Cecilia Beck-Friis has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of Sweden’s online property portal Hemnet, effective 1 October 2017.
Hemnet is one of Sweden’s most popular online property portals with 2,8 million visitor per week. The site lists homes such as detached houses, apartments, cottages, estates and lots for sale through Swedish real estate agents.
Cecilia has experience from various leadership roles in the media industry, including deputy CEO of TV4 and Chief Digital Officer at Bonnier Broadcasting. She is currently an entrepreneur and holds several external board assignments.
Anna Lagerborg, Hemnet’s acting CEO since March 2017, will assume the role of Deputy CEO at Hemnet.
Håkan Erixon, Chairman of the Board of Hemet, welcomed Beck-Friis to the position.
“I am happy to announce Cecilia as CEO of Hemnet,” Erixon said. “Her experience and competence strengthens and complements the leadership team very well. I am convinced that Cecilia will develop the company in an excellent way, together with the exciting team which Hemnet has in place following several key recruitments during the past months.
“As we welcome Cecilia, I also want to thank Anna for her steady leadership during her time as acting CEO since March and I am happy that she will take the role of deputy CEO,” he added.
Beck-Friis, who is a co-founder of the VR company Ravyr and has a Bachelor’s degree from Berghs School of Communication alongside an Executive degree from the IFL Stockholm School of Economics, said she looked forward to taking up her new position.
“Hemnet is an incredibly exciting company with a fantastic product used regularly by many Swedes, whether hunting for a new home or just searching for inspiration,” Beck-Friis said. “Hemnet has a unique position to strengthen and grow from. I am looking forward to my new assignment and to together with the team continue to develop services and products that create value for real estate agents, sellers and buyers.”
Hemnet was founded in 1998 and is owned by General Atlantic and a consortium of investors including Pierre Siri and Henrik Persson, as well as real estate broker associations Mäklarsamfundet and Fastighetsmäklarförbundet FMF.