OSLO, Norway -- Toughshield (http://www.tough-shield.com), the global provider of rugged smartphone devices today announces the appointment of Stig Myhre as Nordic Country Manager and Holger Sponholz as DACH & Netherlands Country Manager. Reporting to Stig Hansen, Commercial Director, Myhre will be responsible for the sales operations in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark; Sponholz will be responsible for building the Toughshield sales operations in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

Myhre joins from Intermec where he was Country and Business Development Manager, Norway & Iceland having held senior sales and management positions at a number of national and internationally renowned IT companies including Optiscan NUF, TietoEnator Healthcare & Welfare, Fujitsu and WinLink, spending one year at the latter working in the USA. Sponholz joins from Intermec where he was Distribution Manager, EMEA having previously held senior sales positions at a number of international IT and rugged mobile computing companies including Unitech, Socket Mobile, Targus and TDK.

Commenting on his reasons for joining Toughshield, Myhre said: “Toughshield has impressed me with its ability to move quickly to meet customer demand as the market for enterprise rugged devices becomes increasingly consumerised. Toughshield is a new brand for the Nordic region but with its unique blend of consumer and rugged experience I know we will be able to take full advantage of the opportunities in the market and I look forward to building this business across the Nordic region.”

Commenting on his new role, Sponholz said: “I have worked for a number of hardware manufacturers in the Auto-ID and IT sector and I’ve seen this market change in line with the rapid adoption of mobile devices within enterprise. Toughshield is very well placed to capitalise on the growing need for ruggedised smartphones and PDAs. There is a great opportunity to bring a range of devices to the market that address enterprise business needs.”

Stig Hansen welcomed both Myhre and Sponholz’s appointments saying: “Both Stig and Holger are highly skilled sales professionals with experience of business development in both the public and private sectors and broad experience in selling IT products, services and solutions. Their experience of working with international names will be invaluable as we roll out our operations across Europe.”