Gent, Belgium – Esko today announced that Udo Panenka, Senior Vice President for Global Sales & Marketing will succeed Carsten Knudsen as President on 1 January 2015. Over the near term, Carsten Knudsen will continue to support Esko and Danaher in an advisory role.

"Under Carsten’s leadership, Esko has built a loyal and growing customer group, created world class technology, and with a strong team, driven excellent growth and established itself as a leader in its served markets”, said Joakim Weidemanis, Vice President and Group Executive for the Product Identification Platform, Danaher Corporation.

Udo Panenka joined Esko from Kollmorgen, another Danaher business, earlier this year, where he was Vice President & General Manager for Industrial Automation in Europe and India. Udo joined Kollmorgen in 2008 and has served in several key leadership roles with increasing responsibility.

“We want to thank Carsten for his leadership and tremendous impact on the success of Esko” said Joakim Weidemanis.