Coming from a background of programming and engineering, Niels Svenningsen, CEO of Jabra, has extensive knowledge of computing technology. He has worked with some of the biggest international computer companies, learning a lot from his seven-year stint with IBM before moving to Compaq. I actually brought Compaq from $100 million to $400 million in three years; so dramatic growth, which was really exciting and interesting. I then went to create my own internet company, which I built up from zero to $100 million. We then sold the company, and I was hired back to HP where I did the merger between HP and Compaq in the Danish office with the country manager, the CEO of the local company.
After that, I went to a Nordic reseller for four years where I was actually handling the international part of that company. So we acquired some companies and expanded into Scandinavian countries, and then we put the company on the stock market. After that I actually went to a telephone company for a short while, where I was the CEO. It was a triple-band company, so we did internet, television, and telephone on the same wire. I then went to Hitachi where I worked for seven years and ended up as the Europe, Middle East, and Africa senior vice president of a $1.4-billion business for the past three years until I joined Jabra in December last year.
Niels considers himself privileged to have worked with so many major players in the consumer electronics industry. Ive learned a lot in my career, starting in the IT industry through programming, through marketing, and a lot from sales, both indirect sales and end-user customer sales. The business Im in now, Jabra, is not that far away from the businesses Ive been in previously; its all technology, and the key part of our business is unified communication, which is basically the IT business. Its the same clients, the same channels, and the same partners that you work with, so its not that different.