30+ YEARS OF LOCAL SEARCH
I have been working in the local search industry in different countries all over Europe for more than thirty years. Since 2010 I have been CEO of the FCR Media Group, which has offices in Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Romania. Since 2019 I have also been CEO of FCR Media Belgium and since 2022 head of supervisory board of Youvia B.V.
I was born February 9th in Oslo and studied at Oslo Business School, focusing on finance and marketing.
In 1987 I started my career at Telefakta AS in Sweden, an affiliate of Telenor. Since then, I have been working in the local search industry (former yellow pages industry) with roles in IT, finance, operations, business development, sales, marketing, and general/executive management across Austria, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovakia, Hungary, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Uruguay.
When I took over the management of Herold Business Data in 1997, the domestic Yellow Pages and telephone directory publisher was part of the Swedish Telia Group. Under my aegis the company not only switched from its Scandinavian owners to the US group Verizon and later to the private equity fund Veronis & Suhler Stevenson (VSS), but also took its first steps to support Austria's SMEs with digital marketing services, which was a very innovative and also bold idea for the time.
Since 2010, I have been managing the FCR Media group, based in Tallinn, Estonia, which today includes subsidiaries in Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Romania. Since 2019 I have also been CEO of FCR Media Belgium. All of these companies have made it their goal to help SMEs achieve more business success with the help of well-thought-out SaaS (Software as a Service) solutions and professional marketing tools. And not only in FCR Media's home markets - the innovative software solution Sitee.io is also distributed in other countries via a partner network to support SMEs in customer relationship management, time management or even accounting.
Since the acquisition of Youvia in March 2022, I have also been Head of Supervisory Board of Youvia B.V.
SERVICE FOR THE INDUSTRY
In 2012, I became Member of the Board of EASDP, the European Association of Search and Database Publishing Board, formerly known as EADP. In 2014, EASDP was merged with EIDQ Association (Association for the Directory Information and Related Search Industry). The new association was named Siinda, Search & Information Industry Association , which is now the leading European-based non-profit association bringing together agencies, brands, media and technology companies and professions in the local search, digital advertising, media, mobile and „on demand“-industry sectors, and I was appointed 1st Chairman resp. President - a task I still carry out today.
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2002 Herold in Austria was given the Gold Industry Excellence Award in the category “Business to Business/Advertising and Promotion” of YPIMA (Yellow Pages Integrated Media Association)
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2021 + 2023 FCR Media Belgium achieved a top position in DigiMedia Top 100 - the ranking of digital agencies in Belgium.
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2023 I was presented the “Siinda Individual Contribution Award” for my support of Siinda´s Start-up project.
I am married and have two sons. I spend my leisure time doing different types of sports, first and foremost skiing and cross-country skiing, also biking – always trying to pursue athletic goals as ambitiously as business goals.
Even though I have to travel a lot for work, I love to travel in my free time - like recently to Kenya, Tanzania and Zanzibar.