Team Member

About Stefanie

Stefanie Zechner, PhD is an executive coach, career strategist, and founder of nextImpact, a platform dedicated to helping life science leaders navigate career transitions and lead with purpose and impact. With a background in neuroscience, drug development, and corporate talent strategy, she combines scientific insight with human-centered talent advisory to unlock clarity, confidence, and strategic direction. Her journey began in Basel, where her love for science and people led her to study psychology and medicine before starting a career in clinical development. As Clinical Trial Head at Novartis, Stefanie was instrumental in the development and market preparation of the first transdermal patch for Alzheimer’s Disease, Exelon Patch. In this process, she found her second passion:working with professionals and enabling them to perform. After a decade in R&D, Stefanie transitioned from advancing medicine through molecules to advancing it through people. Since this move in 2008, Stefanie supported a multitude of pharma, biotech and consumer care clients in their hiring and career decisions and led international executive search projects across the value chain and at all levels including C-suite.  

Stefanie completed her formal coaching training with the NeuroLeadership Institute, certified in the Harrison Assessment, and is a member of the International Coaching Federation. Since 2023 Stefanie also acts as Expert with Innosuisse, which gives her the opportunity to advance Life Science innovation in Switzerland and stay on top of industry trends.

In 2024, Stefanie completed a Design Thinking certificate with IDEO U, where she used the foundations of nextImpact as her project to create an innovative service that meets real-world needs. Her coaching is deeply personalized and draws from years of experience in executive search, neuroscience drug development, and startup advisory. Stefanie is known for enabling life science professionals to transform uncertainty into opportunity and impact. Stefanie speaks English, German, and French.