Supply chain service provider Panalpina will place three regional CEOs (RCEOs) for its Europe/Middle East, Asia-Pacific and Americas operations to decentralize the decision-making power as embodied in its recently defined Corporate Strategy 2014.
Chief financial officer Marco Gadola, Panalpina’s CFO for more than three years, will become RCEO for Asia Pacific, while Volker Boehringer, area manager for Central Europe, will be RCEO for Europe/Middle East.
The search for the new CFO, the new area manager for Central Europe, and RCEO Americas is under way. The changes will come into effect in the first half of 2012, Panalpina said.
“Our ambitious growth targets that we have defined for 2014 demand that we adapt the way in which we manage the markets. We need to shift power of decision from Corporate Headquarters in Basel closer to where our customers do business,” said CEO Monika Ribar.
“If we want to exploit trade lanes out of Asia, we need to win more local customers there. This in turn requires more local decision-taking,” explained Ribar.
The reporting structures for the regional setup reflect the intent to have lean entities, Panalpina said. The RCEOs will report to the CEO. The area managers, regional marketing and sales, strategic development and finance departments will in turn report directly to the RCEOs.
Panalpina said it intends to enlarge its management body into the Executive Committee (ExCom), to be composed of the Executive Board, the global heads of Air Freight, Ocean Freight and Logistics as well as Marketing and Sales, and the three RCEOs. The ExCom will be tasked to steer the core business, the products, and the progress of strategy implementation.
Photo from Panalpina
