01732 759725 CIRCULAR IT 34 Flex IT, one of the largest European specialists in IT lifecycle management, has announced the appointment of Andreas Mayer as its new CEO. Mayer takes over from Leon Timmermans (pictured), who will stay on in an advisory capacity until July to ensure a seamless transition Flex IT announces a new era Timmermans said that the acquisition of MCKL took a great deal of work and commitment on both sides, and during that time it became clear that Mayer and he shared common goals and ideas. “Now this has been successfully achieved, I felt it was the natural time to move on to the next part of my career as I could leave the business in safe hands,” he explained, adding: “Part of my motivation is to re-build businesses by establishing long-term strategies that will continue to evolve. That’s what inspires me and anyone who works with me knows I have many projects on the go at any one time – it’s the way I like to operate. I will be working closely with Andreas in the first few weeks to offer advice and support when necessary, but I know his vast experience in the industry can only benefit Flex IT and ensure its future success.” A distinguished career Mayer has a distinguished career in the industry, with more than 25 years of international experience in IT at IBM, Lenovo and HP. Prior to his role at MCKL, he was a Senior Director of EMEA business operations at HP and spent over 14 years at Lenovo in various EMEA senior leadership positions, latterly as Managing Director, Benelux, taking total P&L responsibility for Lenovo’s PC business in the region. This international track record across Europe will be very valuable in his new role as CEO of Flex IT. “I’m looking forward to building on the success that Leon has achieved and to continue beating the drum for sustainability and circular IT,” Mayer said. “The company has enjoyed real growth over a very difficult time in the world during the pandemic and proved that selecting circular IT products is a natural process that continues to gain traction.” Mayer was previously the Managing Director of European demo partner MCKL, which was acquired by Flex IT last month. The acquisition is part of Flex IT’s ongoing mission to lead the change to a fully circular European market for IT hardware, as well as supporting the company’s strategy to expand its services to both IT channel and IT vendors. Commenting on the change of leadership, Timmermans said: “Over the past five years, Flex IT has evolved to establish its real DNA and I am very proud to have been able to direct and manage the growth of the company during that time, and bring it to the strong position it’s now in. I have really enjoyed the journey, but I am very happy to hand over the reins to Andreas, who I have total confidence in.” Making purchasing circular IT the norm He continued: “We can now see that the governments in Europe are moving in that direction. Companies are also moving in that direction – not only suppliers, and not only vendors – but customers are increasingly demanding it too. A rapidly growing number of companies have sustainability policies and are keen to show to their clients, employees and investors that these are not empty words, but that they are taking concrete actions. They want to reflect this choice in their ESG reports in the year end, and this is a dynamic that will continue to grow over the next few years. Flex IT is in an excellent position to cater for these choices and to demonstrate how easy it can make the process for organisations who want to make the purchase of circular IT the norm.” As the lifespan of IT hardware is now only three to five years, the annual IT waste mountain continues to pile up. The key is to extend this lifecycle in order to drastically reduce the environmental impact. Mayer added; “My appointment is not about changing direction, because I think we’re heading in the right direction. I want to use everything that we now have in our tool set, and then expand that t even further to continue to drive forward and take advantage of the change in mind-set across the world about circular IT.” Future firmly set in sustainability Timmermans, meanwhile, sees his future firmly set in sustainability. “For me, it has to be a combination of sustainability, waste reduction and circularity. That’s been my career for almost 15 years, and in that time, it’s become part of my DNA. I’m looking forward to seeing where the next chapter takes me, and I wish Andreas and the whole team at Flex IT all the very best. I know they will continue all the good work we have achieved over the past few years,” he concluded. www.flexitdistribution.com Leon Timmermans
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