UNIT4 maakt vandaag bekend dat Chris Ouwinga, de huidige Chief Executive Officer (CEO), op 1 januari 2014 aftreedt. Hij wordt opgevolgd door José Duarte, voorheen Global President Services en Corporate Officer bij softwareleverancier SAP A. G.
UNIT4 is ook van plan om zijn bestuursstructuur te veranderen in een 'single-tier board', waarin Chris Ouwinga de positie zal innemen van non-executive director en voorzitter.
Hieronder volgt het volledige Engelstalige bericht.
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UNIT4 to appoint new CEO and change its governance structure
Sliedrecht, the Netherlands, 3 June 2013: UNIT4, the global leader in software that supports business change, today announces its intention for Chris Ouwinga, the Group’s current Chief Executive Officer (CEO), to step down on January 1, 2014 as CEO and be replaced by José Duarte, former Global President Services and Corporate Officer for software company SAP A.G.
UNIT4 also intends to change its governance structure to form a single-tier board, with Chris Ouwinga taking the position of non-executive director and Chairman.
José Duarte, 45, developed most of his professional career at SAP. He has held multiple leadership roles, the most relevant being as President of the EMEA & India region as well as President of the Latin America region. Most recently he served as President Global Services and Corporate officer of SAP A.G. His international experience spans software and services, large enterprise and SME, high value and volume businesses. He started his career at Unilever in Portugal, moving at a later stage to Andersen Consulting.
To ensure continuity in policy and culture, as well as a smooth transition, José Duarte will act as joint CEO alongside Chris Ouwinga until January 1, 2014. The management board will thus comprise the two joint CEOs, CFO Edwin van Leeuwen as well as Jos Andeweg, Ab van Marion and Jeremy Roche. During this transition period, Chris Ouwinga will work with José Duarte to advise him on all aspects of UNIT4's global operations, before moving to his new role. As Chairman, Chris Ouwinga will focus on strategy, coaching and external relations. He will remain a shareholder and has no intention to change this position. It is envisaged that José Duarte will invest in UNIT4 stock as part of the LTI (long-term incentive) scheme for members of the Managing Board.
New governance structure
The proposed change in governance structure would see the company move at January 1, 2014 from a two-tier to a single-tier board. This single-tier board structure, with strict division of tasks between executive and non-executive board members, is a model more commonly used globally. UNIT4 has ambitious plans to further grow internationally and will actively engage Chris Ouwinga in specific areas on an on-going basis, so the Group feels that this board model will best enable it to meet its objectives.
Philip Houben, current Chairman of the Supervisory Board, will become the senior independent non-executive director in the single-tier board. The other members of the Supervisory Board will maintain their supervisory roles, so that the future statutory board will consist of Philip Houben, Rob Ruijter, Frank Rövekamp, Nikki Beckett and Chris Ouwinga as non-executive directors and José Duarte and Edwin van Leeuwen as executive directors.
Chris Ouwinga, current CEO for UNIT4, commented: "At UNIT4 we value continuity and reliability in all we do. We have translated this emphasis on continuity in the newly proposed governance structure. After being with the company from day one, I became convinced we needed to bring additional talent, experience and energy to the management team to support and drive our growth globally and realize the exciting opportunities we see ahead. At the same time we don't want to lose the values and stability that have brought the company to its current strong position. My continued involvement will help to accomplish both goals and bring the company forward.
“José Duarte has many years of experience in the international commercial software sector and combines this with both strong entrepreneurial spirit and outstanding commercial and sales skills. It is our belief that José will play a pivotal role in helping us to expand, enhance and promote further our successful solution and services strategy and help us reach into new markets and territories.”
José Duarte, new joint CEO of UNIT4, said: “This is a great time to be joining UNIT4. The company is strongly positioned to exploit the fast-growing demand for cloud-based business solutions, and has great opportunities to further grow in its key sectors worldwide. Like UNIT4 I embrace change enthusiastically and I look forward to applying my experience and energy to this exciting opportunity.”
An extraordinary general meeting (EGM) is planned to be held in September of this year. In this meeting shareholders will be requested to appoint José Duarte as statutory board member of UNIT4 N.V. Until then, he will be a non-statutory member of UNIT4's Management Board. At the EGM the shareholders will also be asked to resolve to amend the articles of association implementing the new governance structure of UNIT4 and approve the appointment of Chris Ouwinga as future non-executive director.
Over UNIT4
UNIT4 zet een wereldwijde standaard voor bedrijfssoftware die snel veranderende organisaties in de commerciële en publieke sector helpt om in te kunnen spelen op interne en externe veranderingen. Simpel, snel en kosteneffectief. De automatiseerder heeft activiteiten in zestien landen in Europa en tien landen in Noord-Amerika, Afrika & Azië-Pacific. De omzet in 2012 bedroeg 469,8 miljoen euro. Het bedrijf telt meer dan 4.000 werknemers en het hoofdkantoor is gevestigd in Sliedrecht. UNIT4 biedt een breed portfolio van oplossingen. In de Benelux levert UNIT4 business software voor verschillende sectoren, waaronder accountancy, gezondheidszorg, groothandel en distributie, mkb, onderwijs, publieke sector en zakelijke en financiële dienstverlening. Daarnaast levert UNIT4 oplossingen voor personeelsinformatie en salarisverwerking, business intelligence, e-commerce en diensten op het gebied van continuïteit en cloud computing.
Website: http://www.unit4.nl
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