Sampension’s chief executive officer Hasse Jørgensen has left the Danish pensions firm with immediate effect, it was announced yesterday, with the firm’s chief operating officer Mads Smith Hansen replacing him.
The DKK300bn (€40bn) pension firm, which provides labour-market pensions and manages independent pension funds, said in its statement: “The board, in dialogue with Hasse Jørgensen, has decided that the time is now right to initiate a generational change and part ways. The resignation takes place by mutual agreement.”
Smith Hansen has been COO of Sampension since 2020, and has a total of 15 years of experience working at the company, located in the North Copenhagen district of Hellerup.
He has also been a group director of Danish statutory pension fund ATP as well as CEO of Norli Pension.
Jens Ejner Christensen, Sampension chair and mayor of the municipality of Vejle, said: “In Mads Smith Hansen, we have appointed a new and very competent CEO.”
“He has been a member of the board since 2020 and has both a safe hand on the wheel and at the same time, a sharp eye for developing the company further in the coming years,” he added.
Smith Hansen said he was looking forward to leading Sampension and developing the company in close cooperation with the board, the rest of management and all employees.
“We are a strong, solid company and community that always has the customer in focus. A large part of the credit for this goes to Hasse, with whom I have had a close and constructive collaboration for many years. I greatly appreciate that,” he noted.
Ejner Christensen thanked Jørgensen for “a good and trusting collaboration over the years”, and said that under his leadership, Sampension had developed into a very strong pension and administration company, adding that this was impressive work.
“But the time is now right for a generational shift, which will lead the company successfully further, and the board has therefore entered into an agreement on resignation,” he said.
Jørgensen, meanwhile – who stopped work yesterday – said: “Everything has its time, and I have had several thoughts about stepping down.”
“Sampension is a very solid company today, and I wish Sampension, Mads, customers and employees all the best in the future,” the outgoing CEO said.
