Mattias Byström Named President of Esko

GHENT, BelgiumEsko announced that Mattias Byström has been appointed president, effective Jan. 1, 2019. Byström succeeds Udo Panenka, who is leaving the company to pursue new opportunities.

“We thank Udo for his excellent service to Danaher over the past 10 years, including leading Esko since 2015,” reflected Joakim Weidemanis, executive vice president of Danaher, Esko’s parent company. “Under Udo’s leadership, Esko repositioned the flexo plate production business through innovation and moved to a new site in Itzehoe. Udo also built up Esko’s business serving brand owners, including the acquisitions of MediaBeacon and BLUE Software, and initiated Esko’s software migration to software-as-a-service (SaaS).”

Mattias brings with him more than 20 years of general management experience. Most recently, he was CEO of FlexLink, a global $300 million factory automation solutions business with headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden. Mattias has eight years of prior Danaher experience in different leadership roles in what was then known as Danaher Motion. This included leading the automated guided vehicle business, primarily a software systems enterprise. Earlier in his career, Mattias co-founded and led two digital startups.

“With his unique management and technology background, Mattias is ideally suited to lead Esko now. I am very happy to welcome him back to Danaher and excited to place him at the head of this important business that is simplifying the packaging value chain,” added Joakim.

Commenting on his new appointment, Mattias said, “Esko has incredible potential because digitization, automation and connectivity have gained momentum in the packaging industry in the past few years. It is my priority to ensure that Esko delivers stronger innovation that is increasingly valuable to our customers.”