In his forty-one years at Swisspearl’s facility in Niederurnen, Franz Landolt has worked in many different capacities, from the lab to the boardroom. With degrees in chemical engineering and business administration, he has been head of research and development, plant manager, and vice-director. Nowadays he oversees the company’s real estate portfolio and pension fund, and is responsible for the company’s building and renovation projects. Born in Glarus in 1958 and still living in a village that is close to the canton’s capital he is a real local. Beside his career at Swisspearl he also has a political responsibility within the canton.

The high point of the political year in the canton of Glarus is the Landsgemeinde on the first Sunday in May: an open-air communal assembly in which all citizens of Glarus vote publicly with a show of hands. All citizens of the canton of Glarus over the age of sixteen can participate. Anyone who wants to make a statement is given time to speak. The event is an annual highlight and enjoys an enormously high number of visitors. The voters go to a contained but visible area and vote on regional measures. Due to the pandemic situation this year’s Landsgemeinde will take place on September 5th.

Franz’s interest in networking and organizing goes back to his youth as a Scout leader. Those early experiences in community service also opened the door to a political career. He was first elected to the Landrat, the parliament of the canton of Glarus, in 1986, at age twenty-eight, and has been a member ever since—with a stint as town councilor in his home village of Näfels in the mid-1990s. Nowadays he is a member of the Glarus cantonal parliament for the Green Liberal Party.