SAM Claws Cooney For CEO Role

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Former Tandberg Television head Eric Cooney has been selected to serve as President/CEO of SAM — Snell Advanced Media, to be precise.


The moves come following the resignation of CEO Tim Thorsteinson, who has stepped down as CEO after two years “for personal reasons which, in the near to medium term, limit his ability to travel,” SAM said in a statement released Monday (6/12).

Cooney has more than two decades of experience in the technology, media and telecommunications. As President/CEO at Tandberg, he led its 2007 merger with Ericsson Group in 2007. He subsequently resigned to accept the CEO role at IT services provider Internap Corp.

In his role as CEO of SAM, Cooney will continue to drive the growth and development of the group across its core markets and build upon the significant sales growth the business has achieved in the last two years as a result of significant investment in new products.

Headquartered in Newbury, Berkshire, to the west of London, SAM employs nearly 600 people across offices in Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and Asia Pacific.

The group is backed by LDC, the private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group.

Cooney succeeds an individual who orchestrated a turnaround of SAM “based on a clear new product development strategy combined with strengthening the presence of the sales teams in core markets,” the company said.

Thorsteinson will continue to be involved in an advisory capacity to the SAM Board as part of a succession plan. He will also remain as a shareholder in SAM.

Commenting on his appointment, Cooney said, “Snell Advanced Media has seen good growth in recent years, in what has been a challenging market impacted by the changing nature of end-user media consumption. This is testament to its commitment to innovation and integration, whilst keeping its customers front and center.”

 

SAM Chairman Kevan Leggett said, “Tim has done a fantastic job in first, stabilizing the business and then creating and executing a strategy based on significant investment in new product development aligned to enhancing the sales team which has resulted in SAM’s sales growth significantly outperforming the overall market. I have enjoyed working with him and am delighted he remains involved. Eric has a proven track record of significant value creation and can build on the platform Tim has built to continue SAM’s success in the coming years.”