Effective November 1, 2023, the roles of Senior Vice President & Head of Sales IUEA, Senior Vice President & Head of Sales South-East Asia and Chief Product Officer are now part of NEXT’s executive management team. The changes are designed to accelerate the company’s journey towards profitability and further increase its biometric know-how and technology leadership.
The newly appointed executive management team members are:
- Digvijay Singh Kanwar is appointed Senior Vice President and Head of Sales for India, US, Europe and Africa (IUEA) and a new member of the executive management team. Most recently, he was Vice President and Country Manager, India, at NEXT Biometrics.
- Joshua Chiu is appointed Senior Vice President and Head of Sales for South-East Asia, at NEXT Biometrics. This is a new role at NEXT. Prior to joining the company, Joshua Chiu was President of Egis Technology China, a Taiwanese biometrics company.
- Marcus Laurén is appointed Chief Product Officer. Marcus’ role is new at NEXT. Most recently, he was an independent management consultant and sought-after advisor.
Ulf Ritsvall, Chief Executive Officer at NEXT, comments:
“Our executive management team will be greatly strengthened with the addition of Digvijay, Joshua and Marcus. Recently, we successfully closed a private placement of USD 5.5 million and repeated our ambition to accelerate growth in our key markets and reach profitability. I believe our new team members bring diverse and valuable experience, which will help us accelerate our efforts.”
Previously, NEXT Biometrics’ executive management team consisted of Ulf Ritsvall, Chief Executive Officer, and Eirik Underthun, Chief Financial Officer Eirik Underthun will remain in both his current role and the executive management team.
“NEXT is well-positioned and prepared for accelerating. However, after my initial analysis as the company’s new CEO, it is also clear to me that increased focus on sales and marketing, adding increased biometric knowledge and industry-specific experience is needed going forward. To scale the company, we need the right persons and competencies. With these appointments, we increase our internal competencies, and can also speed up the operational pace in accordance with what is needed on a highly competitive and rapidly moving market.”
As Senior Vice President and Head of Sales for India, US, EU and Africa, Digvijay Singh Kanwar will oversee all NEXT’s sales operations in the regions and be responsible for driving and executing the company’s strategy. Prior to joining NEXT in Q3 2022, Digvijay was Country Manager, India and Director, Sales, at Fingerprint Cards.
The role Senior Vice President and Head of Sales, South-East Asia, is a new role at NEXT. Joshua Chiu will be responsible for creating a solid foundation for the sales operations in the region, as well as further driving and developing NEXT’s operations and business relations. Joshua has more than 20 years of experience from both the semiconductor and LCD panel industry.
In addition to this, NEXT has appointed Marcus Lauren as Chief Product Officer. This is also a new role at the company and Marcus will be responsible for developing, improving and driving NEXT’s product offering and manage all corresponding product marketing. Marcus is an internationally experienced business professional, with 25+ years’ experience from companies like Ericsson, IKEA and biometrics company Fingerprint Cards.
For more information, please contact:
Ulf Ritsvall, CEO, Next Biometrics
ulf.ritsvall@nextbiometrics.com
Eirik Underthun, CFO, NEXT Biometrics
eirik.underthun@nextbiometrics.com
Footage and CVs for the new management team members are available at www.nextbiometrics.com/management
About Next Biometrics
NEXT provides advanced fingerprint sensor technology that delivers uncompromised security and accuracy for the best possible user experience in the smart card, government ID, access control and notebook markets. The company’s patented NEXT Active Thermal™ principle allows the development of large, high quality fingerprint sensors. NEXT Biometrics Group ASA is headquartered in Oslo, with sales, support and development operations in Seattle, Taipei, Bengaluru and Shanghai.