Sound and sustainable corporate governance requires Circa Group AS to ensure good and healthy business practices, reliable financial reporting and an environment of compliance with applicable legislation and regulations across the Group structure. In this matter, we are guided by the Norwegian Code of Practice for Corporate Governance.
Circa Group has adopted a set of governance documents setting out principles for how its business should be conducted. The content of these documents apply to the entire Group. The corporate governance principles set out in our Corporate Governance policy are based on the Code and designed to establish a basis for good corporate governance and support the Company in achieving its core objectives, as set out in the Articles of Association.
Circa believes that good corporate governance involves transparent and trustful cooperation between all parties involved with the Group and its business. This includes our shareholders, board of directors and executive management team, employees, customers, suppliers, and other business partners, as well as public authorities and society at large.
The board of directors and executive management shall contribute to achieve the following core objectives as stated in Circa’s corporate governance policy:
- Transparency. Communication with Circa’s shareholders, stakeholders and other interest groups shall be based on transparency and openness on issues relevant for the evaluation of the development and position of the company.
- Independence. The relationship between the board of directors, executive management and shareholders shall be based on independence principles. Independence shall ensure that all decisions are made on an unbiased and neutral basis.
- Equal treatment. A fundamental objective for good corporate governance is equal treatment and equal rights for all of the Circa’s shareholders.
- Control and management. Sound control and corporate governance mechanisms shall contribute to predictability and reduce the level of risk for the Company’s shareholders, stakeholders and other interest groups.
In addition, our policy states that the Board of Directors shall define objectives, strategies and risk profiles for the Company’s business activities as an effort to create value for its shareholders. These objectives, strategies and risk profiles shall be evaluated annually, and disclosed in the annual report.
Board of Directors
Martin Laudenbach
Chairperson
German citizen.
Joined the board in 2022 and was elected as Chairperson at the Annual General Meeting in 2023.
Term of office expires in 2024.
Holds 60,000 shares in Circa Group.
Mr Laudenbach holds a Master in Business Administration and has extensive experience in the international chemical industry from serving in senior positions at BASF and Solvay. Mr Laudenbach currently works as a professional advisor and holds various director positions including in the Polish chemical group CIECH S.A., a company listed on the Warsaw and Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
Greg Court
Co-Founder and Board Director
Australian citizen.
Joined the board in 2021.
Term of office expires in 2025.
Controls 5,931,000 shares in Circa Group.
Mr. Court is one of the founders of Circa Limited and has been a director of Circa Limited since 2005. He has over 30 years-experience in the pulp and paper industry in Australia and the US. Previous roles include Executive General Manager Australian Paper, General Manager Functional Coatings (Amcor), and senior strategy roles within Amcor. Greg holds degrees in chemical engineering and business administration from Swinburne University.
Elise Fahlen
Board Director
Swedish citizen.
Joined the board in 2022.
Term of office expires in 2024.
Does not hold shares in Circa Group.
Ms. Fahlén is a passionate investor who, in addition to private investment endeavours, has extensive professional experience from venture capital and private equity investing in Europe as well as the U.S. She is currently employed as an Investment Manager at the venture capital investment branch of the H&M Group and has amongst others previously worked for management consulting firm The Boston Consulting Group and global private equity firm EQT. Elise holds a Master of Economics and Business Administration from the Stockholm School of Economics and McGill University.
Jim Henneberry
Board Director
Dual US and Australian citizen.
Joined the board in 2021.
Term of office expires in 2025.
Controls 1,773,340 shares in Circa Group.
Mr. Henneberry currently chairs Timberland Pacific and is a trustee at Monash BioPria. He was formally CEO/MD of Australia Paper and served on the board of Forest and Wood Products Australia. Jim has had numerous CEO and director roles in operations, sales and R&D. His business experience covers the Americas, ANZ, Asia and Europe. He holds degrees in pulp and paper engineering from SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry, BS from Syracuse University NY and MBA from the University of Houston TX.
Rune Sollie
Board Director
Dual US and Norwegian citizen.
Joined the board in 2020.
Term of office expires in 2025.
Holds 152,890 shares in Circa Group.
Mr. Sollie is the Chief Financial Officer of Norske Skog ASA. Prior to joining Norske Skog ASA, he was the senior financial reporting and compliance director at Statoil Fuel & Retail AS. Before this, Rune was a Partner at Uniconsult AS and held various positions at Yara International ASA and KPMG AS. He holds a bachelor of science in accounting and auditing from Oslo University College (Norway) and is a state authorised public accountant from the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH Norway).
Lars Peder Sørvaag Sperre
Board Director
Norwegian citizen.
Joined the board in 2020 and was Chairperson from 2020 to 2023.
Term of office expires in 2025.
Holds 253,552 shares in Circa Group.
Mr. Sperre is the Senior Vice President Corporate Strategy of Norske Skog ASA and has held various senior roles including President and Chief Executive Officer, Legal Counsel and was Vice President. Before this, Lars worked as an associate lawyer at the Norwegian law Firm Wikborg Rein Advokatfirma AS, having graduated from the University of Bergen with a Cand. Jur. Degree (master’s in law).
Trond Stangeby
Board Director
Norwegian citizen.
Joined the board in 2021.
Term of office expires in 2025.
Does not hold shares in Circa Group.
Mr. Stangeby has previously held several management and executive positions in Norsk Hydro and Yara International. He has also been part of the management team in the Norske Skog Group from 2011 to 2013. He has also held a Director position in Moelven Industrier. Trond holds a master’s in chemical engineering from Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
Circa Management
Bertel Karlstedt
Chief Executive Officer
Bertel joined Circa as CEO in 2024, bringing with him over 35 years of experience from a successful career in the paper, pulp, mining and energy sectors. Bertel has held several CEO roles previously and has a strong customer focus and ambition for continuous improvement.
Tone Leivestad
Chief Financial Officer
Tone has had extensive experience in finance, consulting and industry. She was previously Head of CFO Advisory at both KPMG Norway and Accenture Norway, as well as Group CFO in top-tier operations.
Philipp Morgenthaler
Head of Manufacturing
Philipp has impressive experience in the development of greenfield factories and industrial-scale production facilities. He has significant global manufacturing expertise and networks from an international career spanning almost 20 years, leading teams across Europe, USA, China and Brazil.
Alessandro Napoli
VP Product Development
Dr Alessandro Napoli has considerable experience in applied research and product development, gained at academic institutions and in the chemical industry. At Circa, he is responsible for the development of a healthy innovation pipeline based on levoglucosenone and its derivatives and for the further development of the Furacell™ process to valorise side streams.