CEO of Reitan Convenience AS: Johannes Sangnes

CEO: Johannes Sangnes. Photographer: Ingar Sørensen

Johannes Sangnes is a Norwegian businessman with broad international experience from the convenience industry, having successfully led Reitan Convenience in Norway, Sweden and Finland.

As CEO of Reitan Convenience AS he oversees 10 companies in seven countries. Sangnes believes in value-based leadership and wants to build solid companies — and successful people — through the group’s vision: “We want to be known as the most value-driven company.”

Sangnes drive to create the right set of values in Reitan Convenience is exemplified by his decision to rename the organisation’s “Head Office” the “Support Office”. He then flipped the organisational chart upside-down, with customers on the top, then the franchisees and their employees — and himself at the bottom.

Sangnes is a trusted leader in the Reitan Group, Reitan Convenience’s parent organisation, and he has led successful turnaround projects in Sweden and Finland. Sangnes became the CEO of Reitan Convenience in 2016, prior to which he was CEO of R-kioski in Finland from 2012-2015, a new market for the Reitan Group. Between 2009 to 2012, Sangnes was CEO of Reitan Convenience in Norway, and from 2004-2008 he headed the operations of Pressbyrån and 7-Eleven in Sweden as CEO of Reitan Convenience Sweden.

Johannes Sangnes believes CSR and sustainability are important points of focus for a convenience business — issues that will be crucial to meeting customers’ future demands.

“I am very proud of our franchisees and employees,” he says, “because I know they have a positive attitude towards sustainability. Without them and their involvement we would not have achieved recognition as Best ESG Convenience Retailer in the Nordics and Baltics,” says Sangnes.

“The customer is our ultimate boss and we have to stay focused on that fact, and continuously work on becoming even more relevant and value-based. Value-driven leadership is a performance culture and our structure gives our franchisees the freedom to drive results.

“We should always ask: ‘what do we need to do to remove more friction from the customer’s transactions? How do we become more relevant?’ I think it is vital that we focus on our values in our everyday work, to reach our vision: to be known as the most value-driven company.”