Horsholm, Denmark - February 5, 2013, Horsholm, Denmark - Chr. Hansen Holding A/S, a bioscience company, announces that Lars Vinge Frederiksen has decided to step down as CEO, effective March 31, 2013.
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Mr. Frederiksen joined Chr. Hansen Holding A/S, the predecessor company, in 1980 and, in 1999, was appointed to the Executive Board of the company formerly known as Chr. Hansen Holding A/S (dissolved by merger with ALK-Abelló A/S) with responsibility for the former Bio Ingredients sector.
Mr. Frederiksen then became Executive Vice-President responsible for International Operations before being appointed to his current post of Chief Executive Officer in 2005. Mr. Frederiksen was also a member of the Board of Directors from 2005 to 2010. For many years he held senior positions with Chr. Hansen in Denmark and abroad, first as a marketing assistant in the United States, then as a sales director of our French subsidiary, Chr. Hansen France SAS, and later as international head of sales and marketing to the dairy industry.
He then became globally responsible for the former Dairy Ingredients division and later globally responsible for the Bio Ingredients sector. Mr. Frederiksen also served as an executive officer and a director on the Board of Directors of Chr. Hansen Management Co ApS (now under liquidation), an indirect shareholder in the Company. Since 2006, he has served as an executive officer of Digevej Invest ApS, an investment firm, and, since 2007, as an executive officer of Erik Clem Holding ApS.
Mr. Frederiksen has been a member of the Central Board of the Confederation of Danish Industry (DI) since 2007 and member of the Board of Directors of Hedorf Holding A/S and Hedorfs Fond since 2010. Mr. Frederiksen holds an M.Sc. in Economics and Business Administration from the Copenhagen Business School.
The Board of Directors has appointed Cees de Jong as new CEO of Chr. Hansen Holding A/S as of 1 April 2013.
Mr. de Jong is a Doctor of Medicine from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam combined with an MBA from the Rotterdam School of Management. His professional career started in 1989 with Gist-Brocades (NL) where he held different positions including Managing Director for the Industrial Pharmaceutical division. Following Gist-Brocades’ acquisition by DSM in 1998, Mr. de Jong was appointed President of the Anti-Infectives division of DSM. ■