AP Moller-Maersk chief financial officer Carolina Dybeck Happe is leaving the Danish shipping giant to join Boston-based General Electric (GE).
Happe will join GE as senior vice president and chief financial officer in early 2020.
The move leaves Maersk reeling from the departure of a second senior board member in quick succession.
It comes two weeks after the resignation of chief operating officer Soren Toft, who is set to join 2M Alliance partner Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC).
Happe joined Maersk in January when she became the first female to take on the role of chief financial officer at the Danish container shipping giant, replacing Jakob Stausholm. Stausholm had held the position at Maersk since 2016.
Her short time there caught the eye of GE, which credits her with “driving the strategic and structural change amidst significant market disruption” at Maersk, as well as for “executing a substantial deleveraging plan”.
Happe joined Maersk from Assa Abloy, a Swedish lock maker where she was vice president and chief financial officer.
She previously had a number of other financial leadership positions, including a stint at Swedish polymer solutions provider Trelleborg in 2011 and 2012.
Shock departure
As recently as last week, it was expected that Happe would form part of a slimmed down executive board at Maersk, which was to be made up of chief executive Soren Skou, chief commercial officer Vincent Clerc and Morten Engelstoft, chief executive of APM Terminals.
“I would like to thank Carolina for her short, but productive time at AP Moller-Maersk. She is committed to building on the progress that has been made and ensuring a smooth and orderly handover. She will leave in 12 months at the latest,” Skou said.
Happe’s departure leaves the Danish shipping giant looking for both a new chief financial officer and chief operating oficer at the same time.
Toft is leaving after 25 years at Maersk to become chief executive at MSC, working under president Diego Aponte and his father, Gianluigi Aponte, the Swiss group's chairman.
Several top executives including former chief executive Nils Andersen have left Maersk since 2016, when it initiated a strategic shift from a corporate conglomerate to one with a deeper focus on container shipping.
