Group

WORK EXPERIENCE

Managing Director of S&B Industrial Minerals S.A.        Apr 2011 – April 2015

“S&B Industrial Minerals SA”, a multinational company valued at EUR million with operations in 20 countries through 50 entities and with 1900 employees of 25 nationalities. During his 4-year term, total shareholder return exceeded 400%!

• He was involved in the reorganization of the group that transformed it from a structure of strategic business units (SBUs) into a matrix structure organisation of 4 geographical regions and 4 market segments, creating the conditions for accelerating the Group’s growth opportunities.
• He led the transformation of the Group while supporting the Group’s withdrawal from the Stock Exchange through the cooperation of the Kyriakopoulos Family, holding of 60% of the share capital, with Rhone Capital.
• Economic reorganization of the Group’s structure through a Luxembourg Parent Company and subsequent financing from the Luxembourg bond market.
• Head of the Group’s progress during its last phase of independent existence until its merger with Imerys Group.
• He was offered and accepted the position of Chief Financial Officer of the Imerys Group (turnover: EUR 5 billion), he was also a member of the Executive Committee but resigned after three (3) months in this position.

Chief Financial Officer of S&B Industrial Minerals S.A.  Jan 2008 – Mar 2011

Responsible for a staff of 105 with 8 persons reporting directly to him for the following Group functions: Strategic Growth, Financial Planning, Audit, Treasury, Investor Relations, IT Systems. The Purchasing, Shipping and Real Estate functions of the Greek legal entity also reported to him.

• He led the organization in a sustainable cost cutting of EUR 10 million and generated cash reserves rising to EUR 40 million during the 2008-2009 crisis.
• He promptly identified the need for deleveraging and supported the BoD in adopting the Company’s 2009 Share Capital Increase resolution. He successfully organized a stock options issue of EUR 41 million.
• He strengthened the organization’s future-oriented culture by introducing monthly 15-month rolling bottom-up estimates and abolishing the traditional budgeting process.
• He improved the alignment of the Administration Team with the interests of the Shareholder by designing and reforming the Group’s variable compensation scheme through the introduction of a Financial Profit Improvement target.
• He improved the quality of strategic dialogue by redesigning the Strategy process, which involved the newly established Board Strategy Committee and laid the foundations for the development of the organisation in the long term.
• He substantially enhanced the Group’s risk management practices:
  • By establishing a culture of fiduciary responsibility across the Organization’s financial management for all Group’s legal entities.
  • By launching Group Management Policies aimed at managing the Group’s assets and liabilities under a common risk management framework.
  • By reforming the “order-to-cash” process which involved the establishment of a segregation of tasks throughout the process and the introduction of online payment systems.
  • By organizing the Group’s central administration of insurance decisions at levels of common risk tolerance.
• He revamped the Investor Relations (IR) function according to the standards of best international practices and created an awareness on the Institutional Investor perspective.
• He reformed the pension scheme of the Greek legal entity by creating the “Global S&B Pension Fund of Funds”.
• Introduced the Connectivity Initiative, by improving the organisation’s ability to use modern technologies remotely in an effective and efficient way.

General Manager, Bentonite Division,  S&B I.M.       Jan 1995 – Dec 2007

Accountability for the long-term strategy and profitability of the Bentonite Division. During his term in this leading role, the Bentonite division evolved from a mining activity of EUR 15 million in Greece to a global network of mines and factories in 10 countries with sales around the globe. In 2008, sales amounted to EUR 207 million or 45% of the Company’s sales and 60% of its profitability. He led a team of 9 people supervising 5 Business Units and 4 Departments, managing an organization with a total workforce of 750 people.

• He identified, promoted and assessed numerous strategic targets and successfully led negotiations and audits of companies, including 11 acquisitions in 8 countries. He successfully incorporated the acquired companies by building on the complementary capabilities of the merging organizations.
• He developed a structural common vision and direction, introducing the principle of “From Market to Mine”, and consequently reorganized the Division into a market-oriented structure, irrespective of legal entities.
• He developed and executed a strategy for entering the US market by investing in a processing plant, along with a series of mergers, achieving a 30% market share in 5 years.
• He enhanced awareness on value-based/competitive pricing among all business units of the Division, by increasing profitability without sacrificing market shares.
• He launched and led the innovative “Eureka” initiative that mobilized the Division, resulting in a 100% increase in new product sales in the first two years.
• He introduced the “Magnus” optimization plan to all processing operations that improved profitability by 10%.
• He developed reserve strategies called “Hephaestus” based on the “From Market to Mine” principle aiming at satisfying the long-term dynamic needs of customers by striving to maximize the company’s net present value (NPV).
• He launched a productivity improvement programme for the Directorate in collaboration with the Pearlite Division, achieving a 10% cost reduction in operations over 2 years.

Commercial Manager, Ores Division,  S&B I.M.       Jan 1994 – Dec 1994

Responsible for sales of EUR 12m. He negotiated all long-term supply contracts with key customers.

Sales Manager, Perlites Division, S&B  I.M           Nov 1991 – Dec 1993

Responsible for sales of EUR 12m. He increased sales volume by 50% over two years. He negotiated long-term supply contracts with all key customers and improved the efficiency of the supply chain.

Client Account Manager, Commercial Department, S&B I.M. Mar 1990 – Nov 1991

He was assigned the role of supervising special client relationships. He assisted the Commercial Manager in negotiating long-term supply contracts.

Inspector Engineer – RCL, Germany, Greece         Apr 1987 – Dec 1988

Member of the inspection team for a new construction of a 1000 passenger cruise ship worth USD 150 million to the company Meyer Werft in Papenburg, Germany. His responsibilities included quality assurance of various structural components of the ship. In addition, he designed, installed and trained the crew and technical staff of the headquarters on the ship’s scheduled maintenance and stock control system.

Researcher Engineer, Research & Development Department (R&D), “Sulzer AG” Switzerland       Oct 1985 – Oct 1986

He joined the company as a trainee and then as a member of the Research & Development (R&D) Team; he participated in the innovative design of systems for improving the performance of marine diesel engines. In addition, he developed a computer simulation model for ship manoeuvres.

EDUCATION

1989                             MBA, INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France

1981 – 1985                  BSc, MSc, Maritime Engineering, University of Newcastle, UK

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

– Since 1996 he has been involved in investments in securities and in executive and team mentoring

– Tennis, yoga, water skiing (slalom), bridge, golf

• Excellent knowledge of Greek, English and French, knowledge of spoken German
• Married to Christianna, father of two boys

– President of the Greek Insead Alumni Association (1998-2003)

– President of the European Association of Mining Companies (Bentonite Producers) (1999–2001 & 2004-2007)   

– Military service in the Hellenic Air Force (1986-1987)

He works for Hellman & Friedman, a private equity company. From 2010 to 2019 he worked for the multinational brewer Carlsberg, where he served as CEO in Sweden (2016-2019), Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao (2014-2016) and was previously responsible for the Group’s Strategic Planning, based in Denmark. From 2004 to 2010 he worked at McKinsey & Company, based in Boston, where for the last 2 years he served as an Associate Principal with an emphasis on consumer products and Private Equity. He also worked as a mechanical engineer at General Electric Aircraft Engines and Power Systems in the USA. He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Georgia Tech and MIT respectively. He holds an Executive MBA degree, INSEAD. In addition to the Motodynamics Board of Directors, he is a Board member of Autoscout24, the largest European online car ad website.

Born 1971 in Nicosia, Cyprus.

Graduate of Cambridge University (M.A. Engineering & Management) and London Business School (M.Sc. in Finance).

From 1997 to 1999, he worked as an analyst at Alpha Finance, dealing with corporate finance, company listings and acquisitions/mergers. 

In 1999 he returned to Cyprus to join his family business, P.M. Tseriotis Group. The Group’s companies employ approximately 500 people in three areas of activity:

– Automotive (Unicars Ltd, Uniwheels Car Rental Ltd.)

– Consumer Products FMCG (Tryfon Tseriotis Ltd, Unilever PMT Ltd, Unilever Tseriotis Cyprus Ltd)

– IT & Telecommunications (Pylones Hellas SA, Mellon Cyprus Ltd, Omnitouch Ltd)

He was initially involved in the Group’s strategy and business development, as well as in the development of the IT & Telecommunications division. In 2002 he was appointed CEO of Unicars Ltd and remained in this position until 2017. Since then, he has undertaken the management of the group as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at the parent company P.M. Tseriotis Ltd.

In his career he has served as President of the Association of Importers of Motor Vehicles, as well as a Board member in a number of listed companies in Cyprus, in charities and at the Cyprus University of Technology.

Costas Mitropoulos is a business consultant with an extensive experience in acquisitions and mergers, strategy development and restructuring and also a Director of ELTRAK SA, Cyprus Development Bank Ltd and the Greek Foundation for Economic & Industrial Research (IOBE).

July 2019 – November 2020: Chairman of the Board of Directors, ATTICA BANK. 2013 – June 2019: Executive Director, PwC in Greece, responsible for the development of the Advisory department. 2016 – 2017: Chief Executive Officer, PQH Single Special Liquidation SA, which undertook the liquidation of 16 Greek banks.

July 2011 – August 2012: The first Chief Executive Officer of the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF).

September 2008 – July 2011: Executive Chairman, Eurobank EFG Equities SA and Head of Global Equity Investment Banking, Brokerage & Private Equity of Eurobank EFG Group which has a presence in Greece, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia.

1989 – 2008: Founder and Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of KANTOR Business Consultants SA, one of the largest business consultancies in Greece. He started his career as a business consultant at Coopers & Lybrand in England.

He served as a Director of the Hellenic Bank Association, HELEX, NIKAS SA, LogicDIS SA and CLR Financial Services Ltd in Cyprus. Member of the Global Advisory Council of the London Business School for many years, vice-chairman of the Hellenic British Chamber and the Entrepreneurship Club and co-chairman of the Hellenic British Symposium.

He is an electrical engineer and an NTUA graduate with postgraduate studies in business administration and economics; he also holds an MSc, Imperial College and a PhD, London Business School. He has published 9 articles in scientific journals on energy and strategy and numerous articles in trade journals and newspapers.

Chairperson of the Board of Directors at the Hellenic Institute for Occupational Health and Safety (ELINYAE), the body established by social partners (SEV, GSEE, GSEVEE, ESEE, SETE) on health and safety issues. For a number of years, she has been an HR executive in various companies. Head of Labour Relations and Social Policy, as well as Director of the Human Resources Department of the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV) for 15 years. She was a member of the Governing Board of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living Conditions (EUROFOUND), the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP), the Manpower Employment Organisation (OAED), the Workers’ Housing Organisation, the Mediation and Arbitration Organisation (OMED) and the Greek Network for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR Hellas). For a number of years, she was a representative of the Greek employers’ group in the work of international organisations (ILO-IOE), as well as various committees in Greece and the EU. Special Advisor to the Mayor of Athens in 1990. Member of the Board of the Foundation for the Protection and Rehabilitation of Children and Young People with Mental Disability “Theotokos”. 

He studied Law and Political Sciences at the University of Athens and the Democritus University of Thrace. Postgraduate studies in Administrative Science. Special training in Change Management, as well as in Human Resources Management and Development.