New high-profile chairman of COWI's board of directors

25.03.2021

COWI's new chairman represents the very top of Danish board expertise. Former CEO of Siemens Jukka Pertola replaces Steen Riisgaard, who resigns after eight years as chairman.

At today’s annual general meeting, COWI's shareholders elected Jukka Pertola new Chairman after Steen Riisgaard resigned due to the company’s age limit. Jukka Pertola has been a member of the Board of Directors since 2015 and Vice Chairman since 2015.

The chairmanship in COWI Holding A/S will thus be held by one of the top board heavyweights in Denmark. Having completed a successful term as CEO of Siemens, Jukka Pertola has acted as a professional board member and holds, e.g., chairmanships in Tryg, Asetek and Siemens Gamesa, and the vice chairmanship in GN Store Nord.

Furthermore, Jukka Pertola was President of the Danish Academy of Technical sciences (ATV) from 2017 to 2020 and known as a prominent advocate of the green transition as well as technological education and development.

“I’m proud and humbled by the trust that COWI's shareholders have shown me today. COWI is facing a huge task of assisting citizens, companies and societies in the green transition, to ensure that the climate challenges threatening life as we know it are addressed in the best possible manner,” says Jukka Pertola and continues:

”Thanks to the positive development that COWI has seen in recent years, the company boasts a strong position in its core markets. Consequently, we expect COWI to be able to continue this development and grow its business, especially in Scandinavia, the UK and North America.”

Customer focus is reflected in results

COWI Group CEO, Lars-Peter Søbye, describes the retiring chairman, Steen Riisgaard, as one of the drivers of COWI's focus on customers, profitability and sustainability.

“With Steen Riisgaard as whip, COWI has continuously focused on improving customer experience, boosting earnings and reducing COWI's carbon footprint. The outcome of those efforts peaked last year when COWI delivered its best result ever, driven by an all-time high customer satisfaction, among other things. Furthermore, we even achieved our CO₂ emissions target for 2030,” says Lars-Peter Søbye.

”I’m really excited to work with Jukka, whom I already know very well. In particular, we will work on our new strategy together, in which sustainability and the green transition will play a key role.”

Henriette Hallberg Thygesen new Vice Chairman

Henriette Hallberg Thygesen, Executive Vice President of A.P. Møller – Mærsk and member of COWI's board of directors since 2017, was elected new Vice Chairman of the board. In addition, Anne Harris and Carsten Bjerg joined COWI’s board of directors, replacing Steen Riisgaard and Thomas Plenborg.

Read more about Jukka Pertola.