Our Team

Prof. Dr. ès sc. Diego Kuonen, CStat PStat, PhD EPFL

Founder, CEO & CAO

Prof. Dr. ès sc. Diego Kuonen, PhD in Statistics, Chartered Statistician (CStat) with the Royal Statistical Society and Accredited Professional Statistician (PStat) with the American Statistical Association, founded Statoo Consulting in 2001. He has extensive experience in advising and consulting businesses and government bodies in Switzerland and across Europe at the operational, tactical, and strategic levels. His areas of expertise include statistical engineering, statistical thinking, statistics, analytics and data science, including artificial intelligence and machine learning. With more than 24 years of professional practice, he has cultivated a deep expertise and a proven track record in his field.

Prof. Dr. ès sc. Diego Kuonen, CStat PStat, graduated in 1998 from the Institute of Mathematics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland with a Master's degree in Applied Statistics ("MSc in Mathematics"). In 2001, he received, under the supervision of Professor A. C. Davison, a PhD degree in Statistics ("Doctor in Science EPF" - the highest degree delivered at the EPFL). Both degrees were obtained for outstanding works in applied statistics, mainly in the interface of statistics and computer science. 

In addition, since 2016 he is also Professor of Data Science at the Research Institute for Statistics and Information Science (RISIS) of the Geneva School of Economics and Management (GSEM) of the University of Geneva, Switzerland. He is also Founding Director of GSEM's Master of Science in Business Analytics (MaBAn) program (started in fall 2017). 

From 2016 to the end of 2024 he was also the Principal Scientific and Strategic Data Innovation, Data Science & Artificial Intelligence Advisor and Consultant for the Directorate and the Board of Management of the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO) in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, Co-Author of FSO's Data Innovation Strategy and in particular (at the strategic, tactical and operational levels) to set up and develop FSO's Data Science Competence Center (DSCC), to set up and develop the Competence Network for Artificial Intelligence (CNAI) (Head ad interim of the CNAI from September 2021 to May 2022), to develop as project manager the Federal Data Science Strategy (DSStB, which was adopted in December 2022 by the Federal Council), and to implement as project lead the DSStB mandates, including the development of the federal code of practice for human-centric and trustworthy data science and artificial intelligence (which was adopted by the Federal Council in November 2023) and the report on concrete application cases of data science for the public good along the policy-making process (which was endorsed by the Federal Council in November 2023). Moreover, he was the project manager of the Federal Council's mandates for the evaluation of the DSCC and defining its future actions (which was approved by the Federal Council in March 2024) and of the evaluation of the CNAI and defining its future actions, including the future strengthening of the coordination of artificial intelligence in the Federal Administration (which was approved by the Federal Council in September 2024; see press release). Last but not least, he was a member of the core team in the development of the sub-strategy for the use of AI systems in the Federal Administration, which sets out the principles required to support the Federal Administration’s digital transformation by using AI systems. This sub-strategy applies to all AI systems used in the Federal Administration, regardless of the specific AI technology used or the purpose it serves. The Federal Council was informed about this sub-strategy in March 2025 (see press release).

Furthermore, he is Co-Initiator and Co-Author of the Swiss Data Literacy Charter which was published by the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences (a+) in May 2024. The aim of this Charter is to provide the Swiss population with the essential foundations needed for digital self-determination and critical and reflective data use. It aims to drive forward a fundamental cultural change in society when handling and using data.

Finally, he was also a long-term President of the Swiss Statistical Society (2009-2015) and Chair of the International Statistical Engineering Association (2024). And since 2011 he is an Elected Member of the International Statistical Institute (ISI).

In 2023, he received the Søren Bisgaard Award of the Statistics Division of the American Society for Quality (ASQ) for his co-authored article "Problem framing: Essential to successful statistical engineering applications". The award recognises the paper in Quality Engineering's 2022 volume with the "greatest potential for advancing the practice of quality improvement".

Based on this extensive experience in advising and consulting businesses and government bodies, he co-authored in 2023 an Harvard Business Review article "Your data strategy needs to include everyone". Therein the authors suggest that an entirely new "management paradigm" for data is needed, which embodies a common language, a holistic vision of the ways data should contribute, a clearly defined organisational structure showing how data integrates across the organisation. Along with clear roles and responsibilities for all involved. Eventually, it needs to incorporate corporate culture, relationships with universities and vendors, policy, and anything else that advances, or holds back the effective use of data. 

One of his credos with respect to data-driven business analytics is the wish to fill the gap between academic research and professional business management practice to enable continuous improvement.