Charlotte Sahl-Madsen or Sahl-Madsen (born 26 August 1964) is a Danish politician and businesswoman. She was the

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

Minister of Science, Technology and Development from 23 February 2010 to 3 October 2011. She had previously led Ebeltoft Glass Museum, Lego R&D and the

Universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. ...

theme park.

Early life

Sahl-Madsen was born in

Holstebro Holstebro is the main town in Holstebro Municipality, Denmark. The town, bisected by ''Storåen'' ("The Large Creek") and has a population of 36,489 (1 January 2022).hatter Hat-making or millinery is the design, manufacture and sale of hats and other headwear. A person engaged in this trade is called a milliner or hatter. Historically, milliners, typically women shopkeepers, produced or imported an inventory of g ...

and the other was a self-employed business person. She was educated at Holstebro Gymnasium until 1983. She attended the

University of Aarhus Aarhus University ( da, Aarhus Universitet, abbreviated AU) is a public research university with its main campus located in Aarhus, Denmark. It is the second largest and second oldest university in Denmark. The university is part of the Coimbra Gr ...

in 1985 but did not graduate. Her highest academic qualification came from her high school. Her first notable job was as director of the Ebeltoft Glass Museum.Charlotte Sahl-Madsen is all business and means business
, Chris Tachibaba, November 2010, Nordic Life Science Review, Retrieved 10 November 2015

Business career

Sahl-Madsen was CEO of Danfoss Universe and a director of Lego. She joined the Economic and Business Affairs experts and director of the Danish Ministry's innovation unit.New minister had no idea
, Peter Riddersborg et al, Universitypost.dk, Retrieved 9 November 2015 She describes how the CEO of Lego, Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, came to visit the Ebeltoft Glass Museum and she thought he had come to discuss a potential grant. Instead, however, she was offered the chance to lead their R&D department. She says that if people place trust in you then you need to return the compliment by justifying their trust. She was offered the job of leading what was then called Danfoss Universe. The theme park is now called "Universe" and it is a theme park that is focussed on interesting people in Science. Whilst she was at the theme park she worked with the developmental psychologist

Howard Gardner Howard Earl Gardner (born July 11, 1943) is an American developmental psychologist and the John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Research Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education at Harvard University. He is curr ...

to create experiences that appealed to his theory of

multiple intelligences The theory of multiple intelligences proposes the differentiation of human intelligence into specific modalities of intelligence, rather than defining intelligence as a single, general ability. The theory has been criticized by mainstream psycho ...

Politics

She was a surprise choice as the Conservative Minister of Science, Technology and Development as she was not a member of the Danish Conservative People's Party. She did not know she was to be the new minister the day before she was given the job. She served from 23 February 2010 to 3 October 2011TV2 – Sahl-Madsen ny videnskabsminister
/ref> as part of Lars Løkke Rasmussen's first Cabinet. Whilst she was in office she was criticised by universities because she capped their funding at a time when they were seeing an increase in student numbers.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sahl-Madsen, Charlotte 1964 births Living people People from Holstebro Government ministers of Denmark Women government ministers of Denmark