OPERATIONS

Fernando is currently the Chief Operating Officer for Western Europe and has been since 2002. In 1996 Fernando came to SGS and started for the company as Business Development Manager in Spain for 3 years until he was named Managing Director for the Spanish affiliate, a position he still holds today. He was prior to this Deputy General Manager for Grupo Fosforera from 1993, having been Corporate Development Manager from 1990 for the group. From 1989 he was an investment Manager for Euroventures, a private equity firm. He also worked for Chase Manhattan Bank between 1985 and 1989 as a credit analyst and account manager within the corporate banking division. Fernando received his MBA in 1985 and before this acquired a Law Degree in 1981.

Duilio is the Chief Operating Officer for South Eastern Europe and has filled this rols since 2005 having been appointed Managing Director for SGS Italy from 2003. He was Deputy Manager for Italy between 1999 to 2003 and before that he was made Business Manager for (Agri), a responsibility he carried out for 3 years. From 1982 to 1994 Duilio was Branch Manager for SGS Italy. He started for SGS in 1970 as an inspector for (OGC, Agri, and Minerals) in Italy. Duilio achieved a diploma in Industrial Chemistry in 1970.

Dirk is presently the Chief Operating Officer for Central & North West Europe and has been since 2002. He is also the Managing Director for the Netherlands & Belgium, positions that he has held respectively since 2002 and 1997. Prior to this he was a Regional Sector Manager for SSC Europe between 1999 and 2002. He joined SGS in 1988 as Director for SGS Qualitest in the Belgium office; he however worked in various roles, working in SSC, Industrial, NDT and CTS. In 1982, Dirk spent a year at the Vlerick Management School (Gent University) where he was awarded a degree in Management, and before this, Dirk studied Chemical Engineering at Leuven University where he received his degree in 1981.

Teymur is the Chief Operating Officer for Eastern Europe and Middle East, a role he was appointed to in 2007. In 2006, he held the position of Managing Director of SGS Kazakhstan before which he was the Managing Director for Azerbaijan, a role he started in 2004. In 2003 he was allotted the position of Managing Director for the Georgian SGS office having been for two years in the OGC division as Redwood Manager. In 1997 he was in the role of Division manager for SGS Azerbaijan after having started as a senior inspector for the Azerbaiji office in 1994. Teymur graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering in 1994

Robert is presently the Chief Executive Officer for Africa, a role he has had since 2005.  Between 2001 and 2005 Robert went to Ghana as Managing Director and in addition to this had responsibilities for Mineral Services in West Africa and the Nigerian Operations. He held the position of Managing Director of Mexico and Sub-Regional Manager of Latin America prior to this and before that spent a two year period as Managing Director in the Paraguay office. In 1990 he was appointed Deputy Managing Director in charge of Finance, HR and Business Development in Indonesia after having held the role of managing director of SGS Ghana for a few years. Robert started out for SGS as General Manager at SGS Zimbabwe in 1984 before which he was a trainee. Robert received his degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1982; and took additional part-time studies in Business Administration for 2 years.

Jeffrey has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Griffith University, Australia, a Graduate Diploma in Education from University of Technology, Australia and an Engineering degree from Yeronga TAFE College, Australia. Jeffrey joined SGS Thailand in 1994 as Training Manager and was appointed Division Manager of Certification Services in 1998. In 2000 he became South East Asian sub-regional manager for certification services as well as Manager of Consumer Products Division in SGS Thailand. In 2003 he was appointed as the Global Project Manager for Systems and Services Certification Services and, in 2004, he was named Executive Vice President for Systems and Services Certification Services. In 2007, he became Chief Operating Officer for North America.

Alejandro is Chief Operating Officer for South America and has been since 2002. In 1998 he was given the role of Central Sub Region Manager for various South American countries and then went on to being made Latin American Region Manager for Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela as well as Managing Director for SGS Peru, a role he still holds today.  He was previously the National Chief Executive for SGS Peru from 1996 having been the Commercial Managing Director and Agricultural and Fishing Manager from 1992 previous to that. He was an Operations Manager in from 1988 till 1992 for SGS Peru office. In 1986 he was an International Management Trainee in Argentina and prior to this his first role for the company was Administrative Director for SGS’s agent in Peru (Supervisiones Generales del Peru S.A) from 1984. Alejandro worked for a Customs agency and a Trading company prior to joining the company. He received his MBA in 1983.

Helmut was appointed the Chief Operating Officer for China & Hong Kong in 2004. Prior to this, he has held the position of Managing Director for the operation in Hong Kong for 2 years and the Vice President of Global Softlines, Consumer Testing Services in 2001. He first joined SGS in 1991and has worked with SGS for more than 10 years, including a number of top-executive positions in the Economic Affairs Division (HK) and the Consumer Products Division (HK). Helmut obtained his Executive MBA from the City University of Hong Kong. He also acquired two postgraduate diplomas in Human Resources Management and Accounting after finishing his Sociology Degree.

Thakar has been appointed Chief Operating Officer for South Eastern Asia & Pacific in January 2008. He joined SGS in 2002 as part of the SGS’ Efficiency and Productivity Initiative, then became Managing Director of Automotive North America and finally, in 2006, was nominated Managing Director of SGS Canada. Before joining SGS, he worked 15 years with the Packaging Division of Alcan, formerly part of Alusuisse Lonza and formerly part of Lawson Mardon Group where he held various senior management positions. He holds a Mathematics degree from the University of Waterloo and is a Certified Management Accountant.

Dennis was appointed the Chief Operating Officer for Eastern Asia in 2002, after holding the position of Managing Director of SGS Taiwan and SBU Manager of Industrial services of Greater China (China, Hong Kong and Taiwan) from 2000. It was in 1992 that he was given the role of Assistant General Manager of the Taiwan office. Between 1980 to 1992 he filled many roles for SGS, including Assistant Division Manager to Division Manager, followed by Branch Manager. He was also briefly a Department Manager from 1978 to 1980. His career for SGS started in 1975 as an inspector for SGS Far East Limited in Taiwan in Taiwan. Dennis obtained his EMBA at National Sun-Yat-San University in 2001. He also holds a BS degree in Marine Engineering from the National Taiwan Marine and Ocean University.