TNT Express appoints Philips TV boss as next CFO
TNT Express has appointed the chief executive of the television business of electronics giant Philips as its next chief finance officer. Maarten Jan de Vries, 52, will also be a member of the executive board for the express and logistics giant, effective 1st July.
Jan de Vries succeeds Bernard Bot, who officially stepped down at the company’s last AGM after nine years at the company.
The new TNT CFO had various roles at Royal Philips, a company he joined in 1986 as controller of Dutch sales. Recent roles have included chief information officer, chief supply officer and divisional CFO, and he was a member of the Philips group management committee from 2007 to 2011.
Jan de Vries has strong experience working in the Asia-Pacific region, spending 10 years in Taiwan working for Philips Semiconductors and Philips Consumer Electronics in the monitors business unit, as controller and latterly as CFO for Philips’ consumer monitors business in Chung-Li.
From 2005 until 2010 Jan de Vries was on the board of TP Vision, a joint venture between Philips and computer monitor firm TPV Technology through which Philips transferred its television business to a standalone company. He was then appointed TP Vision chief executive.
The next TNT Express CFO has a business economics masters degree from the University of Groningen and a postgraduate qualification in controllership from the Vrije University of Amsterdam.
Transformation
Taking over the top financial role at TNT Express will see Jan de Vries overseeing the company’s transformation and restructuring as it seeks to turn around its financial performance following the run of form that saw the company almost taken over by rivals UPS last year.
The “Outlook” strategy, a revision on the previous “Deliver!” strategy, aims to focus TNT Express on its strengths, particularly its European ground services, and services for SMEs, with a new drive to improve customer service. The strategy aims to provide EUR 240m in performance improvements by 2015.
Commenting on the new appointment, TNT Express CEO Tex Gunning said: “I am really happy that we are able to attract yet again such a high calibre executive for the TNT Express management team. Maarten has relevant functional and international experience and will be a great asset to TNT. His capabilities will be essential in the implementation of the Outlook strategy.”
TNT Express achieved underlying revenues of EUR 6.89bn in the full year 2013, down 1.9% on 2012. Operating income for the year was EUR 230m, down 12.9% on the previous year.
