.” There’s always something new, it’s never the same, sometimes in the office, sometimes out on the job. “I’ve been given a lot of responsibility in a very short space of time and am allowed to organise a lot of my day-to-day life myself.” His biggest highlight was the Seaside Festival at the end of his first month of training, where he was on site every day of the festival, lighting the artists and helping with the stage changes. And so it continued. In October, he was hardly ever in the office, but was busy working on a wide variety of projects. Looking back, the best experience for the budding event technician is the teamwork. “You come together on a project, you go together and support each other.”
Silvio Bärtsch | Apprentice Mediamatics
Silvio also started his training as a mediamatician in Creation in August 2023. In his spare time, he enjoys photography, graphic design and filming videos. “It’s a dream to combine my passions, learn them at a professional level and later work in this field.” He has been involved in live communication for several years as a rock-pop singer in a five-piece band. For the sporty creative, working at Habegger has made it even more exciting by getting to know the industry from the other side. “I’m often thrown in at the deep end with projects, which I like because I learn a lot and I get all the support I need from my team.” The absolute highlight for the budding mediamatician so far has been the Super10Kampf. “The atmosphere was absolutely amazing.” Over the next few months, he will be learning about the Sony FX series camera system, which, as a technology fan, he is really looking forward to.
In the interview, all new members were asked to describe Habegger in three words. We would like to thank you for the wonderful descriptions and are delighted to have you in the Habegger team.
Our team will continue to broaden in the future, as we are always on the lookout for exceptional personalities for live communication.
Every two years, Habegger takes a close look at its own working environment together with “Great Place to Work®”, with the aim of identifying optimisation potential in order to remain an attractive employer in the future, too. In 2022, we have once again received the award for an optimal working environment.
