Svanberg set to move to BP, while 44-year old Vestberg takes over Ericsson

At the end of June, oil company BP Group revealed it had selected current Ericsson chief executive Carl-Henric Svanberg as its new chairman, ending a two-year hunt to fill the position.

Svanberg will take over from outgoing BP chairman Peter Sutherland in January 2010 – marking his first oil industry role. By the time Svanberg moves to BP, he would have spent seven years as CEO of Ericsson. He is chairman of Sony Ericsson and a non-executive director of Melker Schörling. Svanberg will join the BP board as chairman-designate and non-executive director on September 1, succeeding Sutherland on January 1.

Svanberg will be replaced as president and CEO of Ericsson by Hans Vestberg, who is currently CFO and executive vice president.  

Vestberg is 44 years old and earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Uppsala, Sweden, in 1991. He joined Ericsson the same year and was within a short time period appointed to various international managerial positions in China, Sweden, Chile, Brazil and the US.

Svanberg will remain as member of the Ericsson board of directors and the main owners, Investor and Industrivärden, have expressed their wish to see him as member of the Ericsson board long-term.