THE ERT INTERVIEW BAREND EZECHIELS


16 All change please


Barend Ezechiels recently took over as Country Head for Sony UK and Ireland, and Jack Cheeseman met him at the Weybridge HQ to chat about how he plans to steer the business and how it’s working with the Amsterdam office in preparation for Brexit.


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Marketing Head and Sales Director, before moving to the Country Head role in 2012.


very so often, CE giant Sony reshuffles


its top team and the recent wave of changes saw Barend Ezechiels step in to head-up Sony UK and Ireland. He took over at the beginning of April from John Anderson, who held the position for four years. Elsewhere, Mr Anderson has now become Country Head for Sony in Germany. Mr Ezechiels started his career with Sony in the Benelux marketing team in 1997, and has since held several senior marketing and sales roles at a country and pan-European level, including


He explains that Sony’s personnel moves give the team a chance to explore different areas of the company… and different areas geographically. He says that with a fresh pair of eyes on things new goals can be achieved and the company can move forward: “So for John to learn the German business and for me to learn the UK business, we get a broader knowledge across the regions and we can also share perspectives too.


“The good thing is that it’s not new for me – how we run the operation in the UK is quite similar to the other areas we have in Europe – the same logic and the same business philosophy. Yet at the same time it’s a completely different country


for me, a different landscape, a bigger team and bigger responsibility.” Having previously spent time in the UK on family holidays – often surfing on the Cornish coast – Mr Ezechiels moved to the UK at the end of March, ready to start at Sony’s Weybridge office. He says that so far he has enjoyed exploring his new home town area and he even enjoys his daily commute!


“I actually like the environment much better than I would have expected,” he says with a grin, “the only difference for me is the roads, because we are on the left-hand side here. But it has its charm as well; everything is new and it feels like a holiday actually… It’s not, but it feels like it!”


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