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The Danish maritime service company VMS Group A/S in Frederikshavn appoints experienced, internal forces as new top management

The globally oriented maritime service company with headquarters in Denmark and subsidiaries in Brazil and Namibia did not have to look far to put together a new top management, after the company’s board of directors made the decision earlier this year that it was time for a change of profile in the position of CEO.

A strong pair of partners with many years of experience, also internally at VMS Group, make up the new top management. The company’s CFO for the past five years, Kim Bengtsen, has been appointed as new CEO, while CCO for the past three years, Kristian Kaasing Larsen, as Executive Vice President has been appointed associate director.

The owner and founder of VMS Group, Morten Vestergaard, thus takes over again as chairman of the board after temporarily acting as CEO during the recruitment period.

– We are incredibly pleased to be able to present our new management, which consists of highly experienced people with skills that complement each other. The fact that, over the past five years, they have proven to be a well-functioning pair of partners who understand and recognize the value of good collaboration across our organization is simply value added, says Morten Vestergaard.

The formal titles will be Kim Bengtsen as CEO and Kristian Kaasing Larsen as Executive Vice President.

58-year-old Kim Bengtsen, who has a background as a MSc. from Aalborg University, has previously been CEO of the Danish company Al-KO Ginge A/S for several years. He was employed as CFO at VMS Group in June 2017.

55-year-old Kristian Kaasing Larsen is educated as a marine engineer and in April 2015 he was employed as managing director of VMS Group’s workshop in Brazil, VMS do Brazil Ltda in Niterói near Rio de Janeiro. He took over as sales manager for VMS Group in 2019. Among Kristian’s previous experiences is a period as site manager at the Hyundai Shipyard in South Korea and several years as technical director at the North American drilling company Pacific Drilling.

The new management was presented to the employees of VMS Group on Friday and will officially take office on September 1st.

Facts about VMS Group A/S:
VMS Group A/S covers a wide spectrum of competences, sales and services within the maritime world and the offshore industry.
The company is headquartered in Frederikshavn and has subsidiaries in Brazil and Namibia. VMS Group employs approx. 300 employees.

Among the core services are:

• Repair and maintenance of gears, propellers, and diesel engines
• Repair, maintenance and balancing of turbochargers for marine engines
• Sale of spare parts as well as new engines and gears
• Design and project management.