Management

Ulf Ritsvall

CEO

Prior to being appointed the CEO of NEXT Biometrics, Ulf successfully headed up the position as Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing, at NEXT. Before that, he was Senior Director and Head of Business Development at biometrics company Fingerprint Cards, where he played a crucial role in the company’s impressive growth journey.

During his career at Fingerprint Cards, he held several senior executive positions such as Country Manager of India, and Sales Director of Japan; the latter a market where he built up the business operations and also managed to achieve a 100 percent market share in the smartphone segment.

Ambitious and hard-working, Ulf has more than 25 years of experience from both the telecom and biometrics industry. He gained his unique industry knowledge, experience from the Asian markets as well as a first-mover advantage while he was working for Swedish telecom giant Ericsson early on in his career, both abroad in Korea and the US, and for a total of over 15 years. He holds a Bachelor of Art in electrical engineering from the University of Lund, Sweden. He also studied Industrial Economy at Växjö University.

Ulf is a passionate and energetic leader with a strong drive to always question the status quo and look for improvements. His key strength is to build, and drive organizations in growing environments towards a shared vision.

Equipped with a large portion of creativity and strong technical, analytical and commercial skills, Ulf loves the challenge of finding unexpected solutions and keeping customers happy.

Eirik Underthun

CFO

Prior to becoming Chief Financial Officer at NEXT Biometrics in Q1 2020, Eirik’s career included 16 years’ experience in finance and business controlling roles with SeaBird Exploration, Tele2 and Telenor. Eirik also spent 6 years as a strategy consultant and information technology business developer with Arkwright, Icon Medialab and Braathe-gruppen.

Eirik Underthun has extensive financial management and business controlling experience from the IT/Telecom industry including international assignments. Additionally, he has turnaround management, financial restructuring and cost management experience.

Eirik holds a Master of Business Administration from Cornell University and a Master of Science degree in Industrial Economics and Technology Management from the Norwegian University of Technology and Science.

Eirik is based in Oslo, Norway.

Marcus Lauren

Chief Product Officer

Prior to joining NEXT Biometrics, Marcus Lauren worked as an independent management consultant and was a much sought-after advisor.

He is an internationally experienced business professional, with 25+ years’ experience from companies like Ericsson, IKEA and biometrics company Fingerprint Cards. Marcus has extensive and diverse knowledge from different industries, but is especially skilled in driving complex, technical projects towards demanding goals – always with both a clear business focus, as well as the customer perspective and tangible value creation in mind.

He studied the Master of Science program at Lund University. The focus throughout his career has been working with customer success, often in complex and global environments and with cutting-edge technology, through driving products and projects to fulfil customer needs and requirements.

Having worked with clients in Japan, South Korea, China, India, Canada, US as well as the Nordics, Marcus also has broad international working experience and a large network.

Marcus is based in Malmö, Sweden.

Digvijay Singh Kanwar

Senior Vice President, Head of Sales IUEA (India, US, EU and Africa)

Before taking on his current role as Senior Vice President, Head of Sales IUEA, Digvijay Singh Kanwar led NEXT’s sales team in India and served as the Country Manager for India. In these positions, Digvijay played a pivotal role in NEXT’s achievements, including the crucial Aadhaar L1 certification and the establishment of multimillion dollar strategic commercial partnerships.

Prior to joining NEXT, Digvijay held the position of Country Manager for India at Fingerprint Cards, where he solidified the company’s dominance in the Indian market for biometric fingerprint cards.

Digvijay’s diverse experience was cultivated through studies and work in culturally rich and diverse nations such as India, Russia, the United States, and the European Union. With a true engineer’s heart and a business degree, he stands as a versatile business leader with an impressive 17-year track record spanning the Biometrics, FinTech, and Telecom sectors.

Digvijay holds an MBA in Global Marketing & Strategy from Arizona State University’s Thunderbird School of Global Management, USA. A globally top-ranked institution for International Business. He also possesses a Computer Science Engineering degree from the National Research Institute, MPEI-Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia.

Beyond the boardroom, he’s an avid trekker and sports enthusiast who finds solace on the Everest base and Annapurna trails, often trekking at altitudes exceeding 5,300 meters. He’s equally passionate about competing in triathlons and running marathons in the Himalayas at altitudes of 3,500 meters.

Digvijay cherishes the value of teamwork and firmly believes that progress is a collective endeavour. He subscribes to the idea that a united and strong team can overcome even the most complex challenges it encounters.

Joshua Chiu

Senior Vice President, Head of Sales South-East Asia

Prior to joining NEXT Biometrics, Joshua was President at Egis Technology China, a Taiwanese biometrics company. He is an experienced leader and industry professional, with extensive experience from the biometrics and semiconductor market.

Before heading up the leadership at Egis Technology China, he was Senior Sales Director, Sales Channels for Greater China and Country Manager, Taiwan, at biometrics company Fingerprint Cards. During his years at Fingerprint Cards, he strongly contributed to the company’s business success and tremendous growth 2014-2018.

Joshua has more than 20 years of experience from both the semiconductor and panel industry. He has worked with LG Innotek and Corning Display Technology, where he gained his industry knowledge, experience and had excellence performance in each position.

Joshua holds a Master of Science degree in Industrial Administration from Purdue University, Indiana, US and the Bachelor of Art in International Business from the National Cheng-Chi University, Taipei, Taiwan.