Sandvik AB has appointed Lars Pettersson as new President and CEO of Sandvik AB, as of 7 May 2002. He succeeds Clas Ške Hedström, who will leave his position in conjunction with the Annual General Meeting on 7 May 2002. Clas Ške Hedström will be 63 in July and has been employed with the company for 37 years, of which he has spent eight as President.
Lars Pettersson, 47, holds an MSc in engineering physics and has been employed with Sandvik since 1979. After working with materials and product development for Sandvik Steel and Sandvik Coromant, as well as marketing in the US, he was appointed Vice President with responsibility for production and logistics within Sandvik Coromant in 1992. In 1994 Mr Pettersson succeeded Clas Ške Hedström as President of Sandvik Coromant and Sandvik Tooling. In March 2000 Mr Pettersson was appointed President of Sandvik Steel and President of the Sandvik Specialty Steels Business Area, while also being named Executive Vice President of the Sandvik Group.
The Board intends to elect Clas Ške Hedström as Chairman to succeed Percy Barnevik, Chairman of Sandvik AB since 1983. Mr Barnevik has expressed his desire to step down and will not seek re-election.
