GRADUATES 2023
ANJA MADSEN
- Board Member: Lemvigh-Müller
- Board Member: Demant
- Former CEO / Director, Føtex
Good management is about setting a clear direction, engaging the organization and creating a strong culture.
The best leaders I have experienced have done two other things: They do not provide the solution, but ask good questions that they often do not know the answer to. Questions that can raise the level and ambition of the organization, and they create positive energy across teams and across silos. They show trust in colleagues and provide room for experimentation, success and failure.
BRITT MEELBY JENSEN
- CEO, Ambu A/S
- Board Member, Hempel Foundation
- Board Member, Hempel Invest A/S
- Board Member, Novo Holdings
Good management is for me:
- To ensure a clear direction, and dare to adjust if you become wiser
- To have confidence in employees and create an environment that empowers employees to do their best.
My greatest strength is that I can define an ambitious strategy and create a committed team that ensures strong execution, driven by a passion for learning and succeeding together with others
HANNE BLUME
• Chief HR Officer, DOVISTA A/S
• Board member: Nel ASA
• Board member: General Oceans
• Board member: OH industri A/S
• Chairman of the Board: Insero
• Former: CHRO, Ørsted and TDC
As board members, we must constantly challenge and develop the company and management. We do this by bringing deep – and different – experiences and competencies into play."
"Companies must be able to handle complex issues such as geopolitics, global goals, security of supply and lightning-fast market shifts. And the need for competent and broad-based boards has not diminished as the reality in which companies operate has become more dynamic, unpredictable and challenging."
"Personally, I come with deep experience from energy, telecommunications infrastructure and production and have a particular focus on the development of strong management and organizations."
HELLE ØSTERGAARD KRISTIANSEN
- CEO: Danske Commodities
- Board member: DS Norden
- Board member: Systematic
- Board member: ARoS
- No. 25 on the list of the world's most influential businesswomen, according to Fortune Magazine.
"As a board member, you act on behalf of the shareholders, and at the same time you have a great responsibility towards the company and the employees. It obliges."
"Therefore, integrity is the most important value for me – not only in my daily work as CEO, but especially also in my approach to board work."
JEANETTE FANGEL LØGSTRUP
- Board member: JP Politikens Hus, Andel Energi, Danske Invest, Combineering, Sovino Brands, The Danish Foundation for Entrepreneurship and others
- CEO, Expon
- Executive advisor
- Author of 'Sustainable Management'
- CMO of the Year, 2017.
- CEO and member of the top management of Danske Bank, Codan and Carl Bro.
LinkedIn
"I am passionate about creating strong and well-run companies that deliver good customer experiences, can attract talented employees, and play a positive role in society. I would like to contribute to this based on many years of top management and board experience in some of Denmark's large and international companies."
KAREN HÆKKERUP
- Chairman of the Board: Nordic Safe Cities, The Social Investment Fund
- Board member: Lyras A/S, DBU's Governance and Development Committee, Danish Agro a.m.b.a
- Formerly. Secretary General: UNICEF Denmark
- Formerly. CEO: Danish Agriculture & Food Council
- Member of the Danish Parliament, former Minister for Justice, Minister for Food, Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, Minister for Social Affairs and the Interior.
LinkedIn
"It's no secret that the collaboration and results on the boards where the competent women also have a seat at the table deliver the best results. I myself often meet women who are really able to put the spotlight on the blind spots that are often crucial for the entirety of a company's strategy work and in the implementation of decisions."
"As a board member, good leadership is something different than when you are CEO. Here, it is important to support the management in ensuring that they can handle the good management of the company themselves and also make your knowledge and skills available."
LOUISE GADE
- Executive Vice President with responsibility for HR, CSR & Communication, Salling Group
- Vice Chairman: Nordea-fonden
- Vice-Chairman: Tietgen Foundation
- Board member: The Bikuben Foundation
- Chairman: The Alcohol Tax Fund
- Member of the Council for Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development Goals under the Ministry of Industry, Business and Financial Affairs
- Member of the Board of Representatives of DDH
"Companies today must operate in a world with great complexity in terms of business and society. Good business management is therefore about being able to succeed on many parameters and not just on classic financial management and classic strategy work."
"The greater the diversity in the boardroom, the more skilled companies and their day-to-day management can succeed in navigating successfully in a complex world, because the risk of blind spots becomes less and the opportunity for innovative solutions is greater. Diversity is not only gender diversity, but in a broad sense – i.e. also in both age, professional background, sectors, industries, ethnicity, etc." "Personally, I have experienced that there is great potential in both getting greater gender diversity, but also in getting greater sector and industry diversity into the boardroom. The public and private sectors can learn a lot from each other, just as you can across industries"
MALOU AAMUND
- Chairman: Thinkproject
- Board Member: WSAudiology
- Board Member: The LEGO Foundation
- Board member: KIRKBI A/S
- Board member: DSV
- Formerly. CEO: Google Denmark
- Formerly. COO & CMO: Microsoft Australia
- Member of Parliament, 2007-2011
LinkedIn profile
"It is absolutely crucial for the board to ensure that there is no one-eyed focus on value creation. We live in a world of geopolitical unrest, climate crisis, great tensions between population groups and on the way to recession. It is essential that the board is good at ensuring that the company takes responsibility for the surrounding society."
"The board must work to a great extent for greater diversity. The pressure also comes from the shareholders' side, so it is important to ensure that the task is taken seriously by the top management."
Source: Executive Magazine
MARLENE NØRGAARD CAROLUS
- Board Member, FORMUE A/S
- Board Member, SYZ Group & Private Banking
- Board member, Olga & Esper Boel Foundation
- Board Member, ScanBee A/S
- Board member, Fit & Proper Denmark
- Board Member, Fit & Proper Switzerland
- Formerly. CEO, Mybanker
- TIdl, CEO, Danske Bank
LinkedIn profile
"When a power imbalance has been established, it can only be corrected by attacking it legally and asking the question, why are women seeping, is it because the premises are set up incorrectly? Should men and women 'peak' at the same times in life?"
"I think you should approach the quota debate in a new way, and for example only allow a maximum of 60% 'uniformity'. So yes to quotas in Denmark! The alternative is for the talented women to continue their focus on the international board positions."
NANA BULE
- Board member, Arla Foods
- Board member, Energinet
- Board member, Axcelfuture
- Head of the Government's Digitalisation Council
- Head of the Committee for Climate Policy and Green Transition, DI
- Formerly. CEO, Microsoft Denmark & Iceland
Indecision and stagnation are the biggest risks in a rapidly changing world. This became clear during the corona pandemic, when many companies had to rethink all or parts of their value chain, and is at least as central to the geopolitical and economic uncertainty we operate under today.
It is no longer a single man at the head of the table who sets the course. Today, it is the task of the top manager to inspire, facilitate and be able to release the collective intelligence and to get people to strive for something, but also to work together.
ULRIKKE EKELUND
- Member of the Board of Representatives, Realdania
- Board Member, Financial Stability
- Board Member, Floating Power Plant
- Chairman, Advisory Board Communication, Floating Power Plant
- Formerly. Member of the Boards of Directors of Sampension and Alka Forsikring
- Formerly. Director, Communication and Press, PensionDanmark
- Formerly. Director, Head of Communication & Branding, Deloitte
- Formerly. Chief Economist and Head of Department, BRFkredit
Linked In
"As a board member, my most important task is to create value for the company in interaction with the other board members."
"The board work is particularly meaningful and motivating for me when we can openly and respectfully discuss differences and nuances based on the different competencies and experiences we bring to the table (diversity). This leads to better and broader discussions and better joint decisions for the benefit of the company."
Podcast: Member of the board full-time
