Finally, it’s time for a closer introduction of Stefan Barbunopulos, the new CEO for Recas IT! With his previous background in leadership and extensive experience in driving organizations towards set goals, we are confident that Stefan will excel in his role as CEO! 🌟

Now, we understand if you’re curious about Stefan and his background, so he will now answer a few questions! 👇

Tell us a bit more about your professional background?

– After my high school years, I entered military service at AMF4 in Gothenburg, where I served as an Amphibious Platoon Commander for a grenade launcher group. I completed my military service with the highest grade in the company and received the award “Best Comrade.” I enjoyed this environment with clear goals and tasks and developed my ability to lead and collaborate with groups. It was a valuable experience that shaped my professional development.

After my military service in Gothenburg, I continued with higher education in Mechanical and Production Engineering at the University West. After graduation, I took my first job at Manpower Professional in the engineering sector but soon transitioned to the consulting company Caran. From there, I was loaned out to SAAB in Trollhättan where I had the opportunity to work on several exciting projects, both in Sweden and in Europe, including SAAB’s fastest car: the SAAB 9-3 TurboX and SAAB’s most fuel-efficient diesel car.

When SAAB faced economic challenges, I switched to e-AAM Driveline Systems in 2011, a newly established joint venture between SAAB and AAM, focusing on electric drivelines for vehicles. I started as a project manager and quickly evolved into a more sales-oriented role. At AAM, I had customer responsibility for Jaguar LandRover and Mercedes Benz but supported the company generally in electrification projects. In the first few years, I won some smaller development projects, but in the spring of 2015, we had our first major breakthrough when we won the development and production of the driveline for the Jaguar iPace – their first fully electric all-wheel-drive electric car. Incredibly cool to be instrumental in the deal that resulted in billion-dollar turnover and also new jobs at the office in Trollhättan. To increase my customer presence further, AAM invested in sending me and my family to the European headquarters outside Frankfurt, Germany in 2016.

After many years abroad, where I continued to develop within the company, we chose to move back to Sweden in 2018, and I got new responsibilities within the company. In my new role as Global Product Strategist, I worked closely with customers to understand their needs and led internal processes to develop new products. During this period, I traveled extensively to Asia/Europe and North America and expanded my network immensely!

In 2020, the pandemic hit, and the company decided to close the office in Trollhättan, but I chose to continue my work based on the European headquarters in Germany. This meant that I commuted regularly between Sweden, Germany, and the USA. Now I look forward to new challenges at Recas IT!

How did you end up with us at Recas?

– During the fall of 2022, a dialogue began between me and Lawson, whom I had previously worked with during my time at AAM. Lawson introduced Recas to me, and I was impressed by what the company had achieved in a short time. At our first meeting, there was no immediate position for me, but it was clear that we enjoyed collaborating and that opportunities would arise in the future.

In early 2023, there was an interest in me taking responsibility for the IT and software area of the company. At first, I was a bit hesitant, but I love new challenges, and together with engaged and competent colleagues, anything is possible. And here we are today! 🌟

What will be the first step for Recas IT?

– The first step will be to shape and establish Recas IT in an expanding market. We need to define services and products that we will offer within the different business areas. This requires careful strategy and thorough market analysis to understand our customers’ needs and how we can meet them in the best possible way.

Take a look at the slideshow below for some more information about Stefan! 👇 Finally, we want to say a warm welcome to us at Recas! 🤩