Nomination Committee’s proposals for board of directors ahead of 2019 AGM

Carola Lemne is proposed as the new chairman of the board of Internationella Engelska Skolan i Sverige Holdings II AB (publ) (“IES”) ahead of the Annual General Meeting (AGM) to be held on 21 November 2019. She will succeed Birker Bahnsen, who will remain a member of the board of Directors. Robert Clark, who has a background as the successful principal of IES Enskede for many years, is also proposed as a new board member.

The Nomination Committee proposes that Birker Bahnsen, Brian Hatch, Maria Rankka, Lars Strannegård and Peter Wikström be re-elected as board members. Cecilia Marlow has declined re-election, while Gunilla Carlsson, elected by the AGM, left the Board in May 2019 after she accepted a position at the UN. The number of board members elected by the AGM will thus remain seven.

Carola Lemne has an extensive experience as a leader in knowledge based organisations, as well as from company boards. She held leading positions within Pharmacia between 1993 and 2000 and has also been the CEO of Danderyds sjukhus (2000-2007), Praktikertjänst (2008-2014) and the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (2014-2018). Carola is a medical doctor, has a Ph.D. and is an associate professor at the Karolinska Institutet. She has been a member of the board of directors of Investor, Getinge, Meda, Apoteket and the Swedish Strategic Research Foundation, to mention a few, and was Chairman of the Board of Directors of Uppsala University (2013-2017). Carola currently chairs the educational organisation “Ung företagsamhet” (Junior Achievement Sweden) and the healthcare provider ArtClinic and is member of the board of directors of Arjo AB (publ) and vice chairman of the board of IRLAB Therapeutics AB.

Robert Clark was a successful principal of Internationella Engelska Skolan in Enskede for 13 years before he retired in March 2019. IES Enskede is the “mother school” of the organisation and as its highly respected principal, Mr. Clark has played an important role also as a leader and a mentor in the circle of IES principals. He has represented IES in several external positions, including in the school operators‘ Expert Group for School Development. Robert Clark obtained his teacher credentials at Nottingham University in 1976, combining science and physical education. Before he was recruited to IES in 2006, he worked as a teacher at the Stockholm International School, amongst others, where he was also a member of its board.

“We are delighted that Carola Lemne has enthusiastically accepted the role of chairman of IES. Carola brings extensive experience of Swedish society and of enterprise in a public decision-making environment. She is also a seasoned leader and mentor. Robert Clark embodies everything that IES stands for in education. The Nomination Committee attached particular importance to ensuring that the board upholds and promotes the fundamental concept of Internationella Engelska Skolan and its special organisational culture, which is of vital importance for the future of the schools and the company,” says Barbara Bergström, Chairman of the Nomination Committee.

The proposed new board members are independent in relation to the company and company management and independent in relation to the company’s principal owners.

The Chairman of the board, Birker Bahnsen, wishes to specifically thank Cecilia Marlow: “Cecilia has made a valuable contribution to IES during her time on the board and while serving as interim CEO. She has played a significant role in making IES even more stable and well prepared for its next phase when Anna Sörelius Nordenborg takes over as CEO on 25 November. During her time as interim CEO, Cecilia worked closely with the company and management and – in order to create scope for manoeuvre for Anna – she has decided to decline re-election to the board. It is regrettable but I respect Cecilia’s decision, and I would like to thank her for her genuine commitment to the best of IES’s interests, both now and always in the past.”

The 2018/19 Nomination Committee’s members were:

• Barbara Bergström, Chairman of the Nomination Committee and appointed by Mountainstream Holding I S.à.r.l.
• Birker Bahnsen, appointed by Bock Senior Capital Investors S.à.r.l.
• Jan Hummel, appointed by Paradigm Capital Value Fund SICAV

Information about all of the members proposed to the IES board of directors and the Nomination Committee’s complete proposal and reasoned statement are available on the company’s website corporate.engelska.se.

For more information, please contact:
Emma Rheborg, Head of Communication and IR, IES
Telephone: +46 (0)768 511 540
E-mail: emma.rheborg@engelska.se 

The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the above contact, on 22 October 2019 at 09:00  CEST.
 

About Internationella Engelska Skolan

Internationella Engelska Skolan, IES, is one of the leading free school operators in Sweden with some 26,800 students at 37 schools, and about 2,500 students at its schools in Spain.

IES Sweden conducts school operations from “förskoleklass” (grade F) up to the third and final year of upper secondary school (grade 12). Its main focus is grades 4-9, what is often called “middle school.” Within the compulsory school system in Sweden, IES is the leading independent operator, with 17 of the 20 largest free schools. The academic results of IES schools on the national tests in grade 9 are far above average in Sweden.

Internationella Engelska Skolan was founded in 1993 and is in its 27th year of operation. Throughout this period, its schools have been defined by the three core convictions of its founder, Mrs. Barbara Bergström:

• A safe and orderly environment, where teachers can teach and students learn.
• To command the English language − the key to the world.
• High academic expectations and aspirations.

Up to half of teaching is conducted in English by teachers whose native language is English. Over 800 teachers with qualified foreign teaching degrees are currently teaching in IES schools. They are mainly recruited from Canada, the USA, the UK and South Africa.

The IES student base is growing strongly. Over the past ten years, total operating income has increased by an average of 19% per year. In the most recent financial year 2018/19, which concluded on 30 June 2019, total operating income was MSEK 2,781.1, an increase of some 18% year on year. As of 30 June 2019, there were approximately 191,700 applications in the queue to secure a place in the Swedish schools for the current and forthcoming years.

Internationella Engelska Skolan has been listed on Nasdaq Stockholm Mid Cap, with the ticker ENG, since 2016.

The largest (indirect) shareholders of IES are TA Associates of the US, which has close affiliations to leading universities and trusts in the US, Barbara Bergström, the founder of IES, and Paradigm Capital AG through different funds. At the end of September 2019, the 10 largest shareholders also included Swedbank Robur fonder and AMF Försäkring & Fonder (owned jointly by LO, the Swedish Trade Union Confederation and the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise).