Board of directors

The board of directors of Karolinska Institutet Holding AB consists of the following members:

 

Björn O. Nilsson (Chairman),

Björn Nilsson has a number of assignments within academia and research foundations. He was elected in 1996 as a member of IVA, in its department of biotechnology, and was in the years 2008–2017 the academy’s CEO. He was a board member of Universeum from 2008 to 2018. He was 2010–2018 board member of Ångpanneföreningen (ÅF), and was 2015–2018 chairman of Ångpanneföreningens Forskningsstiftelse (Åforsk), which is the largest owner of ÅF AB. Until 2005, Björn Nilsson was CEO of Karo Bio AB, in 2011–2018 he was Chairman of the Board of BioInvent International AB and in 2017–2019 he was a Board member of SweTreeTechnologies AB. He was 2015–2018 Chairman of the Board of Stockholm Science City and 2016 – July 2018 a board member of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT).

Today, Björn O. Nilsson runs the consulting company Ursus Innovation AB. Since 2017, he has been chairman of the board of the Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF), since 2017 chairman of the board of the Swedish Young Academy Foundation and since 2017 chairman of the research center CellNova at KTH.

Clara Hellner (board member), Director of Research and Innovation in the Stockholm Region. Clara Hellner is a clinical specialist and adjunct professor in child and adolescent psychiatry. She graduated from the medical program at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm in 1987. After gaining her license to practice medicine and half-way through her specialist training to become a child- and adolescent psychiatrist, she returned to KI for PhD-training. She defended her thesis in 2001. Since then, she has been active in research and education at KI in combination with clinical tasks. In 2003, she was appointed deputy head of her department. From 2008-2011, she was appointed as Dean of Doctoral Education at Karolinska Institutet. During this period, she also chaired the International Strategy committee at KI. After completing the deanship period, she has returned to research and research management in clinical psychiatry. As Director of Centre for Psychiatry Research & Education, from 2012-17, she was responsible for promoting and supporting clinical research and education in all parts of psychiatry in Stockholm. The Centre is a joint venture between Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm County Council. Since 2018, Clara Hellner is Director of Research and Education at Stockholm Health Care Services, the second largest caregiver in Stockholm County with approximately 12000 employees.

Lisa Sennerby Forsse (board member), born 1948, is an associate professor and former adjunct professor of plant physiology at SLU. During 2006-2015, she was the principal of SLU and before that she was Head of Research at Skogforsk (Forestry Research Institute) from 1994-2000. From 2001 to 2006 she was Principal Secretary and Head of the Research Council Formas. She is currently chair of the Council for Evidence-Based Environmental Analysis at Formas, member (vice chair) of the Consistory at KI, vice chair of the board of the Forestry Board, board member of the Skogssällskapet AB and board member of the Mistra program SeedBox at Linköping University. She has / has held a number of international assignments, including quality reviews of universities in Denmark, Norway, Finland and the Netherlands and research institutes (INRA) in France. She is a member of the Royal Swedish Forest and Agricultural Academy (KSLA) and served as president during 2016-2020. She is also a member of the Science Society of Uppsala and of the Royal Science Society of Uppsala.

Katarina Bjelke (board member), University Director at KI. Her most recent position was as University Director at Uppsala University. She holds a dental degree from 1989 and her doctorate in neuroanatomy in 1997 at Karolinska Institutet. Katarina was formerly a council minister and head of the research policy unit at the Ministry of Education.

Sofia Heidenberg (board member), born 1965, political scientist from Uppsala University and a journalist educated at Poppius journalism school. Sofia Heidenberg is a senior advisor in business development, communication and brand building with long experience from Swedish and international business. In addition to the advisory role, Sofia Heidenberg has been an entrepreneur for most of her career by starting and running companies that have been part of both privately owned groups and listed companies. Today she runs her own company Proud Communication AB. In addition to operational CEO roles, Sofia Heidenberg has extensive experience from board assignments in both commercial companies and non-profit organizations. Since May 2016, Sofia Heidenberg has been a member of the Karolinska Institutet’s Consistory. Other ongoing board assignments are Chairman of the Board of Proud Communication AB and member of the Board of JMW Kommunikation AB.

Ketil F. Widerberg (board member),brings around 20 years of experience from the life science and software industry. In addition to co-founded two start-up companies, Widerberg worked for many years in the Norwegian biopharmaceutical company Photocure with photodynamic technology. He also worked in the software industry for Norwegian KSD Software with logistics technology later acquired by Descartes from Canada. Since 2014 Widerberg has been Managing Director for Oslo Cancer Cluster, an oncology research and industry cluster. Widerberg holds a few biotech company board positions and was also a member of the health data expert committee from the Ministry of health in 2017. Widerberg’s educational background spans from preclinical medical school to management studies. He also holds an MBA from the University of Cambridge.

 

Revisor: KPMG med Ulf Sundborg som huvudansvarig