Acquisitions are an important talent pool for Sika. Employees from acquisitions have great career opportunities with Sika and are, due to their expertise, often appointed to Senior Management functions.
John Heffernan, V.P. Corporate Controlling, Sika USA
12 Years with RMAX and Sika
I joined Sika Corporation in January 2017 through the Rmax acquisition. Prior to Sika, I was Chief Financial Officer for Rmax. With the legal merger of Rmax into Sika Corporation in 2019, I was promoted to Vice President Corporate Controlling and subsequently relocated from the Rmax headquarters in Dallas, Texas to the Sika USA corporate office in Lyndhurst, New Jersey. Sika’s acquisition of Rmax was an important step that helped to further distinguish Sika as the preferred total building envelope solution provider. With most acquisitions, it is difficult to quickly integrate and leverage the benefits, however, with Sika it quickly became clear that this was going to be different. The Sika Spirit was evident with all involved helping to make this a very successful transition with everyone working together as a team. The future continues to be exciting for Sika as it continues to expand and leverage its unique Sika Spirit to achieve success.
Christine Jones, Regional Communications and Marketing Manager EMEA
16 Years with Liquid Plastics and Sika
I joined Liquid Plastics, based in Preston in the UK, in 2004 as PR Executive, later becoming PR and Corporate Communications Manager. When we were acquired by Sika in 2009, I created and implemented a communications plan to successfully guide the company through the acquisition process. Following a 6-month assignment as Brand Manager in the Corporate Communications team in Switzerland in 2014, I took on the role of Corporate Communications Manager responsible for global social media and internal communications. After nearly five years in Baar I moved into my current position in the region EMEA region. The acquisition of Liquid Plastics gave me an opportunity to develop, both personally and professionally, that would not have been possible at Liquid Plastics. I’ve also made many excellent connections, and great friends, from all over the Sika world. For me the Sika Spirit is not tangible, it’s something that comes from the people at Sika. Every colleague I meet and every Sika office I visit always has the same warm welcome, like going home. We might be located in 100 different countries, but we are one big family all working towards the same goal.
Marius Mavrodin, Executive Vice-President – TM Building Finishing, Sika USA
26 Years with Axim/Italcementi Group and Sika
Following a 16-year career with Italcementi Group, I joined Sika in the US through the acquisition of Axim in 2011. Today, I manage our newest Target Market Building Finishing in the US and am deeply involved with the integration of Parex. My journey over the past years is interesting and non-linear, and more that I could have ever imagined or believed possible. After 18 years in Concrete Admixtures operations, marketing, sales and management, my onward career prospects looked to me as if they would remain on the same track. Fortunately, at Sika that was not set in stone and in 2014 I earned a promotion to Vice President Aftermarket in Target Market Industry. I was fortunate to work with incredibly talented people that allowed me to grow and succeed within a new business unit. Fast forward 3 – 4 years, I changed directions once again and moved to the Asia/ Pacific region as General Manager Sika Vietnam. I returned from Vietnam in April 2020, started in my current role and moved to California. With all that happening in the past 10 years, I truly look forward to the future.
Taru Niemien, General Manager, Sika Finland
16 Years with Casco-Schönox and Sika
My route to Sika began with the company Casco-Schönox, which I joined in January 2004. In autumn 2013, Casco-Schönox was acquired by Sika and I became General Manager for both companies in 2014. At the end of that year, Casco-Schönox was integrated into Sika. We at Casco-Schönox were happy that the acquiring company was Sika because we knew it to be a big and innovative company with good quality products. The Casco-Schönox product portfolio was a good fit to expand the market share of both Sika and in Casco products. At Sika we have a good team spirit and we support each other to work towards common goals. And that I think is a strength we can be proud of: the many meanings of Sika Spirit.
Werner Schwerdt, Head of Distribution and TM Sealing & Bonding, Building Finishing, Sika Germany
30 Years with Schönox and Sika
The Sika Spirit helped a lot to integrate Schönox into Sika. Schönox was acquired by Sika in 2013. This was a perfect match, because Schönox enlarged the product portfolio and technology know-how with its cement- and gypsumbased powder products. It was very easy for me to become a part of Sika. Still today I’m impressed by the flat hierarchies, the open, helpful and easy way to communicate with each other and the combination of result-oriented and problemsolving culture. I felt the ‘Sika Spirit’ right from the start in my first contacts with the top management and I was impressed by the willingness to understand our business and products. The ‘Sika Spirit’ enabled me to build up an international network very quickly, which helped to expand the Schönox technology know-how within the group and facilitate the understanding of Sika and its products. The Sika Spirit also helped us to increase our turnover in the same target customer groups and combine the product portfolio of Sika and Schönox, delivering added value for the customers. Today, the old Schönox team wears ‘yellow’ and lives the Sika Spirit in one Distribution Team in Germany called ‘Sika Handel Bau’ selling the two brands Sika and Schönox.
