Exclusive Networks announced the appointment of Jesper Trolle as CEO.
Trolle joins Exclusive from ECS Arrow Electronics, where he is currently President of the Americas, and will be responsible for driving the next phase of growth at the company and upscaling the business. Trolle takes over from Olivier Breittmayer who becomes a non-executive Board member of Exclusive. The move is part of a planned succession strategy and Trolle will work alongside Breittmayer for the next three months to ensure a smooth transition.
Trolle spent over 28 years working in the sector, initially within the reseller community, before moving into distribution. In 2001 he founded Next Denmark A/S which was bought by DNS Denmark, which in turn was bought by Arrow in 2005. Since then, Jesper has held a number of positions in different places within Arrow, including stints in Germany running central and eastern Europe, and Paris, running north-west Europe. He took up the role as Arrow’s President Americas in 2017, based out of Denver, Colorado, where he has grown a double-digit billion dollar business, it’s said.
Speaking about the appointment, Breittmayer said: “Jesper was the standout choice following an intensive search and selection process these last six months or so. His cultural and international experience, obvious entrepreneurial DNA, knowledge of upscaling global businesses at pace and empathy with value-based distribution is impressive and refreshing. It is with confidence and a smile that we are getting such a capable person to take over the helm of the business we’ve grown by some 2,000% over the last 17 years.”
Trolle added, “Opportunities like this do not come around that often, but in distribution, Exclusive is at the top of the list if they do. I’m delighted to be joining such a successful company with a strong reputation for innovation and exceptional growth. Exclusive is renowned for its disruptive approach and relentless focus on value creation for its partners. When given the opportunity to become a part of the Exclusive family and next phase of its journey, it was an easy and fast decision to make.
“My job is clear: turn the global presence into a cybersecurity infrastructure powerhouse, at scale and speed, and it is a challenge I relish, feel qualified to do and very much look forward to,” said Trolle.
Michail Zekkos, Partner at Permira, and a member of Exclusive’s Board of Directors, said: “Olivier is a pioneer and a true inspiration in modern day value-based distribution. It was a hard task to find his natural replacement.”
So it’s congratulations all round, it appears.
