Atrium European Real Estate Limited ("Atrium" or the "Company"), one of the leading real estate companies focused on shopping center investment, management and development in Central and Eastern Europe, announced the appointments of Ewoud van Gellicum as General Counsel, and Ljudmila Popova as the Company's Financial Analyst.
As General Counsel, Ewoud van Gellicum will join Atrium's senior executive management team with responsibility for overseeing all legal and corporate governance issues and initiatives. He joins effective 1 May 2009 from TomTom NV, a Euronext Amsterdam listed company which is a market leader in the field of in-car satellite navigation systems, where he was General Counsel, Company Secretary and Compliance Officer. At TomTom Ewoud had overall responsibility for worldwide commercial and corporate legal affairs, including major international contracts, commercial litigation, M&A and Capital Markets transactions, securities law compliance and corporate governance and company secretarial matters. Prior to this, he spent eight years at the international corporate law firm Stibbe, focusing mainly on commercial and corporate legal affairs. He holds a Law degree from Erasmus University, Rotterdam.
Ljudmila Popova joins Atrium's finance department in Amsterdam. She will work alongside and report to Robert Bolier, the Company's chief financial officer, and will have a number of specific responsibilities including valuations and impairments, providing support information and liaison for credit rating agencies along with other investor and financial projects. She joins from Kempen & Co, the leading Dutch merchant bank, where, for three years she was an equity research analyst specialising on real estate companies, including Atrium, with large exposures in Central and Eastern Europe. She has a Master's and a Bachelor's degree in Econometrics from the University of Amsterdam, and a Bachelor's degree from the University of Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan.
Commenting on the appointments, Rachel Lavine, Chief Executive Officer, Atrium, said: "Over the past few months we have been assembling what I consider to be the best team possible to take Atrium forward and the appointments of Ewoud and Ljudmila are no exception. Ewoud's previous experience of both commercial and corporate governance matters and his role in TomTom's IPO on Euronext will be invaluable for the Company. We have spoken to Ljudmila many times in the past, through her previous role at Kempen & Co, and believe that her thorough understanding of both our company and our markets make her an extremely strong asset for our team. I look forward to working with them both and am delighted to welcome them on board."
Source: FD
