New board composition at talpa media
LAREN, the Netherlands, January 14, 2010 ─ Effective February 1, management at Talpa Media will have the following composition. Owner John de Mol will remain in charge of the development and production of new content. He will also continue to oversee the international sales activities.
Talpa Media is headed by - in addition to John de Mol as President - a three-member Executive Board led by CEO Pim Schmitz, charged with strategy & national and international business development in particular.
CFO Mark Ramakers will pass the mantle to Pieter Landman. Ramakers has made a major contribution to the company's recent strategic reorientation and will leave the company.
COO Leon Schouten will be in operational control of the rapidly growing Dutch arm of the company, as well as Talpa's contributions to its various international joint ventures.
CEO Pim Schmitz, 41, studied at Erasmus University Rotterdam and held various positions at ABN AMRO, before joining Talpa Capital (precursor to Cyrte Investments) in 2003. He helped give shape to Talpa Media. In 2007, he switched over to Endemol to take charge of corporate development and M&A at that company. Since early last year, Schmitz has been working as an independent consultant and investor for Talpa Media and others.
CFO Pieter Landman, 50, attended the VU University Amsterdam and the University of Chicago. Over the past 25 years, he has held several managerial and executive positions in the international corporate sector, including at Nedstat - Europe's leading provider of web analytics.
COO Leon Schouten, 46, moved to Talpa Media in the spring of 2009. Previously, he had served as Commercial Director of the Strengholt Group in Naarden, the Netherlands. Between 1995 and 2002, he occupied various posts at John de Mol Produkties and Endemol International.
Current CFO Mark Ramakers, 40, is leaving Talpa as of February 1. He will help set up Innovation Industries BV - a company centering on media innovation in a strong partnership with (inter)national universities and colleges and the business community.