Polygiene expands Advisory Board with two new appointments

Publiceringsdatum: 22 mar 2018

Polygiene appoints Mr. Lars Björk and Mr. Philipp Burgtorf to its Advisory Board. The new appointments will enhance the range and depth of expertise and experience available to the management team.

The advices concern strategic planning, broadening the network of the company and to obtain feedback from independent parties. The Company’s Advisory Board is not connected to the Board and has no formal powers. Polygiene’s CEO sets the agenda for the cooperation and follows up with each individual. 

“I am proud to welcome these two highly knowledgeable individuals to our Advisory Board,” says Polygiene CEO Ulrika Björk. “Mr. Björk brings with him a wealth of experience in dealing with the many challenges of a fast-growing company, while Mr. Burgtorf has expertise in building ingredient brands and a keen understanding of the European home textiles industry. Their collective knowledge and skills will prove invaluable for Polygiene on our journey ahead. We look forward to sharing fresh perspectives, strategic thinking and industry insights.” 

Lars Björk lead Qlik as CEO and was a member of the company’s board of directors. Under Mr. Björk’s leadership, Qlik sustained tremendous growth while considerably expanding its geographic reach. Mr. Björk oversaw the company’s initial public offering (IPO) in 2010 on the NASDAQ, which was recognized as one of the year’s top tech IPOs. Since he became CEO in 2007, the company has grown from $80M to $700M in 2017. He credits the success of Qlik to its consensus-driven management style, which capitalizes on the energy, enthusiasm, and ideas of all employees. He is now pursuing a career as advisor, board member and investor to start ups in the tech space.  

“Polygiene is in a very interesting stage as a company, the opportunity to grow the product offerings and company into a global leader in the market for Odor Control, is definitely there” says Mr. Björk.

Philipp Burgtorf is Board Member of Bettzeit Group, Europe´s top 3 direct-to-consumer mattress company. Mr. Burgtorf was General Manager Consumer Fabrics Europe at W.L.Gore. Under his reign the GORE-TEX® brand deployed a brand campaign which combined forces of all business units, improving efficiency of marketing spend while increasing brand equity and growing the business top- and bottom-line. Before joining Gore he was General Manager Central Europe at Nike where he increased sales and margins by double digits through better harmonizing marketing planning and retail customer-related product initiatives. Most recently he was Group General Manager Bedding at Recticel, Europe´s top 3 supplier of sleep products. By improving the brand positioning of, e.g., Schlaraffia® and the ingredient brand GELTEX® inside Mr. Burgtorf contributed to the sustainable performance improvement of Recticel´s bedding division.

“Consumers are increasingly inclined to trust a brand if its functionality is enabled by a credible branded ingredient. This is why Polygiene’s consumer promise to stay fresh through Odor Control can make a difference as a component for textile and apparel host brands” says Phillip Burgtorf.

The Advisory Board also consists of Mr. Gunnar Bengtsson, former General Director for Kemikalieinspektionen in Sweden and Mrs Jenny Öijermark, PR-consultant in Sweden.

This information is information that Polygiene AB (publ.) is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation and the Swedish Securities Markets Act. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out below, at March 22, at 08.00 CET.