Is ISIS crisis a case where ‘deputy heads must roll’?
Ericsson’s Senior Vice President and Head of Business Area Managed Services Peter Laurin has decided to leave Ericsson on August 15, 2022 to pursue ‘opportunities outside the company’, the equipment maker has announced. Laurin will take over as CEO of production automation specialist Piab.
Peter Laurin has been a loyal servant to the company since 2001 was appointed to Ericsson’s Executive Team in 2017. The successor to the post of Head of Business Area Managed Services has not been arranged yet.
“Peter has been instrumental in turning around and transforming our Managed Services business and successfully led Ericsson’s digitalisation and IT journey. He is a valued member of the Ericsson leadership team and I wish Peter all the very best in this new role as CEO of Piab,” said Ericsson’s President and CEO Börje Ekholm.
The resignation comes after a shareholder revolt at Ericsson’s AGM in which shareholding activist Cevian Capital voted against granting discharge to either Ericsson’s board members or its president Börje Ekholm.
Cevian has previously complained about the way the company is run but the outstanding issue is alleged liability for Islamic State payments based on “unusual expense claims in Iraq” dating back to 2018. At the time, Laurin was Ericsson’s head of business area managed services. As a result of this decisions over payments, top execs could be held personally liable under Swedish law.
Both Ericsson Chairman Ronnie Leten and Ekholm said they could not give any further information about the ongoing investigation by the US Department of Justice.