Jos Opdeweegh appointed new CEO of Connect Group

Specialist distributor Connect Group announced on Monday that Jozef ‘Jos’ Opdeweegh has been appointed its new chief executive officer, starting with the company and joining the board on 1 September.

The London-listed firm said Opdeweegh started his career in the financial services industry, and worked in a number of senior finance positions.

Following a short period as the chief financial officer and managing director for Europe, he became the chief executive officer of Logistics services provider Syncreon in 2000.

In 2008, he was appointed chief executive officer of Americold Realty Trust, which was the world's largest logistics provider for frozen and temperature-controlled food products.

From 2012 to 2015, Opdeweegh apparently led the carve-out and subsequent sale of Caterpillar Logistics Services, now known as Neovia Logistics, during which he was also a non-executive director of Interline Brands.

In April 2016, he was chief executive officer and a director on the board of Premier Farnell, a FTSE-listed specialised distributor of technology products, until its sale to Avnet in October of the same year.

“This is an exciting time to be joining the group,” said Jos Opdeweegh.

“With two strong brands and a leading position in each of our markets there is every opportunity to drive an improvement in performance and establish a strategy that delivers value for all stakeholders.”

As it announced on 13 June, current CEO Mark Cashmore would be stepping down from his role and the board to pursue new opportunities.

Connect said Cashmore would stand down from the board on 31 August, but would remain with the company for a short period of time to ensure a “smooth and orderly” handover to Opdeweegh.

Mark had been chief executive of the group since its inception in 2006 as an independent news wholesaler, demerging from WH Smith.

Under his leadership, the board said the group was now a broader-based specialist distributor with a leading position in its markets.

“I am looking forward to working with Jos to deliver our plans for strategic turnaround, profit performance and capital management,” said Connect Group chairman Gary Kennedy.

“Jos brings a wealth of experience in delivering value driven strategic change.

“A results driven executive, his energy and relentless focus on delivery will be central to our turnaround and in sustaining performance improvement.”