Sören Gaardboe appointed as CEO of OptiGroup AB
OptiGroup today announces the appointment of Sören Gaardboe as CEO of OptiGroup.
Sören has most recently held the position of Chief Operating Officer of OptiGroup. He is also Acting Business Area Head for the Facility, Safety and Foodservice Solutions business area. Prior to that he held various senior positions as SVP of Papyrus in the Nordic region, in the South East, and in the Benelux. He has been very involved in the development of Papyrus as well as the recent acquisitions and integrations of Procurator, Stadsing and Pac and brings a wealth of experience to the role.
Christoph Sander, who took over as Chairman and CEO of Papyrus in July 2016 and then led the OptiGroup transformation journey to successfully reposition the Group, will continue as a board member of OptiGroup. He is appointed as Deputy Chairman and Head of the Acquisition Committee, where he will support the management team with new developments. In addition, he will take responsibility for the planned divestment of Papyrus Germany and work closely with the German management team in the coming months.
Christoph Sander said: “It has been an exciting time to lead the transformation journey of OptiGroup and a pleasure to work with the management teams. We have successfully completed a dozen acquisitions, focused the Group into strong business areas, and thereby laid a very solid foundation and platform for the future. It is therefore also now the right time for me to hand over the reins to Sören, who has done a tremendous job as COO of OptiGroup. I am delighted that he will take the business on to the next level and I look forward to supporting him and the OptiGroup Board in this next exciting phase of our development”.
Sören Gaardboe said: “It has been a pleasure to work closely with Christoph in the past years and to be a part of the transformation journey. I look forward to taking the next step as CEO of OptiGroup. We have to continue the road we started in 2016 to develop our business organically, and also to add more acquisitions. Standing still is not an option in my world, we always need to develop and move forward”.
“From the Board’s perspective, we are convinced that Sören, with his solid experience from, among others, OptiGroup, is the right person to take on and further develop the successful business that exists in OptiGroup today”, says Chairman of the Board, Johan Sjö. “Christoph has had a significant impact on the Group’s positive development. The fact that Christoph will continue to be a member of the Board of Directors in OptiGroup will ensure continuity in the CEO succession and that he can contribute further to a continued positive development”, continues Johan Sjö.
For further information, please contact:
Stefan Sikander, Corporate Communication Director, OptiGroup, Tel.+46 706 404684
About OptiGroup
OptiGroup is a leading European business-to-business distributor of business essentials in Facility, Safety & Foodservice Solutions, Industrial Solutions, Printing & Creative Solutions and Retail & Reseller Solutions. OptiGroup companies specialise in offering products and services that streamline operations for their customers and promote a more successful business. The Group, with net sales of EUR 1.5 billion in 2017 and 2,100 employees, supports more than 90,000 customers in 19 countries across Europe