January 15, 2015 - ARCADIS (EURONEXT: ARCAD), the world's leading natural and built asset design & consultancy firm, today announced it has appointed John Jastrem to the position of CEO of its North American activities effective January 15, 2015. Per the same date, ARCADIS appointed Joachim Ebert to the position of COO for North America. Both men will succeed Gary Coates, who will retire after having effectively combined these roles over the past 22 months, to manage the transition after the departure of Steve Blake as CEO in 2013.
John Jastrem has been with ARCADIS since the acquisition of Callison in October 2014, where he served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Callison Architecture Holding, LLC and Subsidiaries ("CAH "), since January 2011 and as Executive Chairman since August 2010. Jastrem has a long and successful history serving in chief executive roles. He joined Viad Corp. (Viad, NYSE : VVI) in October 2006 as Chief Executive Officer of Exhibitgroup/Giltspur, a division of Viad, and subsequently merged two other divisions into one integrated company rebranded as Global Experience Specialist. Previously, he was with Omnicom Group Inc (NYSE : OMC), where he started in 1998 as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Rapp Collins Worldwide-Dallas - and then served as President of The Marketing Arm. He concluded his tenure as an executive of DAS Corporate, a division of Omnicom, overseeing 182 companies generating $6.5 billion in annual revenue. Prior to his tenure at Omnicom, Jastrem held senior management positions in both private equity and industry. Jastrem began his career with Andersen where he served for eight years and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Commerce and Finance, Cum Laude from Wilkes University.
To ensure continuity, John will remain a member of the Callison Board of Directors while also joining the Board of RTKL.
Joachim Ebert has been a Partner with McKinsey & Company in Dallas since October 2011. Experienced in strategy, organization, and operations, he has a strong track record in leading large-scale transformations aimed at significantly improving top and bottom line performance. He has worked on six continents and has served leading companies across a variety of capital intensive, B2B and consumer industries. Prior to McKinsey, Joachim Ebert was a Partner at A.T. Kearney, where he held a variety of management positions, including leader of the Operations Practice for the Americas and leader of the Competence Team for Complexity Management and Innovation. He is widely regarded as a thought leader and has made frequent contributions to publications, such as Industry Week, Supply Chain Management Review and the Wall Street Journal. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and holds a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering (Dipl. Wirtschaftsing.) with distinction from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, as well as an MBA from INSEAD in France.
"We are happy that John Jastrem has already joined ARCADIS and is willing to step into the position of CEO for our North American activities. He has a track record of profitable growth at Callison and his experience as a chief executive officer and senior executive at large global public companies, and as an entrepreneur in private organizations as well as his strong background and expertise in the areas of marketing, sales, corporate finance, and strategic planning all contribute to him being the right leader of our North American business," said Neil McArthur, CEO of ARCADIS.
"With Joachim we attract a proven strategic and operational leader in professional services with a strong track record of successful growth and transformation strategy development and implementation. He has a strong entrepreneurial spirit and is a proven team builder, who can rally people behind a goal and create results, which is exactly what we need in today's shifting market conditions in the North American market," McArthur added.
"We want to thank Gary Coates for his significant contributions to ARCADIS over the 25-year lifespan of his career with us. Early in his career Gary laid the groundwork for our Multinational Client program, which helped propel ARCADIS into international markets. In his role as COO and later on CEO/COO of the North American activities he has seen years of high growth and industry-leading margin performance. In recognition of the changing market conditions in North America, with the last two years forming a particular challenge, Gary initiated a transformation of the organization to position for success for 2015 and beyond. Gary will work with John and Joachim to ensure a smooth transition until his retirement in May and his legacy-building work will continue under the direction of John and Joachim."
For more information please contact Joost Slooten at +31 (0) 20 2011083, or outside office hours at +31 (0) 6 27061880 or joost.slooten@arcadis.com
About ARCADIS: ARCADIS is the leading global natural and built asset design & consultancy firm working in partnership with our clients to deliver exceptional and sustainable outcomes through the application of design, consultancy, engineering, project and management services. ARCADIS differentiates through its talented and passionate people and its unique combination of capabilities covering the whole asset life cycle, its deep market sector insights and its ability to integrate health & safety and sustainability into the design and delivery of solutions across the globe. We are 28,000 people that generate €3 billion in revenues. We support UN-Habitat with knowledge and expertise to improve the quality of life in rapidly growing cities around the world. Please visit: www.arcadis.com