“Her desire to take concrete action to create a fairer world by supporting the education of students from emerging countries makes her the ideal director to guide the Foundation into the future.”
Mgr Charles Morerod, Bishop, President of the OEuvre Saint-Justin Foundation

The St-Justin Foundation Board has appointed Natacha Roos as director of the institution. She is the first woman to hold this position since the organisation was founded in 1927. She took up her post in August.

Natacha Roos oversees five university residences in Fribourg, Zurich, Geneva, Sion and Lausanne, comprising 450 rooms allocated to students of 110 nationalities, and supports 115 scholarship holders from emerging countries, assisted by 43 staff members.

A UNANIMOUSLY WELCOMED APPOINTMENT

The recruitment process was conducted in a participatory manner, with staff representatives included in the
selection committee. At the end of this process, the Foundation Board unanimously appointed Natacha Roos.
She impressed with her strategic and operational experience, her unifying leadership, her ability to listen and her
deeply human and intercultural vision.

THE JOURNEY OF A COMMITTED WOMAN

Natacha Roos, 47, is the mother of two teenagers. She studied history and geography at the University of Fribourg before training in cultural management and then public administration in Lausanne. Her professional career began in the cultural and socio-cultural fields, which she explored for around ten years in French-speaking Switzerland. For eleven years as head of the City of Fribourg’s Culture Department and manager of the Agglomeration’s cultural fund within Coriolis Infrastructures, she developed a culture for all based on numerous interdisciplinary partnerships.

In 2021, she was elected to the ‘Forum des 100’, which recognises influential figures in French-speaking Switzerland. She founded and directs OrganiCité, a nationally active organisation that promotes social and cultural innovation. In 2024, this initiative was recognised with two awards. In 2025, Natacha Roos was elected to the committee of Médiation culturelle suisse. She now puts her skills, Swiss network and energy at the service of the St-Justin Foundation.

“It has always been important to me to work concretely for people’s well-being; that has been the guiding principle of my career. With St-Justin, I want to encourage and promote young people from around the world through the memorable experience they have with us, but also the people here who want to work for the common good.”
Natacha Roos, Director