STOCKHOLM, Sweden, April 16, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Jennifer Rhule, 42, has been named Head of Human Resources at Skandia. Jennifer Rhule has been active at Skandia since 1997, most recently as head of leadership development for the group. Prior to joining the Skandia group, she has a long record of leadership experience in organizational and cultural development and human resources, including from Pepsico, Rank Xerox and Bank of America. Rhule, who is currently stationed in Stockholm, will begin working from London this autumn and has also been made a member of the executive management.
Hans-Erik Andersson, President and CEO of Skandia, comments: "Skandia is a knowledge-based company. The employees' competence is our biggest competitive asset, and for me it is an obvious priority to highlight these issues and give them a place in the executive management. It is a pleasure to bring Jennifer Rhule ont our executive management team, with her broad international experience and high level of competence in human resources."
Swedish operations to form own division
The decision has also been made to break the Swedish operations away from the Europe division and to form a separate division for the Swedish operations, which mainly comprise Skandia Liv, SkandiaLink, Skandia Lifeline and SkandiaBanken.
Hans-Erik Andersson comments:
"Sweden is our second-largest market and differs from our other markets in with respect to business as well as history. Creating better coordination of the various Swedish operations, with a simpler interface for our customers, is a significant challenge. In light of this it is natural to break Sweden away from the other European operations to form its own division with a seat in the executive management. This restructuring entails a change in the role of head of the Swedish operations, and therefore Cecilia Daun-Wennborg and I have agreed that she will leave her role as head of the Swedish operations."
External recruitment of a head of the Sweden division has been initiated and is expected to be completed by mid-year. Until then, coordination work of the Swedish operations will be led by the current head of the Swedish operations, Cecilia Daun-Wennborg, who reports directly to Skandia's CEO.
Latin America to join Europe division
Skandia's operations in Latin America, with companies in Colombia, Mexico and Chile - and with Maria Rodriquez-Scott as operative head - have been incorporated into the Europe division.
Following these changes, Skandia's geographic divisions will consist of the UK & Asia-Pacific division, headed by Executive Vice President Alan Wilson, the Europe & Latin America division, headed by Michael Wolf, and the Sweden division.
In addition to CEO Hans-Erik Andersson and the future head of the Sweden division, the executive management consists Jan-Erik Back (Chief Financial Officer), Jan-Mikael Bexhed (Executive Vice President, Corporate Law), Odd Eiken (Executive Vice President, Communication & Strategy), Jennifer Rhule (Human Resources), Alan Wilson (Executive Vice President, UK & Asia-Pacific), and Michael Wolf (Europe & Latin America).
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