Christian Sommerfelt has been appointed President and CEO of Contopronto AS, the mobile e-wallet company that makes it possible to send and receive mobile payments anywhere at anytime, Contopronto board chairman Knut Brundtland announced today.
Mr. Sommerfelt replaces Morten Hofstad, who has left to pursue other opportunities.
"We are extremely pleased to have a Chief Executive Officer of Christian Sommerfelt's stature at Contopronto's helm," said Mr. Brundtland. "He brings a strong combination of international business acumen and financial technology start-up experience to a company at the forefront of global e-banking."
A top-tier executive with high-level international business experience, Mr. Sommerfelt was regional director of Geneva based Teleglobal SA, a pre-pay solution for online transactions, prior to his appointment as Contopronto CEO.
Mr. Sommerfelt has also served as Executive Director - Director of Business Development for PT Indocement Tunggal Parkarsa Tbk., based in Jakarta, and was a member of the Board of Directors, Indocement and six subsidiaries. He was Vice President - Business Development Asia for Heidelberger Zement Group in Singapore, and has held management positions focusing on trade and finance with companies based in Norway, Africa and Australia.
A former commanding officer in the Royal Norwegian Coast Artillery, Mr. Sommerfelt received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the Copenhagen School of Business Administration and was awarded a Master of International Management from American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird).
"Contopronto is a leader in the rapidly emerging online payment space," Mr. Sommerfelt said. "I am very grateful to have the opportunity to lead a company with an astute business model that is extremely well positioned to take advantage of a new mobile payment market on the verge of opening up worldwide."
With Contopronto, people use their mobile for money transfers, e-commerce payments as well as high street payments, and SMS Calls. Contopronto is in the process of setting up e-money companies in Europe, and issuing licenses for the technology outside of Europe.