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Board Members

Ib Kunøe
Ib Kunøe
Chairman of the Board

Ib Kunøe has been Chairman of the Board of Directors and main shareholder in Columbus since 2004.

Ib Kunøe is the founder and owner of Consolidated Holdings and is the main shareholder and Chairman of the Board in a broad variety of Danish owned companies. Mercuri Urval (1974) and Telmore (2000) was founded by Ib and later sold off. He has extensive experience in turning around struggling businesses and making them profitable. He has special competencies in company management, including management of IT companies. Ib has a background as a professional officer (major) and holds an HD Graduate Diploma in Organisation & Management.

You can read more about Ib Kunøe here.

Ib Kunøe
Chairman of the Board
Sven Madsen
Sven Madsen
Deputy Chairman of the Board

Sven Madsen joined the Board in 2007.

Sven is CFO in Consolidated Holdings A/S and has a background as an auditor in a number of auditing firms. Sven has been working with corporate reporting, financing, and corporate management in Codan Insurance, FLS Industries, SystemForum, Atea and Consolidated Holdings. His special competencies are financial accounting, economic and financial trouble shooting and mergers and acquisitions. Sven holds a Graduate Diploma in Financial and Management Accounting and an MSc in Business Economics and Auditing.

You can read more about Sven Madsen here.

Sven Madsen
Deputy Chairman of the Board
Karina Kirk
Karina Kirk
Board Member

Karina Kirk joined the Board of Directors in 2018.

Karina Kirk has more than 20 years of management experience from the consulting industry holding leading positions in growing and developing management consulting companies as well as being a senior strategy advisor for top management in large corporations in the Nordics. As an advisor, Karina's field of expertise is in particular within commercial leadership, customer centric business development and company transformation in industries such as Transportation, Tele and Finance. Her experience includes Partner in QVARTZ for 8 years, a Nordic top-tier strategy and transformation consultancy with global reach as well as partner in Future Lab Business Consulting and consultant in Accenture. Karina owns KIRK & CO advisory.

You can read more about Karina Kirk here.

Karina Kirk
Board Member
Peter Skove Hansen
Peter Skove Hansen
Board Member

Peter Skov Hansen has been a board member since 2012.

Peter Skov Hansen received his license as a State Authorized Public Accountant in 1980 and became partner in CityRevision in 1981. Peter Skov Hansen became Partner in Deloitte in 1997 when CityRevision merged with Deloitte. Peter Skov Hansen has specialized in corporate finance, tax and business development for small and medium sized companies with focus on international IT and real estate industries. For a number of years Peter Skov Hansen has been Head of one of Deloitte's local tax divisions and member of the Management Group in Deloitte Copenhagen. Peter Skov Hansen originally graduated as a Shipping Controller at APM Mærsk.

You can read more about Peter Skov Hansen here.

Peter Skove Hansen
Board Member
Per Ove Kogut
Per Ove Kogut
Board Member

Per Ove Kogut joined the Board of Directors in 2022.

Per has more than 25 years of experience, including 14 years as CEO in NNIT and 11 years of experience from Computer Associates, most recently as CEO in Northern Europe. Per also has experience from the financial sector and an educational background as a Master, Public Administration & IT science from the University of Copenhagen.

You can read more about Per Ove Kogut here.

Per Ove Kogut
Board Member

Group Executive Management

We asked our managers about Columbus, leadership and our values. Curious to hear what they said?
Click on their profile image to find out. For a detailed work history, please check out to their LinkedIn profiles.

Søren Krogh Knudsen
Søren Krogh Knudsen
Chief Executive Office (CEO) & President

Favorite Columbus value?

"Curiosity. It connects to me as a life long learner. The minute you stop learning, you stop growing – professionally and personally.  

Reading helps to feed my curiosity and I enjoy deep-diving into new topics. Meeting people, and learning from them is also something I enjoy. Customers, of course, but also colleagues - and in Columbus many of us know each other – we have a familiar feel and at the same time a great global perspective."

Søren Krogh Knudsen
Chief Executive Office (CEO) & President
Ole Fritze
Ole Fritze
Chief Operating Officer (COO)

Why work for Columbus?

"I think many aspects about Columbus will resonate with different people, but in general we give the space and the support needed for people to unfold themselves. You’re allowed to do stuff. We have a Scandinavia leadership culture that allows you to grow and thrive.

We are a value driven company where trust is the foundation, so I would say, we are not run by rules and procedures. We give a direction not telling people how to solve things."

Ole Fritze
Chief Operating Officer (COO)
Brian Iversen
Brian Iversen
Group Chief of Finance (CFO)

What makes up a good leader in your view?

"Good leaders in my understanding are leaders who are open minded, clear in their goals, empathic and has a positive mind set in general – and that is also what you find when you look at Columbus.

Another important characteristic for me is also that we ‘play to win’ - meaning that we deliver as promised e.g. the promised financial guidance, the budget etc. :)"

Brian Iversen
Group Chief of Finance (CFO)

Group Management

Chris Mean
Chris Mean
Head of Columbus UK & CXE

Favorite leadership principle?

"Induce energy, partly because it's anchored around servant leadership. When going into a workshop consider if you are in the right mind-state to get the meeting where you want to. Having a positive state of mind, inspiring potential,  empowering and developing people to do a good job.

Also, bring the ambition to see what we can achieve. Focus on what you want to achieve, focus on the positive."

Chris Mean
Head of Columbus UK & CXE
Claes Reinholdt Kongsdam
Claes Reinholdt Kongsdam
Head of Columbus Denmark

Favorite Columbus value?

"Deliver customer success. Because we need to bring all our other values and leadership into play to do it. It’s about being totally customer centric and measuring and validating our customers’ gains and benefits from our deliverables – and in this way show that we really do care about their success.

And this can only be done through competent and purpose-driven employees who understands to collaborate towards well defined objectives."

Claes Reinholdt Kongsdam
Head of Columbus Denmark
Tina Algkvist
Tina Algkvist
Head of Columbus M3

Benefits of being a Columbus leader?

"For me, it's having many great colleagues that can challenge me and be challenged to grow together. This mindset is apparent not just in our area but overall in the whole of the organization. It also helps to have loyal customers to work with whom we have built trust over the years with."

Tina Algkvist
Head of Columbus M3
Erling Schjetne
Erling Schjetne
Head of Columbus Norway & Digital Commerce

Favorite Columbus value?

"Building and extending Trust to others is the value, I appreciate the most.

It is so important to be trustworthy in order to succeed with customers, but it is just as important for us as leaders to extend trust to our people in order to make them grow and take responsibility.
It just creates so much energy and inspiration and I believe it can be a game-changer for Columbus in our aim to keep and attract even more talented people."

Erling Schjetne
Head of Columbus Norway & Digital Commerce
Kapil Mishra
Kapil Mishra
Head of Columbus India & Chief Information Officer (CIO)

Benefits of being a Columbus leader?

"I am constantly challenged in managing change and driving business through people - we work a lot with this in Columbus. I have personally learnt a lot about working with very diverse cultures, getting buy-ins and becoming more emphatic.

People are the most valuable asset in our business and I love to help to create a culture of care and trust. It’s what makes us one team – One Columbus, as we call it."

Kapil Mishra
Head of Columbus India & Chief Information Officer (CIO)
Lena Ridström
Lena Ridström
Head of Columbus Sweden & D&A

Favorite Columbus leadership principle?

"For me it’s Understanding the bigger picture. Because it’s so important to take a holistic view, to look beyond your own business line, your own unit and think how can I solve this in the best possible way for the customer – also supporting the whole of Columbus and the people involved."

Lena Ridström
Head of Columbus Sweden & D&A
Ole Fritze
Ole Fritze
Head of Columbus Dynamics

Ole Fritze is Chief Operating Officer for Columbus and Head of Dynamics 365. Ole was recruited to the company in 2015 and has more than 25 years of experience in the IT industry. He has deep insight into how a service company operates. Ole has a Bachelor of Computer Science and a Bachelor of Commerce.

Former positions: COO at EG A/S, Senior Vice President of Services at IBS Group, Senior Vice President Global Operations at IBS Group

Ole Fritze
Head of Columbus Dynamics
Paul Gomez
Paul Gomez
Head of Enterprise Division of Columbus US

Favorite Columbus leadership principle?

"Build for the future. It aligns so well with creating customer success and is the underpinning of everything we are doing with our organization and our internal system improvements.  

This will really position us better for the future of the enterprise market and help us become true trusted digital advisors."

Paul Gomez
Head of Enterprise Division of Columbus US
Per Fredriksson
Per Fredriksson
Chief People Officer (CPO)

Favorite Columbus leadership principle?

"Care for People – without question. As a leader you have to be visionary – like e.g. Elon Musk, but you also need to have the right values. You need to be warm, you need to meet people, you need to ‘see’ people.  

We have an obligation as leaders to make people grow, to care about their development and their well-being. This is the most important of our 6 leadership principles."

Per Fredriksson
Chief People Officer (CPO)
Christian Almskou
Christian Almskou
Head of Security

Favorite Columbus leadership principle?

"Understand the bigger picture. For me understanding the bigger picture is a key element in making the right decisions and being able to being a trusted sparring partner to my colleagues, leaders, and customers. In a rapidly changing and interconnected world taking the holistic approach and seeing things in context of the bigger picture is extremely important. Doing this we bring the right answers forward to create value for our customers."

Christian Almskou
Head of Security

Columbus' values

Learn more about our values – Stay Curious, Build Trust, Collaborate, and Deliver Customer Success! 

Read about our values

Our values also serve as a foundation for our leadership principles.

Our belief is that leaders could pave the way for others – which is why we have developed specific leadership principles for everyone at Columbus.

Learn about our leadership principles

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