ACER announced that Luca Rossi will be appointed president for Acer Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Current Acer EMEA president, Oliver Ahrens, will embark on a new challenge as president of the newly formed Pan-Asia Pacific regional operation which will encompass China, Taiwan and Asia Pacific. With the grouping of China, Taiwan and Asia Pacific under one regional management, Acer expects to improve the allocation and sharing of resources, enhance competitiveness and boost business performance in the region. The organization changes and appointments will take effect on August 1, 2014. George Huang, one of the co-founders of Acer and a long-time member of the board has been appointed as new Acer Chairman during the last board of directors meeting, succeeding Stan Shih which has been invited to serve as honorary chairman. Rossi joined Acer in 2009 as regional director of Acer Europe. In 2011 he was appointed as division director for the Packard Bell brand business, and at the same time led EMEA's consumer division as vice president. Rossi's entrepreneurial experience and industry background have led to his appointment to lead the EMEA operations. Ahrens has left Rossi a great legacy to build on, and both have been working closely together over the last couple years to establish Acer in the region and build a solid foundation for the future. Oliver Ahrens is not new to Acer's Asia operations; in 2009 he served as the president of Acer China, where he grew Acer's market share and revenue in China by almost three fold. Ahrens' significant contribution was well-recognized and subsequently promoted to senior corporate vice president in 2011. He returned to EMEA in 2012 as president to lead the operations. Today's announcement is about putting the best qualified leaders into roles focused on restarting Acer's growth. Acer is extremely fortunate to have a strong bench to draw on as it moves from a hardware vendor to an information, technology, communications company. – SG
