8. Group Executive Board

8.1 Members of the Group Executive Board

The Group Executive Board is headed by the CEO and comprises ten members, specifically the CEO, the CFO, the CTO, the CPCO, the President and General Manager Europe, the President and General Manager Asia Pacific North, the President and General Manager Asia Pacific South, the President and General Manager Americas, the President and General Manager MEA and the President Scholle IPN.

After the acquisition of Scholle IPN, Ross Bushnell was appointed to the Group Executive Board as President Scholle IPN with effect as of 1 June 2022.

The Company announced in a press release on 20 December 2022 the departure of Frank Herzog, who has resigned as Chief Financial Officer and member of the Group Executive Board. Until the appointment of a new CFO, Jessica Spence, Head of Group Accounting and Financial Reporting, and Dmitry Lebedev, Head of Global Financial Planning and Analysis and Markets Controlling, co-lead the finance function ad interim.

The Group Executive Board comprised the following members on 31 December 2022:

The biographies below provide information about the Group Executive Board members in office on 31 December 2022.

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 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, Canada, and a Global Executive MBA from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.

Frank Herzog

Frank Herzog is a German citizen and joined SIG in 2021 as CFO. Prior to SIG, Mr Herzog 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, Germany, and a Master’s of Business Administration degree from the University of Texas, USA.

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.

Suzanne Verzijden

Suzanne Verzijden is a Dutch citizen and joined SIG in 2022 as Chief People and Culture Officer. In addition, Ms Verzijden is a member of the supervisory board of Essity (since 2021). Prior to SIG, Ms Verzijden held various senior HR management positions with global responsibilities at Philips. Most recently she was Head of HR for the Personal Health sector as well as Head of HR for Benelux, where she focused on building and implementing an integrated people strategy to enable customer success. Ms Verzijden has lived and worked in the USA, the Netherlands, Chile and Spain. She holds an MSc in Business Administration from the Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands, as well as a double Masters’ degree in International Management from Esade (Spain)/Erasmus University Rotterdam (the Netherlands).

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 of the food and beverage industry, having held senior and general management positions at FrieslandCampina and Heineken in a number of countries in Europe, the Americas and Africa. Ms Matthijsse holds a Master’s degree in Food Science Technology from Wageningen Agricultural University, the Netherlands.

Fan Lidong

Fan Lidong is a Chinese citizen and has held the position of President and General Manager Asia Pacific North since 2022. Mr Lidong has worked for SIG for a total of 12 years, serving the company as Chief Operating Officer China before being promoted to CEO China and SVP Technology Asia Pacific in 2020. Previously, he worked at Sidel as Managing Director China and held leadership positions at Mars and Tetra Pak. Mr Lidong has more than 30 years’ industry experience. He holds a double Master’s degree from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and the China Europe International Business School.

Angela Lu

Angela Lu is a Chinese citizen and joined SIG in 2022 as President and General Manager Asia Pacific South. Ms Lu spent more than ten years with Nestlé in Switzerland and several Asia Pacific key markets, including Singapore, Thailand, China and Australia, in various leadership positions. Previously she worked at leading multinational FMCG companies, including The Coca-Cola Company, Fonterra and Gillette. Most recently she worked at Yeo Hiap Seng, a leading brand in the Asian drinks market. Ms Lu holds a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Management Engineering (Marketing) from Tongji University, China, and an MBA from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Ricardo Rodriguez

Ricardo Rodriguez is a Brazilian and Spanish citizen and has served as President and General Manager Americas 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 in aeronautical/mechanical engineering from the Technological Institute of Aeronautics, Brazil, an MBA from the Getúlio Vargas Foundation and graduated from a specialist business management course at IMD-Lausanne, Switzerland.

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, which he joined in 2017. Mr Eladib started his career in 1992 at Procter & Gamble, where he held various positions. Later on, he worked at other leading FMCG companies in the region. He holds a BSc in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA and a Diploma in Strategic Management from the Jack Welsh Institute, USA.

Ross Bushnell

Ross Bushnell is a United States citizen and joined SIG as President Scholle IPN, an SIG Company, in 2022. Prior to the acquisition of Scholle IPN by the Company, he had served as President and CEO of Scholle IPN since 2019. Before this, Mr Bushnell was the VP and General Manager of the Global Flexibles division of Sonoco Products, LLC, and President of Mondi’s North American Flexibles Division. He has also held key leadership positions within Graham Partners, including President & CCO of Comar and President & CEO of Convergence Packaging, and management roles including SVP and GM of Food Plastics at Silgan Plastics. Mr Bushnell received a BSc in English and Political Science from the University of South Dakota and an MBA from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Business Administration, 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 of the members of the Group Executive Board as follows:

1. up to one mandate in listed firms¹;
2. up to five mandates in non-listed firms; and
3. 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 register 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 for 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.