Born in Herisau, Switzerland, he studied at Hochschule St. Gallen and graduated in 1971 as Dr. rer. publ.
From 1969 to 1974 he was party secretary of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) in St. Gallen. Since 1977 he worked as a management consultant.
In 1997, he was elected to the Council of States for the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden. He presided the finance committee and was a member of the foreign policy committee.
As of 2003, he is on the board of directors of the Helvetia-Patria insurance company and Anova Holding. He is also member of the board of trustees of the Max Schmidheiny Foundation.
He was elected member of the Swiss Federal Council on December 10, 2003 as member of the Free Democratic Party (FDP). He heads the Federal Department of Finance.
He is married and father of three sons.
Predecessor: Kaspar Villiger