SER group Holding International GmbH (SER Group) is pleased to announce that Sven Behrendt, previously Chief Operating Officer and member of the Management Board, has been appointed Chief Executive Officer and thereby Chairman of the Management Board of the SER Group, effective May 1, 2021. He succeeds Kurt-Werner Sikora, who will focus exclusively on his work on the Advisory Board of the SER Group. Furthermore, Dr. John Bates has been appointed Executive Chairman of the Advisory Board of the SER Group as of May 1, 2021.

In his new role as Executive Chairman of the Advisory Board, John Bates will work in close cooperation with Sven Behrendt on driving the international growth and strategic development of the SER Group. Bates has many years of experience in the development of software companies and holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge in Computer Science. Most recently, he was CEO of Eggplant, a leading UK-based provider of digital automation intelligence. He is also currently an Independent Non-Executive Director of Sage, the UK’s largest listed tech company.

Sven Behrendt looks ahead confidently at the future of the SER Group and his new role: “In the past two years we’ve already successfully effected changes in many areas. The next steps will be to build on our cloud/SaaS business and solution portfolio, and, in particular, to further drive the internationalization of the SER Group. John Bates, with his wealth of experience and expertise, will be a huge asset in supporting us. I look forward to achieving our goals together with John and the entire SER team.”

Dr. Thorsten Dippel, Managing Director in the Advisory Team of Carlyle Group Europe Technology Partners, comments: “Since our investment in December 2018, Sven Behrendt and the entire SER Group team have made continuous progress. We are very pleased that Sven has accepted the appointment as CEO. We would like to express our deep gratitude to Kurt-Werner Sikora for the close and trusting working relationship and his ongoing support. John Bates, as Executive Chairman of the Advisory Board, will work closely with CEO Sven Behrendt to accelerate SER’s strategic development and internationalization. We look forward to working with John and wish him and Sven every success in their new roles.”