Torben Rick

Torben Rick

M.Sc.(Econ)

Geschäftsführer (Division Director) & Group Business Development Executive

(The company name is only visible to registered members)

  • Hamburg
  • Germany

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Personal information

Professional experience

  • Employment status
    Executive

Educational background

  • Languages
    German (Fluent), English (Fluent), Danish (First language)

About me


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Online resume, achievements, articles, experience, press, recommendations and blog
 
► http://www.torbenrick.eu
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Experienced senior executive, both at a strategic and operational level, with strong track record in developing, driving and managing business improvement and development, change management and turn-around.
 
Extensive experience within operations: Customer Service, business development & improvement, logistics & procurement, product management & development, sales and cross-functional business improvement.
 
Strong strategic management experience in developing strategic directions.
 
By constantly challenging the way things are done combined with the organizational refocusing programs have been the key factors in obtaining the results:
 
► Significant financial improvement
► Increasing customer base
► Increasing service-level - customer service
► Increasing customer and employee satisfaction.
 
International experience from management positions in Denmark, Germany and Switzerland.
 
Fluent in Danish, German and English
 
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Business achievements 2009 - 2011
► Due to heavy focus on business drivers - reduced cost-base and increased customer base - EBITDA margin was improved from + 2% in 2009 to + 20% in 2011.
► Customer base increased with 26% in a stagnant market
► Successfully changed the organization to be much more market, sales and service oriented
 
Business achievements 2008
► Successful turn-around a high-tech company which was highly under-performing as to its financial performance and product quality. Due to heavy focus on business drivers increased EBITDA margin from – 18% in 2007 to + 10% in 2008
 
Business achievements 2006 - 2007
► Business improvement with a “cash-in” of € 85m equalling to 9% of the total cost base
 
Business achievements 2001 - 2006
► EBITDA increased by 138% due to heavy focus on customer profitability and efficiency from € 29.7m in 2001 to € 70.6m in 2005
► EBITDA-margin increased by 82% to 7,0% and OPEX per customer declined by 65%
► Customer base more than doubled (to 3,4m) and customer satisfaction increased from index 100 to 124
► Best in class customer service - Connect Call Center Test 2001: Best in class, 2002: Second best in class, 2003: Best in class among all German service providers
► Employee satisfaction pushed from index 72 to 83 points
 
Business achievements 1999 - 2001
► Development and implementation of refocus program (Turn-around/Corporate Transformation) which included Cost Improvement and Revenue Improvement Program
► Successfully implemented Culture Change Program "Wir machen es einfach" (We make it simple)
► Reduced call volume by 35% with a wide range of self-services
► Reduced churn by 45% with retention/prevention programs
 
Business achievements 1998 - 1999
► Successful acquisition of an ISP, commercial and legal negotiations, due diligence, business plan and integration
► Successfully acquired Credit Swiss First Boston (London), global customer with an annual revenue of € 13m
► Successfully implemented balanced scorecard and culture program: "Let´s follow the sunrise... on a balloon trip around the world"
 
Business achievements 1997
► Reengineered the total sales supporting process in TDC
► Raised the professionel level of competence in the organization and made complete management tools to monitor and train the level of competence for the complete support staff
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Some recommendations from my LinkedIn profile with more than 75 recommendations.
 

►"Within a short period Torben has managed to change the organisation to be much more market, sales and service oriented. In the same period Torben has managed to develop the right financial tools that makes us capable of keeping track of our business ... Impressive! ' -- Jens Dahlgaard, Responsible Product Management, worked with Torben at Verdo A/S
 
► "Great leadership and Business development skills, high integrity and sense of high performance behaviour. That´s the best way to describe Torben. Torbens skills and integrity within discussions and learning activities makes him a very interesting person to work with." -- Morten Schacht, Strategos, Consultant to Verdo A/S
 
► "Torben is good to break larger problems within workflows, so that it is open to everyone, that there should be an improvement. His forces are not limited only to break down problems. He assumes also like to implement solutions - even when the solutions lead to the entire organization must change its behavior. Through his achievements Torben inspire colleagues to implement new and minimized resource operations that will enhance the companys competitiveness" -- Jesper S. Sahl, Director, worked with Torben at Verdo A/S
 
► "I know Torben as a hardworking person, who has excellent analytical skills. Torben knows how to ask "that" question that clearifies the problem you are working with. Furthermore Torben has substantial expirience with Business development in more countries in Europe. I can strongly recommend Torben." -- Kenneth R. H. Jeppesen, CFO at Verdo Group A/S
 
► “Torben, did a great job in one of our portfolio companies focusing on means and ways to increased profitability and growth. Torben is clear and to the point in communication and action. I can highly recommend working with Torben on businesses development.” -- Jesper Scharling Sørensen, Partner at NorthCap Partners (Venture Capital & Private Equity) - Client
 
► “Torben was very fast and worked well under the extreme time pressure that I put him under. Results driven and very focused” -- Robert Steiner, Director EMEA Global Consulting Services QAD - Client
 
► ”I have worked with Torben at several occasions, he is a great COO, he has the ability to understand a complex value chain and go to market proposition and twist it to deliver a fantastic result, he is highly commited, energetic and professional.” -- Preben Mejer, CEO Innovation Lab A/S - Client
 
► "Torben is working with me and the management team of our company to improve our financial performance. Torben is doing an excellent job, keeping focus on the essentials. Torben is highly goal oriented and motivates his surrounding players to act equally. I highly appreciates Torbens performance in our company and I recommend Torben as a highly qualified executive.” -- Michael Fedder, Managing Director Comlog A/S - Client
 
► “Torben Rick had the task to identify actions to be implemented to improve our financial performance. He identified several actions, both short term and long term strategic actions for our company. Torben did an excellent job and I can strongly recommend Torben for these kind of tasks.” -- Peter E. Petersen, Development Director Comlog A/S - Client
 
► "Torben is a very professional executive who delivered a first class project. Excellent work. Torben worked fast, very reliable and with profound integrity." -- Gert Rieder, ENEX Finance SA - Client
 
► “We hired Torben Rick to help defining a strategy for entering the German market. Torben is a true specialist, and delivered a convincing and top professional work.” -- Anders Cervera, Vopium A/S - Client
 
► "Torben did an outstanding job, in running a lean project in the organisation, especially in our service delivery." -- Kim Frimer, CEO and President managed Torben at TDC Solution A/S
 
► “I worked close together with Torben for approximately 9 months in 2006/2007. During the period we cooperated in analyzing a large production unit, and draw up plans for several ambitious performance improvements. I found Torben very dedicated, committed and enthusiastic in this work, and he used a very structured model to achieve the objectives. I can strongly recommend Torben for these kinds of tasks.” -- René Skjøde Andersen, Vice President worked with Torben at TDC Solution A/S
 
► “Torben is very good at developing a structured overview of the situation at hand, outlining the baseline and areas for improvement. His eye on crafting the argument is inspiring to work alongside, including the use of real-life examples to stimulate the discussion on how to pursue new and different solutions.” -- Christian Skøtt Maltesen, Mercer/Value Creation lead reported to Torben at TDC Solution A/S
 
► “As Torben's lean team manager I have been very impressed by his professionalisme and strong skills within the business improovement management field and especially the area of strategic and holistic thinking. - He is highly recommended.”” -- Per Steffensen, Senior Lean Projektchef reported to Torben at TDC Solution A/S
 
► “I worked together with Torben from 2001 to 2006. During these 5 years Talkline developed significantly in terms of improved financial results as well as growth in customer base. Torben played a major role in achieving these results. I highly respect his ability to move an organisation forward, setting ambitous goals and achieving them through personal leadership.” -- Mogens Soegaard Hansen, CFO worked directly with Torben at Talkline GmbH & Co. KG
 
► “I worked together with Torben between 2001-2006 (me in the role: head of Controlling). I have experienced Torben as an excellent target oriented manager. One of his outstanding skills is the abilitly to create strong motivation and focus teams on the achievement / overfullfillment of targets. The great sucess of Talkline in those years is strongly related to the great performance of Torben and his ongoing implementation of major improvements within the whole company. He actively drove change processes in all parts of the company (from customer service to sales / marketing) which clearly resulted in improvements on all KPI's, including impressive improvement of our financials. I enjoyed the successful cooperation in those years.” -- Thorsten Witzelsburger, Head of Controlling worked with Torben at Talkline GmbH & Co. KG
 
► “Torben is able to make things happen and gather topmotivated people around him. His has delievered better and better results year by year and Torben can match everyone as a negotiator.” -- Steen Sørensen, HR Director worked indirectly for Torben at Talkline GmbH & Co. KG - Germany
 
► “Torben is a very strong, implementation-oriented manager, driven by the desire to never accept a "no" but rather always push for higher aspirations. In doing so, he has built an exceptional track record of overachieving goals and pushing himself and his team to higher limits. He is a great colleague to work with, blending a both business-focused with very personal leadership style.” -- Alexander M. Dahlke, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) worked directly with Torben at Talkline GmbH & Co. KG
 
► "Torben is strong leader who formulates his vision, is able to articulate it, and has the management capability to get it implemented. I enjoyed working for him, and learned a lot from the experience. He was the greatest catalyst for positive change that I have ever worked for or with. His visionary and implementation of management tools were a model for me that I will always follow." -- Dieter Danneboom, Head of Productmanagement, reported to Torben at Talkline GmbH & Co. KG
 
► "During the 7 years I have worked with Torben I have experienced him as the best project and turn around manager you can think of. He managed to develop a highly target orientated, creativ and motivated company which was the key for Talkline's success." -- Christian Seidl, Director Indirect Sales, reported to Torben at Talkline GmbH & Co. KG
 
► “I had the opportunity to work in TR´s management team for about 4 years. I got to know Torben as a highly professional and business minded executive, with a distinctive sence on business targets, target-achievement, innovations and customer orientation. He always pushes himself and his team to higher limits and target overachievement. Even in bigger organisations, he shows the capability to focuss all members on short-run targets and their results. He always makes sure that his team works motivated and focussed at any time. During the period of time I worked with him, his project-culture realized a significant turnaround and increase in ebitda and at the same time in customer- and employee satisfaction. I enjoyed working for him at any time.” -- Christian Pützhofen, Director Direct Sales, reported to Torben at Talkline GmbH & Co. KG
 
► “I had the chance to work with Torben Rick for more than 3 years. With his extreme focus on goals Torben has implemented a high performance culture at Talkline. Torben has a clear sense of future directions for a company. For example has he focussed on e-business and empowered the e-business department at a time (2002) when almost every company in Germany has reduced or even fired their e-business department. Like this Talkline became the most successful telecommunication company in e-commerce at that time. Another success story was his strong focus on online-billing which saved millions of Euros to the company. A lot of his initiatives where copied by the competitors sooner or later...and with these advances he made Talkline to the most successful mobile service provider in Germany.” -- Ralf Priemer, Head of E-Business reported to Torben at Talkline GmbH & Co. KG
 
► “Torben is pronounced target orientated and full of drive. He is very strong implementation-oriented and an “effective troubleshooter”. This is based on a healthy and transparent project culture in which the entire organization knows all objectives and is involved on an ongoing basis. This conscious focusing on organizational culture created a turnaround which lead to a significant increase in EBITDA, customer base, customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction” -- Søren Lindgaard, Manager projects and coordination, reported to Torben at Talkline GmbH & Co. KG
 
► "Torben is a manager with a very strong focus on the measurable result. He is able to assume a team of different types of characters and lead them to success and to raise the productivity of a given organization significantly within a short period of time. He knows how to motivate the staff and how to increase the flexibility and creativity of a complex organization." -- Sven Soenksen, Head of Product Management B2B, worked indirectly for Torben at Talkline GmbH & Co. KG
 
► "Torben is excellent at international change management and corporate performance management. Torben has the ability of transforming strategic vision into operational goals that are easily understood by all employees. Torben was a strong part of the culture change program at Talkline and contributed significantly to Talklines excellent financial results and increased customer base from 2001-2006." -- Roy Kilpatrick, Fachbereichsleiter Controlling, worked with Torben at Talkline GmbH & Co. KG
 
► “Torben is very much goal and implementation-oriented. Torben makes challenges, goals, and strategy understandable for employees. He uses simple words and pictures to make sure that everybody in an organization understands the direction of the company. This makes company-wide programs and projects transparent and successful. The results are significant increase in EBITDA, customer base, customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction.” -- Leonardo Castiglione, Head of Projects & internal Consulting, worked with Torben at Talkline GmbH & Co. KG
 
► "I got to know Torben as very strong, target-oriented manager. His ability to inspire people and to convince them, that “good is not good enough” describes a little bit the passion he feels for his job. I enjoyed working with Torben. The way he pushes himself and his team for higher aspirations is exemplary." -- Yannis Christoforidis, Head of Productmanagement, reported to Torben at Talkline GmbH & Co. KG
 
► "I've learned Torben as a straight forward, goal-oriented manager, who archived significant business improvements (EBITDA, number of subscribers). As a strong leader Torben has not only the ability to drive topics but also to motivy the organisation to drive in the same direction. Torbens business success also founded on his potential to develop creative ideas and solutions." -- Holger Gasau, Head of IT/Application Development, worked indirectly for Torben at Talkline GmbH & Co. KG
 
► “Torben is extremely sharp and straight to the point in order to make sure that things are moving in the right direction. Very professional and business minded he does well in focusing on products and features that drives business and market value. Torben was highly respected for his skills and personality.” -- Ove Struck, Spokesman, worked indirectly for Torben at Talkline GmbH & Co. KG
 
► "I got to know Torben as highly focussed and passionate in his work. He
is extremely witty and innovative in generating creative ideas. His method of work is very target driven and he has a clear understanding of how to set and achieve business targets. His projects were very successful within our organisation." -- Hans-Joachim Rau, Executive Assistant, worked indirectly for Torben at Talkline GmbH & Co. KG
 
► “Torben is a high motivatived, business focused and customer orientated individual. He has incredible business focus and awareness. He uses his skills to ensure business results are achieved, but he also ensures that his team is focused, motivated and led to achieve results but also to deliver customer excellence at all levels of governence. A great asset to any company.” -- David Durrant, Director Customer Care Operations, worked directly with Torben at Sunrise Communications AG
 
► “Torben shows an amazing dedication and professional focus on the business drivers of all the projects he works on. He managed to realise challenging projects both with internal process optimizations, re-engineering, employee motivational programs as well as managing large customer projects, succeeding in particular in though negotiation rounds.” -- Anders Bröchner, Data Warehouse Project Manager, worked with Torben at Sunrise Communications AG
 
► “Torben is the most outstanding customer advocate I have worked with. He has been able to transform large service organisations into becoming totally customer oriented.” -- Malcolm Myers, Executive Director Strategy & Business Development, worked with Torben at Sunrise Communications AG
 
► “Torben is a creative and driven person who have clear goals in mind. Torben has both the commercial and technical view in focus when addressing an issue. He is well educated and very knowledable which allows him to address a wide range of problem areas. I can warmly recommend Torben he will add lots of value to any project or organization.” -- Jan A. Jensen, Director Customer Care, worked directly with Torben at Sunrise Communications AG
 
► “Torben is an action oriented executive who I remember as someone who always gets the job done - even under very challenging circumstances!” -- Anders Christjansen, Senior Vice President, worked directly with Torben at Sunrise Communications AG
 

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