Van Der Sluis Sr. Retires from ITM

Source from:  Tobacco Reporter 04/21/2009

Arend van der Sluis Sr. has decided to step down as chairman of the board of the ITM Group at his 65th birthday. After leading ITM for more than 43 years, he is passing leadership of the company to the next Van der Sluis generation. With his charismatic and inspiring leadership style, Van der Sluis Sr. has taken ITM from a small trading company to its current position in the tobacco machinery business, supplying innovative new products to the world's leading cigarette manufacturers. He built the company on lifelong relationships, most of which started off with a handshake, earning trust from customers and employees. "I would like to thank all my dear friends from the tobacco world for the great, almost half a century of working together," said Van der Sluis Sr. Van der Sluis Sr.'s role as chairman will be assumed by his nephew, Arend van der Sluis Jr., who is the fourth generation of the Van der Sluis family working in the tobacco industry. (The first Van der Sluis owned a cigar factory at the beginning of the 20th century). Supported by the ITM group's board of directors-including Andrew Stanikowski, Ronald van den Berg and Michiel van der Sluis-Van der Sluis Jr. will continue the company's successful strategy of innovation. "I look forward to building further onto the great foundations that my uncle laid. ITM Group is currently in a great position with many new products being launched, and a very healthy order book," said Van der Sluis Jr. "Our Gemini Compartment tray system and Solaris Filter Combiner show great prospects for growing into the new industry standard." Enditem