GN moves to “one company” governance structure; appoints Peter Karlstromer to Group CEO
The GN Group has a long and proud history as a technology innovator and, today, enjoys strong positions in attractive hearing, enterprise collaboration, and consumer gaming markets. In recent years, GN has increasingly expanded collaboration and integration across its two business divisions, GN Hearing and GN Audio, thus benefitting from joint innovation and leveraging combined scale to drive growth and profitability.
GN’s Board of Directors has now decided to execute the next step of integration and transition into a one-company setup, simplifying the Group’s governance structure to drive further market success and shareholder value creation as a fully integrated innovation powerhouse. This includes a transition into one company with one Board, one Group CEO, and one Group CFO.
The Board has appointed Peter Karlstromer as the Group CEO. In the coming months Peter will form the new executive leadership team and design the new organizational structure of GN.
Gitte Aabo will step down from her executive roles as CEO of GN Store Nord and GN Hearing as she wishes to devote herself to a full-time board career. Going forward, Peter Karlstromer and Group CFO Søren Jelert will constitute the Executive Management of GN.
These changes will take effect on October 1, 2023. Gitte Aabo is committed to stay on through the remainder of 2023 to ensure a seamless transition.
Chair of the Board, Jukka Pertola, comments: “The time has come to further align into one company. The changes we are making will simplify our governance and strengthen the way we operate. We have significant opportunities ahead of us and I am pleased that Peter Karlstromer has accepted the role as Group CEO to lead the business as we move into the future. On behalf of the Board, I would also like to express our gratitude for the turnaround of GN Hearing that Gitte has successfully led over the past four years. Following this, we respect her decision to now fully focus on her board career as she leaves our hearing business in great shape. I wish her all the best for her future.”
Peter Karlstromer, comments: “I am proud to take on the role as Group CEO. We are in strong positions across our company, and I am excited to lead a customer focused organization that brings innovation to our customers and partners. I believe that moving to “One GN” will make us a better workplace with benefits to all the valued employees we have today and will attract in the future. Our simplified governance will also allow us to further benefit from the scale and strengths we have across our company and accelerate our path to success and superior shareholder value creation.”
Gitte Aabo comments: “Four years ago we set out to modernize hearing care and enable everybody to find a hearing solution that fits their lifestyle. I could not be prouder of how our teams have led this innovation and brought leading products successfully to the market. The time is right for me to take a next step that will allow me to fully dedicate myself to support companies in non-executive roles. I firmly believe that the changes we do now in GN to move to “one company” is right for our business, our people, and our shareholders, and I’m looking forward to assisting with making this transition seamless and successful.”
For further information, please contact:
Investor Relations
Anne Sofie Staunsbæk Veyhe
Rune Sandager
Media Relations
Steen Frentz Laursen
About GN
GN brings people closer through our leading intelligent hearing, audio, video, and gaming solutions. Inspired by people and driven by innovation, we deliver technology that enhance the senses of hearing and sight. We help people with hearing loss overcome real-life challenges, improve communication and collaboration for businesses, and provide great experiences for audio and gaming enthusiasts.
GN was founded more than 150 years ago with a vision to connect the world. Today, inspired by our strong heritage, GN touches more lives than ever with our unique expertise and the broadest portfolio of products and services in our history – bringing people closer to what is important to them.
We market our solutions with the brands Jabra, ReSound, SteelSeries, Beltone, Interton, BlueParrott, Danavox, and FalCom in 100 countries. Founded in 1869, GN Group employs more than 7,500 people and is listed on Nasdaq Copenhagen (GN.CO).
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