New CEO at Penneo
Company Announcement No. 7-2020
Copenhagen, September 28, 2020
Niels Henrik Rasmussen has resigned as CEO of Penneo due to his daughter’s back surgery and rehabilitation, and to focus on his family going forward. The Board of Directors has initiated a recruitment process to appoint a new CEO who will work closely with the strong Penneo organisation to continue the company’s expansion strategy and further unfold Penneo’s full potential.
Morten Elk, Chairman of the Penneo Board of Directors, comments: “Penneo has become the de facto standard in the Nordic market for automated processes pertaining to identity, signing and workflows in the auditing sector and other document-heavy industries. Niels Henrik Rasmussen has been an important part of this journey, playing an instrumental role in Penneo’s successful IPO on Nasdaq First Nordic in 2020. I and the rest of the Board would like to thank Niels Henrik very much for his contribution to this remarkable stage of Penneo’s journey. The Board has a well-defined and focused expansion strategy and is now looking for the right CEO to lead Penneo into its next growth period.”
Elk adds: “Penneo’s expansion strategy is a straightforward two-pronged approach. First, we will continue and strengthen the vertical ownership, notably in the auditing segment, by developing products for further integration in identity-oriented workflows, thus providing even more value to our customers. Second, we will expand Penneo’s offerings and leadership position throughout Europe. This expansion is facilitated by strong and established relationships with our existing international top accountant customers and by the growing maturity and regulations driving digitization of identity solutions throughout Europe. We expect the new CEO to bring to Penneo the necessary global experience to execute the announced strategy as well as to further internationalize our business.”
The departing CEO, Rasmussen, adds: “I have enjoyed an incredible five years with Penneo. First as an investor and chairman (2015-2018) and then as CEO from 2018. Penneo is a remarkable, customer-driven organisation with an extraordinary willingness to go above and beyond. It has been a privilege to lead a company with such brilliant people and such an incredibly innovative culture. We have grown to be the Nordic leader for auditors, with 60% of all annual reports filed with the Danish Business Authority in 2019 signed and facilitated by Penneo. We have also successfully secured the financial basis for Penneo’s expansion strategy in connection with the IPO.”
The Board has a short list of CEO candidates and has also brought in Heidrick & Struggles to assist with the recruitment process.
Until a new CEO has been recruited, the Board has appointed Nicolaj Højer Nielsen as Interim CEO. He is co-founder of Penneo as well as a member of the Board. He will temporarily step down as Board member in Penneo until the new CEO is in place. Højer Nielsen is a strong match in this interim role. He holds a BSc in business economics from Aalborg University, an MSc in business administration and marketing from Copenhagen Business School, and a full-time MBA from Insead. Moreover, Nicolaj is generally recognised as one of the most reputable experts on the execution of the Software-as-a-Service business model, the very business model pursued by Penneo.
Please direct any enquiries to:
Morten Elk, Chairman of the Board, +45 20 29 75 05
Nicolaj Højer Nielsen, Interim CEO, +45 25 46 25 80
Certified Advisor
Grant Thornton, Jesper Skaarup Vestergaard, +45 31 79 90 00
About Penneo
Penneo is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider originally established to help companies with digital document signatures. Penneo was founded by six Danish entrepreneurs, who joined forces with a shared ambition to reduce the “hassle of getting documents signed” by replacing pen and paper with a digital alternative. This new digital “pen” (Pen-neo) was launched in 2014. Today, Penneo has evolved into an eco-system of automation solutions that digitize company workflows in connection with onboarding of customers (KYC) and secure and easy signing and management of documents. The company offers a RegTech solution that gives companies an efficient and inexpensive tool for complying with regulatory requirements . Penneo holds a strong position in the Nordic countries. In Denmark alone, more than 550,000 people signed documents electronically with Penneo in 2019. For more information about Penneo, please visit: https://penneo.com/investors/