8. Group Executive Board
8.1 Members of Group Executive Board
The Group Executive Board is headed by the CEO and comprises seven members, specifically the CEO, the CFO, CTO, the President and General Manager Europe, the President and General Manager Asia Pacific, the President and General Manager Americas and the President and General Manager MEA.
The Company announced in a press release on 29 October 2021 three new appointments to the Group Executive Board with effect as of 1 January 2022. Fan Lidong and Angela Lu have been appointed to manage the Asia Pacific region, taking over from Lawrence Fok, President and General Manager Asia Pacific, who decided to leave the Company and resigned from the Group Executive Board as of 31 December 2021. This move to a dual leadership structure is a consequence of the Group’s growth in Asia Pacific. In addition, Suzanne Verzijden has joined the Group Executive Board as Chief People and Culture Officer, reflecting the importance which SIG attaches to people, culture and talent management.
The Group Executive Board comprised the following members on 31 December 2021:
Name |
|
Nationality |
|
Position |
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---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Samuel Sigrist |
|
Swiss |
|
CEO |
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Frank Herzog |
|
German |
|
CFO |
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Ian Wood |
|
Swiss and British |
|
CTO |
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José Matthijsse |
|
Dutch |
|
President and General Manager Europe |
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Lawrence Fok1 |
|
Singaporean |
|
President and General Manager Asia Pacific |
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Ricardo Rodriguez |
|
Brazilian and Spanish |
|
President and General Manager Americas |
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Abdelghany Eladib |
|
Egyptian |
|
President and General Manager MEA |
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|
The biographies on the following pages provide information about the Group Executive Board members in office on 31 December 2021.
Samuel Sigrist
Samuel Sigrist is a Swiss citizen and served as CFO and chair of the Middle East Joint Venture from 2017. With effect from 2021, he became the new CEO of the SIG Group. Mr Sigrist joined the Company in 2005 and has worked in various finance and corporate development roles, including director of group controlling and reporting, head of finance/CFO of Europe and head of group projects. From 2013 to 2017, Mr Sigrist was the Company’s President and General Manager Europe, and prior to joining the Company, he worked as a consultant. Mr Sigrist holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the Zurich University of Applied Sciences, an MBA from the University of Toronto and a Global Executive MBA from the University of St. Gallen. Mr Sigrist is also a Swiss certified public accountant.
Frank Herzog
Frank Herzog is a German citizen and joined SIG in 2021 as CFO. Prior to SIG, Frank was the CFO of VFS Global, based in Zurich and Dubai. He has previously held finance leadership positions as CFO of Dematic Group in the USA and Head of Corporate Finance at the KION Group in Germany. He also gained extensive experience in investment banking at Goldman Sachs, Rothschild and Citigroup. Mr Herzog holds a graduate business degree from WHU Koblenz and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Texas.
Ian Wood
Ian Wood is a Swiss and British citizen and joined SIG in 2018 as Chief Supply Chain Officer and became CTO in 2020. Previously, Mr Wood spent 15 years at Honeywell, initially in the supply chain function and later as vice president and general manager of various business units within the home and Building technologies segment. Prior to joining Honeywell, Mr Wood worked at A.T. Kearney and Ford Motor Company. Mr Wood holds a master’s degree in manufacturing engineering from Cambridge University, UK and an MBA from Cranfield School of Management, UK.
José Matthijsse
José Matthijsse is a Dutch citizen and has held the position of President and General Manager, Europe, since she joined SIG in 2021. She came with considerable experience in the food and beverage industry, having held senior and general management positions at FrieslandCampina and Heineken in a number of countries in Europe, Americas and Africa. Mrs Matthijsse holds a Masters’ degree in Food Science Technology from Wageningen Agricultural University in the Netherlands.
Lawrence Fok
Lawrence Fok is a Singaporean citizen and has served as President and General Manager of the Asia Pacific region since he joined the Company in 2012. Prior to joining the Company, Mr Fok held senior management positions at Norgren China, Alcan Global Pharmaceutical Packaging, SCA Packaging China and Avnet Asia. Mr Fok holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, an MSc in industrial and systems engineering from the National University of Singapore, and a Grad. Dip. in financial management from the Singapore Institute of Management.
Ricardo Rodriguez
Ricardo Rodriguez is a Brazilian and Spanish citizen and has served as President and General Manager of the Americas region since 2015. Mr Rodriguez joined the Company in 2003 and previously served as Director and General Manager, South America and Technical Service Director, South America. Prior to joining the Company, Mr Rodriguez worked at Tetra Pak in a number of roles, including general manager of the Belo Horizonte branch, key account manager and technical service manager. He holds a BSc degree in aeronautical/mechanical engineering from the Technological Institute of Aeronautics in Brazil, an MBA from the Getúlio Vargas Foundation and graduated from a specialist business management course at IMD-Lausanne.
Abdelghany Eladib
Abdelghany Eladib is an Egyptian citizen and has held the position of President and General Manager, Middle East and Africa, since 2021. Prior to his current position, he held the position of Chief Operating Officer in the SIG Combibloc Obeikan joint venture companies that he joined in 2017. Mr Eladib started his career in 1992 at Procter & Gamble, where he held various positions. Later on, he also worked at other leading FMCG companies in the region. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering, a Master of Business Administration and a Diploma in Strategic Management from Jack Welsh Institute in USA.
8.2 Number of permissible activities
In the interest of good governance, the Company’s Articles of Association limit the number of outside mandates by the members of the Group Executive Board as follows:
- up to one mandate in listed firms1;
- up to five mandates in non-listed firms; and
- up to five mandates in foundations, associations, charitable organisations and other legal entities.
Such a mandate is deemed to be any activity in superior governing or administrative bodies of legal entities that are obliged to register in the commercial registry or any comparable foreign register, other than the Company and any entity controlled by or controlling, the Company. The Board of Directors shall ensure that such activities do not conflict with the exercise of their duties to the Group. Functions in various legal entities that are under joint control, or in entities in which this legal entity has a material interest, are counted as one function.
8.3 Management contracts
The Company has not entered into any management contracts with persons outside the Group for the delegation of executive management tasks.
1 Pursuant to art. 727 para. 1 number 1 CO.