News

New organisation chart for Samskip´s Icelandic operations

Two new vice presidents take seat on the company´s Icelandic Executive Board

1.11.2005

A new organisation chart has been implemented for Samskip´s operations in Iceland. It sharpens the focus on services provided by the company, simplifies the overall framework and shortens the chain of command.

"The new organisation chart reflects the wide-ranging changes that have been occurring in the company over recent months, changes that further sharpen the focus on the company's main fields of operations in Iceland," says Ásbjörn Gíslason, president of Samskip.

Operations at Samskip Iceland have been restructured into two performance fields - Shipping Division and Domestic Division - in addition to Jónar Transport (forwarder fully owned by Samskip) which will operate unchanged. The Shipping Division handles transport to and from Iceland, while the Domestic Division is responsible for internal transport and the Logistics centre in Reykjavík. Infrastructure support is provided by the Finance Division and IT Division.

Pálmar Óli Magnússon, former vice president of operations, is now vice president of the Shipping Division, in addition to being the president's deputy in Iceland. Kristján Pálsson continues as managing director of Jónar Transport and Sæmundur Guðlaugsson as vice president of Finance. Björgvin Jón Bjarnason is the the company's new vice president of the Domestic Division and Ragnar Þór Ragnarsson is the new vice president of IT, a new operational field reflecting the increased importance of information technology and services in company operations.

Ragnar and Björgvin Jón have also taken a seat on Samskip´s Icelandic Executive Board.

Björgvin Jón Bjarnason was born in 1966. He graduated from the Technical College of Iceland in 1989 with a degree in industrial business management, and in 1992 he received a B.Sc. degree in industrial technical engineering from the same school. Before joining Samskip Iceland, Björgvin was managing director of Icelandic food processing company Síld og fiskur ehf., and worked as a management consultant for IBM Business Consulting Service in Iceland.

Ragnar Þór Ragnarsson was born in 1971. He graduated with a B.Sc. degree in computer science from the University of Iceland in 1993, and received an MBA degree in shipping and logistics from Copenhagen Business School in 2005. He first began working for Samskip Iceland in 1993 as a computer scientist, and headed the computer department from 1996 till 2000 when he started working as an independent consultant. Ragnar returned to Samskip Iceland in January 2004 as head of the information technology department.