Company announcement no 2015-09 16 June 2015
Extension of the Executive Board of William Demant
William Demant Holding A/S has employed René Schneider to fill a newly created position as Chief Financial Officer, CFO, and promoted Søren Nielsen to Chief Operating Officer, COO. Both René Schneider and Søren Nielsen will become members of the Executive Board of William Demant, headed by President & CEO, Niels Jacobsen.
René Schneider comes from a position as CFO with Auriga Industries, which he has held since 2013. He has formerly also been employed with NNIT, Novo Nordisk and NeuroSearch.
Søren Nielsen has been employed with William Demant since 1995. For the past two decades, he has held different positions with the Group, and since 2008, he has been President of Oticon A/S.
“William Demant has seen impressive growth for more than 20 years and is today one of the biggest players in its industry on a global scale. From previously mainly being known for developing and manufacturing hearing instruments, we are today active within several other important areas, the purpose of which is to treat and alleviate hearing loss. In a changing market, with growing investments and increasing complexity, we are now extending the Executive Board with a view to supporting our ambition of becoming a global market leader in hearing healthcare,” says Lars Nørby Johansen, Chairman of the Board. “Implants and bone-anchored hearing systems are both areas that hold considerable potential. At the same time, our existing hearing instrument and diagnostics businesses are growing in a market with increasing competition.”
With the acquisition of Audika, the Group will at the end of the year reach annualised revenue of approx. DKK 11 billion. The number of staff will consequently exceed 11,000. Continued, considerable investments in Oticon Medical are expected to result in a significant expansion of our business in the coming years.
“René Schneider will become overall responsible for implementing the Group’s already initiated change and efficiency improvement projects in Shared Services, e.g. IT, Finance and Administration as well as Operations and Supply Chain,” says Niels Jacobsen, President & CEO of William Demant. “Søren Nielsen will continue to be responsible for our entire wholesale hearing instrument business. In addition, one of his main tasks will be to ensure that we realise synergies across all our business activities.”
Going forward, the Management group of William Demant will consist of six people. Apart from the Executive Board, the Management group will consist of Arne Boye Nielsen (Diagnostics), Niels Wagner (Retail) and Svend Thomsen (Finance).
Stefan Ingildsen, Senior Vice President, Finance, will continue in his present position as responsible for Finance and Investor Relations etc. until 1 September 2015 when René Schneider will take up his position as CFO.
“Stefan Ingildsen has worked closely with me for the past ten years and has during that time made a tremendous effort in Finance and Investor Relations. He will leave the Group at his own request,” says Niels Jacobsen.
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Further information:
Lars Nørby Johansen, Chairman of the Board
Niels Jacobsen, President & CEO
Phone +45 3917 7300
www.demant.com
Enclosures: Biographies of René Schneider and Søren Nielsen
