New management for Bentley

New management for Bentley as current leaders adopt a role in the non-executive board

Both Lars Sunnanväder, existing Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bentley, and Miko Obradovic, existing Technical Director and Site Manager, will adopt new advisory roles in a senior management reshuffle
Sebastian Büchert takes over as Bentley CEO; Rainer Bregulla becomes Director Research & Development; and Hartmut Grathwohl adopts the role of Director of Operations.

November 12, 2018 - Lars Sunnanväder, existing Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bentley, and Miko Obradovic, existing Technical Director and Site Manager, announced today that adopting new advisory positions in the company. The changes come as Bentley moves into a new phase in recognition of a rapid and robust period of recent growth.

The changes are effective from today, and together with Annika Sunnannväder and Eurico Pacheco, Sunnanväder and Obradovic will form the executive advisory board for Bentley InnoMed GmbH, and will partially re-appoint the management and divisional management.

In an announcement to Bentley’s distribution partners and employees, Sunnanväder and Obradovic write that, “We have decided to move to a steering and advisory role and to place the operational responsibility for the company into trusted hands.”

Effective from today, Sebastian Büchert, the former Director of Sales & Marketing takes over the responsibility for the operational management of Bentley as CEO. Rainer Bregulla, will immediately adopt the position of Director Research & Development; and Hartmut Grathwohl, Bentley’s long-standing production manager, adopts the role of Director of Operations.

Sunnanväder and Obradovic were the founding members of Bentley nine years ago. They launched the company’s core product family known as BeGraft, the first product of which, the BeGraft coronary, was launched in 2012. BeGraft has been central to Bentley’s success over this time, with revenue and the number of employees having grown five-fold in the last four years alone.

Sebastian Büchert joined Bentley in November 2014, after starting his working life in Jostra AG in 1994. Jostra AG was the first of 12 companies that Sunnanväder founded. During his nine years there, he held various management positions in sales and marketing. After this Sebastian spent several different senior management roles in other companies before moving to Bentley.

Asked what he believed had contributed to Bentley’s rapid growth, Büchert said, “Bentley managed to attract highly qualified and talented staff to quickly develop, reliably manufacture and successfully market a broad and innovative line of covered and non covered stents for various vascular afflictions.”

Going forward, he highlighted that he wanted to further substantiate Bentley’s success and solid foundations, and secure the continuation of the company’s history of robust growth. “I want us to stay focused on the development of innovative products for endovascular challenges that doctors trust to improve both the clinical outcome and quality of life for the patient. Bentley shall also continue to be a company that employees enjoy working for.”

Bentley has undergone a lot of changes this year, with both a new head quarters and a state-of-the-art production facility, coupled with the significant growth in company turnover. As the new Director of Operations, Grathwohl commented on recent developments and how he planned to ensure a solid future for the company. “It has been an extraordinary year for Bentley with different operational challenges. We’ve managed to get through these with the team spirit of Bentley employees, and going forward we will continue to motivate the employees so they enjoy working for this great company,” he said. “The outlook is very good for operations, with the recent addition of people with extensive experience and talent in medical devices.”

As the company’s very first employee, Bregulla is stunned at how far Bentley has come in such a short time. “I never, in my wildest dreams, thought the company could achieve such success. It is partly scary, but also nice to see how fast Bentley it is growing, especially this past year.”

As new director of R&D, Bregulla says he will continue to work hard to ensure that they continue to bring highly innovative medical products to market in the near future, despite the increased regulatory requirements. “With this new role, I have the opportunity to use my experience in product development to best support Bentley in its global success.”

Contact: Martijn Nugteren, Director Sales & Marketing, M.Nugteren@bentley.global, +31 6 188 428 91