JURY 2026
The jury consists of six independent members who are responsible for selecting the annual recipient of the Women's Board Award based on applicable criteria. The jury members have been selected to ensure national insight and an international outlook in relation to the focus area diversity in leadership.
ALLAN POLACK
- Board Chair, APG Asset Management.
- Member of the Board of Directors, Danske Bank.
- Chairman of the Board, Home.Earth.
Allan is strongly engaged in the themes of management and governance and has for a number of years served on a number of executive boards and boards, commissions and think tanks. Allan is concerned with the balance between pluralism in the board and the need for clarity in direction and agenda.
"Board work requires diversity in many dimensions, and gender diversity is only one of them. Governance and management go hand in hand and require an understanding of when a board member acts as an individual and when the member acts collectively. Vision and a certain amount of courage are good qualities here."
BRITT MEELBY JENSEN
- CEO, Ambu A/S
- Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors, Novo Holdings A/S
- Member of the Board of Directors, Novo Nordisk A/S
- Board member, Confederation of Danish Industry (DI) and the Trade Association of Employers in Denmark (IAD)
- Recipient of the Women's Board Award 2024
Britt Meelby Jensen is an experienced business leader and board member with a +20-year career in the healthcare sector. For the past 10 years, she has held the position of CEO in several international companies, where she has driven successful transformations. She is a strong advocate for greater diversity at the top of Danish business, with a keen eye for the resulting increased value creation.
Britt was named Leader of the Year 2024, among other things, due to her unique focus on leadership, diversity and sustainability.
"The role of women in top positions in Danish business is a central topic for me. Above all, I believe that business loses both innovative power and competitiveness by not being diversely represented. This applies to diversity on several parameters – across gender, nationality, personality, experience, and professional competencies. A diverse boardroom is one where nuances flourish, where perspectives are shared, and where decisions consequently become more qualified. We owe it to Denmark's overall competitiveness to promote this."
CLAUS V. HEMMINGSEN
- Chairman of the Board, Ramboll Group
- Head of Board, DFDS A/S
- Chairman of the Board, Innargi
- Board Member, Noble Corporation.
- Board Member, A.P. Møller Holding
Claus V. Hemmingsen is the jury leader of the Women's Board Award 2025.
Claus has a 38-year career in A.P. Moller – Maersk behind him, which ended in 2019 after 12 years as a member of the Executive Board and the last three years as Deputy CEO. director. At Maersk, he has been a leading figure of the Sustainability and ESG agenda, including as head of the Sustainability Council from 2007 to 2016. Throughout his career, Claus has focused on colleagues, employees and management as the key to a company's success. A good team has always been the most important parameter for achieving the desired results.
Since 2019, Claus has devoted himself to a board career, where he has actively chosen to put ESG and not least diversity on the agenda. In all the boards, there are at least 1/3 women. In all companies, we work with diversity, equal pay for equal work and equal opportunities throughout the organization.
"I firmly believe in diversity in just about any team. There are often challenges in setting up the team – there should naturally be when it is a manager's or a board's top task. It is difficult to match competencies with the ultimate desire – my thesis and approach is that it is always possible to put together a diverse team, as long as you are prepared for the fact that it may require more than just a single change."
HENRIETTE HALLBERG THYGESEN
- CEO, Terma Group
- Non-Executive Director, ISS A/S,
- Non-Executive Director, Vestas Wind Systems
- Recipient of the Women's Board Award 2025.
Henriette Hallberg Thygesen began her career at A.P. Moller – Maersk in 1994 and has since held a number of senior positions, including CEO of Damco in both Asia and the US, CEO of Svitzer, and Executive Vice President with responsibility for Fleet & Strategic Brands. Most recently, she was Chief Customer Delivery Officer at Maersk before taking over as CEO of Terma A/S in August 2024.
Henriette's leadership style is characterized by a global perspective, strong analytical capacity, and the ability to drive transformation in complex organizations. She has worked in Spain, China, Hong Kong, the United States and Denmark, and speaks six languages – including Chinese.
“Creating real momentum for women's representation in leadership is not about doing something "good" for women. It is about the fact that we need to utilize the resources and capacity in our society in the best possible way. “
MARIANNE DAHL
- Board Member, Telenor
- Board Member, Tieto
- Board member, DTU
- Board member, Continia Software.
Marianne Dahl has a full-time board career as and is also a Senior Advisor at Boston Consulting Group, where she is the former head of the Nordic Tech-Media-Telco (TMT) business.
Marianne has 25 years of experience from Consulting, Telco and Tech (Accenture, TDC, Microsoft and BCG), and has led transformations from board, management and advisor positions, giving her a 360 degree perspective on transformation.
"Diversity by design is important both to ensure the necessary innovation, but also to avoid blind spots in the companies' strategy development. Homogeneity is dangerous in a world where companies must constantly navigate increasingly complex geopolitical, regulatory and consumer-oriented realities – while constantly technological and sustainable development."
TUE MANTONI
• Founder: TUESDAY
• Board Member: Joe & The Juice
• Chairman of the board: Stine Goya
• Chairman of the Board: Soundboks
• Chairman of the Board: The Organic Crave
• Strategic Advisor: Regeneration VC
• Board member: GUBI
Tue Mantoni is a business leader, investor and head of board with many years of international experience in consumer brands and growth companies. He is the founder of TUESDAY, which works to strengthen board work in small and medium-sized companies through training, matching and digital tools.
Previously, Tue was CEO of Bang & Olufsen and Triumph Motorcycles, where he led strategic transformations and international growth. Today, he is active on a number of boards, including Joe & The Juice, Soundboks and Stine GOYA, with a focus on scaling, governance and value creation.
"If everyone around the table looks alike and thinks alike, it's not a strong team – it's a blind spot. Diversity is not a 'nice to have', it is a prerequisite for better decisions. Better boards create better companies"
Partner representatives
PERNILLE KNUDSEN
Director, Confederation of Danish Employers, responsible for employment law and collective agreements
• Director, Confederation of Danish Employers
• Board member, Danske Spil
• Chairman of the Board, Real Care
• Member of the Supervisory Authority for the Intelligence Services
• Chairman of the Board, The Association of Salaried Employees
• Board Member, World's Best News
Pernille Knudsen joined the management of Confederation of Danish Employers in August 2025 after 25 years in the Danish Employers' Confederation, the last 13 of which were as deputy managing director for, among other things, collective agreement negotiations, employment law, EU law, and working environment areas. Pernille Knudsen's overarching priority is a cohesive and well-functioning labor market in her work for Confederation of Danish Employers's 18,000 members, based on her knowledge of the employer area, her legal understanding, and negotiation skills in employment law and collective agreement matters. In this context, diversity is a crucial factor for the future labor market and an important part of the modern Danish model.
“More women on boards are important, as it is a means to better leadership and better results. Diversity and inclusion are no longer something we only talk about – it requires action and is a prerequisite for running a competitive and responsible company. At Confederation of Danish Employers, we want to support diversity, equal opportunities, and inclusion. When we actively create space for diversity, we strengthen our access to talent and our ability to innovate. This is important at all levels – also in company leadership.”
HANNE KÆRHØG
Partner, EY in Denmark
Head of EY’s Financial Services Markets across Central Europe
Hanne has held Nordic and European leadership positions in EY for a number of years. She has more than 20 years of international experience as an advisor to management and boards in the financial sector, focusing on governance, technology-driven change, and organizational resilience.
Hanne is a clear voice for inclusion and talent development and actively engages in mentoring and sponsorship programs for female leaders both internally at EY and externally.
"Women’s Board Award is an important forum for highlighting the strength of diversity and representation. Diversity on boards is not about symbolism, but about ensuring the right competencies, perspectives, and decision-making power in the boardroom."
Search partner Odgers
FLEMMING RIBER
Partner at the office in Copenhagen, specializing in Industry, t Logistics & Logistics, S Ervices D igital services.
- Executive MBA complemented by courses from Harvard Business School, and certified in various testing and assessment systems.
Flemming has more than 20 years of experience as a Managing Partner in Executive Search. He also brings experience from management roles in international industrial companies in the metal and chemical sectors, including positions at Hempel and Boliden.
Flemming advises and evaluates both boards and management. He has achieved a broad cultural understanding from international assignments, as well as through several active board roles.
"Odgers is both globally and nationally dedicated to bringing opportunities, data and speaking time to the diversity topic of boards. In Denmark, the Women's Board Award is an important mouthpiece for this very agenda and the nomination of role models. We would like to support this. It does not solve all diversity challenges, but it puts the focus on the topic."
For Odgers, diversity on boards is a conviction, not driven by legislation, but by access to competence and balance. It calls for more data, discussion and action, which the Women's Board Award is a good forum for.
HELLE LØNSTRUP
- More than 10 years of experience in finance and accounting, with a central role in executive search at Odgers, and with a Graduate Diploma in Organization and Management and a Graduate Diploma in Accounting and Financial Management.
Helle Løenstrup has more than 10 years of experience in the financial and accounting sectors and plays a key role in the implementation of executive search processes at Odgers.
She leads research and contributes to the development of tailored client solutions, and supports the identification and assessment of senior executives and board candidates. Her work ensures a strong alignment between clients' needs and candidate profiles.
Helle combines strong analytical skills with a deep understanding of organizational and managerial dynamics, and contributes to high-quality, insight-based search processes.
She has a Graduate Diploma in Organization and Management and a Graduate Diploma in Accounting and Financial Management.
It is very positive to experience the great interest from younger female leaders in particular who are on their way into boards. An interest that has intensified over the past 10 years. At the same time, we are seeing more female leaders with increasingly varied backgrounds – previously, there was a predominance with CFO leadership roles or special dominance from the service, life science and financial industries. Today, both function and industry spreads are more diverse. At the same time, we see a positive trend in more women choosing to enter a fully professional board career. It will be exciting to follow.
