NANA BULE

Nana Bule – Operating Advisor for Goldman Sachs, board member of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Arla Foods, Energinet and Carbfix, and chair of the government's Digitalisation Council and the national energy crisis team NEKST – has been nominated for the Women's Board Award 2024. Here she shares her thoughts on what competencies a good board leader should have and what she has a special focus on in her own board work.

Built on your experience, what are the fundamentals needed for a board to function?

A well-functioning board is a combination of the right skills and experience, diversity around the table and a board leader who knows how to involve everyone in order to bring new perspectives on strategic opportunities and challenges and to identify risks more qualified.

What profile and experience do you think a good board leader should have?

It is crucial to have operational experience, preferably from a role as chief executive, where you have been responsible for strategy, results and development of the organization. Political insight and experience are increasingly important, especially in certain industries, where national, European and global politics are playing an increasingly important role in companies' space and opportunities. In addition, it is important that the head of the board is actually a skilled leader who can ensure commitment from everyone on the board and create a trusting relationship with the management.

Can you give some examples of what you have contributed positively to the work of the board – both with knowledge and personally?

Across board roles and other positions of trust, I have consciously chosen to work with different stakeholders and under different forms of ownership. I bring that breadth to the boardroom in addition to my operational and international experience. Specifically, I focus on the company's ability to effectively translate trends into opportunities – corresponding to the fact that challenges and risks that appear on the horizon are continuously uncovered and averted.

What does it mean to you to be nominated for the Women's Board Award 2024?

The Women's Board Award is an important celebration and an award that focuses on the challenge we continue to face in Denmark with a lack of diversity at the top of the business community. I have supported the celebration and have participated in all previous nine years – and every year I have been delighted with the many talented women who have been highlighted, and who hopefully have inspired both other women and recruitment to Danish boards. I am happy to be nominated in the strong field with Britt and Helle – and hope to be able to be a role model for others by showing the way to the chairmanship.

Read more about this year's nominees in Press release here .