Tallink Grupp has announced to the stock exchange that the group’s Supervisory Board has made the decision to extend the term of office of the company’s Chief Executive Officer Paavo Nõgene by a further three years and the term of office of Management Board Member Lembit Kitter until the end of 2021. At the same time, the Supervisory Board has appointed Margus Schults, the CEO of Tallink Grupp’s Finnish subsidiary Tallink Silja Oy, as the new and additional member to the company’s Management Board.
Margus Schults joined Tallink Grupp in 2008 as a senior advisor and, since 2009, he has held the position of Chief Executive Officer of the group’s Finnish subsidiary Tallink Silja Oy. Before joining Tallink Grupp, Mr Schults worked at SEB between 1994 – 2008 as the Management Board Member of SEB Estonia, as the Head of Human Resources of SEB Eastern Europe, and, ultimately, as the Head of Human Resources and Financial Planning at SEB Group. Margus Schults is a member of the Main Council of the Helsinki region Chamber of Commerce, Deputy Chairman of Finnish-Estonian Trade Association, Member of the Board of the Finnish Ship-owners’ Association, Member of the Supervisory Board of WWF Finland (World Wildlife Fund). Mr Schults holds a PhD degree in Technology, Electronics from the Tallinn Technical University (TalTech).
„The Finnish market has always been and continues to be one of the key markets for Tallink Grupp. In the near future, as we plan and restore our operations following the global crisis, it is vital for us that the in-depth knowledge, experience and strong contacts of this key market would be present directly at the decision-making table on the Board level. Margus Schults is an experienced and seasoned leader with decades of experience in the Nordic finance sector as well as the maritime sector, who has extensive knowledge of our business, all the different nuances of one of our key markets and a wide network of contacts in that key market. All of this will be of crucial importance to us as we restart our operations after the crisis,“ Enn Pant, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Tallink Grupp said.
The term of office of Margus Schults as a Member of the Management Board of AS Tallink Grupp starts today, 29 April 2021. In addition to his responsibilities as a Management Board member, Mr Schults also maintains his responsibilities as the CEO of Tallink Silja Oy.
The term of office of Tallink Grupp Management Board Member Lembit Kitter has been extended until the end of 2021.
Commenting on the extension of the term of office of Paavo Nõgene, Enn Pant said:
„The term of office of Paavo Nõgene as the CEO of Tallink Grupp can roughly be divided into two – a year and a half of so-called „peace-time“, when the company developed, expanded and made ambitious future plans under Paavo’s leadership, followed by a year and a half of a proper survival course. I must say that I am grateful to my intuition slightly more than three years ago, which forced be to pick up the phone all those years ago and to ask Paavo to come and lead the company, because it is largely down to his work ethic, determination and leadership skills, in addition to the contribution and dedication of the company’s thousands of employees, that the company is where it is today. The Management Board of Tallink Grupp has a clear vision regarding how to bring the company with strategic importance to Estonia out of this global health and economic crisis in the coming years, and the decisions they have made and implemented during the last year have given the company’s Supervisory Board confidence to trust Paavo and his team with leading Tallink Grupp for the years ahead.“
AS Tallink Grupp is one of the leading providers of passenger transport and cargo transport services in the northern part of the Baltic Sea region. The company owns 15 vessels and operates a number of ferry routes on the Baltic Sea under the brand names of Tallink and Silja Line. AS Tallink Grupp employs around 4000 people in Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Russia and Germany. In 2020, the year of the global COVID-19 pandemic, Tallink Grupp provided services to 3.7 million travellers and transported nearly 360 000 units of cargo. The shares of Tallink Grupp are listed on the Tallinn Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Helsinki Stock Exchange.