Sabrina Soussan, Dormakaba
Dormakaba announced recently that its board of directors has appointed Sabrina Soussan as its new CEO effective April 1, 2021.
She will succeed Riet Cadonau, who will focus on his role as Chairman, in line with previous communications. Furthermore, the Board of Directors is proposing John Liu as a new member of the Board at the upcoming Annual General Meeting, while Rolf Dörig, Board member since 2004, will not stand for re-election, as previously announced.
Soussan has been Co-CEO of Siemens Mobility since 2017, and held several leadership positions in Siemens’ mobility, building technologies and automotive businesses over the past 20 years.
Hans Hess, vice-chairman, lead independent director and chair of the nomination committee of dormakaba said in a statement, “Sabrina Soussan combines strong leadership and personal skills, profound industrial knowledge and a successful track record of growing businesses profitably. We are pleased that she will be joining dormakaba and assuming the CEO role as of next April, and we are looking forward to working with her to further develop dormakaba as a leading access and security solutions provider. In pursuing dormakaba’s ambitions, we will continue to count on the strategic foresight of Riet Cadonau as Chairman. In the last almost ten years as CEO, he has successfully established a leading global full-range access supplier and guided the Group into the digital future of our industry, very well positioned dormakaba in its markets, and his experience is extremely valuable also in view of the current challenging economic environment.”
Added Soussan: “I am excited to be joining dormakaba and working with the team to build on the company’s strengths, providing customers with high-quality solutions and market-leading innovation. I want to thank the board of directors for the confidence they have placed in me to lead dormakaba, and I will bring all my dedication and passion for people, technology and innovation to enable dormakaba to further exploit its potential in rapidly changing markets. I also very much look forward to returning to Switzerland while continuing to work in a very international environment.”
“We have a strong team on all levels and across regions, and I am very happy to be announcing Sabrina Soussan as my successor as CEO. Along with my colleagues on the Board of Directors, I am convinced that with her global business experience, her know-how in the field of technology and her drive for innovation as well as her authentic personality, she is an excellent fit for dormakaba and has everything it takes to successfully advance our business,” said Cadonau.
Change to the board of directors
As announced by the company in Sept. 2019, Rolf Dörig, member of the board of directors of dormakaba since 2004 and vice-chairman from 2006 to 2018, has decided to retire from the board at the next Annual General Meeting on Oct. 20, 2020. All other members of the board of directors will stand for re-election for another one-year term of office, with Riet Cadonau as Chairman and Hans Hess as vice-chairman and lead independent director.
The Board of Directors is proposing John Liu, a Singaporean citizen and a recognized digital technology expert with in-depth knowledge of Asian markets, as a new Board member. Over the course of his career, John Liu held several leadership positions in businesses driven by digitalization. He served as President for Google in China from 2008 to 2013 and held senior executive roles at internet company Qihoo 360 from 2014 to 2015 and Wanda Internet Technology Group from 2016 to 2018. He was the independent non-executive Board Director of London-listed ARM Holdings from 2014 to 2016 and has been a non-executive member of the Board of Directors of Hong Kong-listed Digital China Holdings Ltd since 2014.
Print this page
