Thais T. Johansen is stepping down as CEO and will continue as a board member and owner
Thais T. Johansen has decided to step down as CEO of Sophion Bioscience A/S. The Board of Sophion has appointed the current VP of Global Sales, Michel K. JĂĽrgens, as the new CEO, effective September 1st 2024. Thais T. Johansen continues to be a significant co-owner and Board member of Sophion.
In 2021, when Thais T. Johansen sold the majority in Sophion to Vind to enable a faster progress of Sophion’s business, he committed to stay on as CEO for around 2 years. Hence this change of CEO has been foreseen and planned for some time. Vind’s investment in Sophion marked the start of a new and exciting growth journey in Sophion. Now we are taking another major step of that journey as Thais hands over the CEO baton to Michel K. Jürgens.
Transforming Sophion from a start-up to a solid international business
The Board has deep respect for Thais’ decision to step down now and is excited to continue the collaboration with Thais as owner and Board member. We, as board members, are extremely grateful for Thais’ fantastic work. He has transformed Sophion from a start-up company into a sound and solid international business with great success.
In his 8 years as CEO, Thais has led Sophion with great passion, delivering strong double digit organic growth while achieving record-breaking financial results. In 2017, he completed a management buy-out together with other members of the management team and external investors. Since then, he has driven a significant development of Sophion’ s business by inspiring customer-focused innovation in technology and science. He has demonstrated great expertise and experience in product development, international teamwork, entrepreneurship and commercial decision-making.
Combining renewal and continuity in selecting the next CEO
The Board was delighted to adopt Thais’ suggestion of Michel K. Jürgens as his successor. It is a great joy for us to welcome Michel as the new CEO. He joined Sophion as VP of Global Sales in June 2022 and has obtained great results, particularly in strengthening and restructuring the customer-facing part of Sophion’s organization to facilitate a greater global reach and ensure continued commercial success as our business has grown.
The choice of Michel as new CEO reflects a wish from the Board, Thais and Vind as the main shareholders, to combine renewal and continuity. Michel was the natural choice, as he has demonstrated his strong leadership, ability to drive change, business acumen, international experience, excellent commercial results, and significant dedication to Sophion. We are convinced that Michel will be successful in his new role as CEO and look very much forward to working closely with him.