Nils Gösta Christer Sturmark, born 7 September 1964 in

Danderyd Danderyd Municipality (''Danderyds kommun''; ) is a municipality north of Stockholm in Stockholm County in east central Sweden. It is one of the smallest municipalities of Sweden, but the most affluent. Its seat is located in Djursholm and it is ...

Stockholm County Stockholm County ( sv, Stockholms län, link=no ) is a county or '' län'' (in Swedish) on the Baltic Sea coast of Sweden. It borders Uppsala County and Södermanland County. It also borders Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The city of Stockholm ...

, is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

, IT-entrepreneur and prominent debater on religion and

humanism Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humani ...

in Swedish media. He is the CEO of publishing house Fri Tanke, a

Secular Humanist Secular humanism is a philosophy, belief system or life stance that embraces human reason, secular ethics, and philosophical naturalism while specifically rejecting religious dogma, supernaturalism, and superstition as the basis of morality an ...

and former

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

of the Swedish

Humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humani ...

Association, Humanisterna.

Career

Sturmark enrolled on a master's degree in computer science at Uppsala University with the aim of starting research in

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...

. Instead, he dropped out of the semester to become an entrepreneur. During his studies, he worked extra on the side teaching people how to use computers, and in 1989, Sturmark started the computer training company Datamedia, which among other things published several hundred books about different programmes for personal computers. At its peak, the company had 60 employees. When the internet took off in Sweden in the mid-1990s, Sturmark released the first Swedish book about the internet: ''Internet@Sverige'' (1996). During the IT boom of the mid and late 1990s, Sturmark became one of the most well-known faces of the public debate that surrounded it. In 1996, together with Jan Carlzon, he started the company Cell Network, offering consulting solutions for new e-commerce businesses. Cell Network expanded and was sold after a couple of years to English New Media Spark and was then listed on the stock exchange. In 1999, Christer Sturmark left the company after disagreements over the company’s leadership. Cell Network was valued in February 2000 at almost SEK 20 billion on the Stockholm stock exchange. Around the same time, just before the IT bubble burst, Sturmark sold his shares in the company. In parallel with his entrepreneurial ventures, he wrote articles in Dagens Nyheter, one of Sweden’s biggest daily newspapers, about the emerging information society. Sturmark has also served in a number of roles on government commissions and advice boards. Between 1996 and 1998 he was a member of the Government's IT Commission, in 1999 he chaired an advisory growth group on the new digital economy and between 2003 and 2004 he led the Government's IT Policy Strategy Group. In 2006, Sturmark ran in the parliamentary elections for the Liberal People's Party but was not elected. In 2007, Sturmark started the publishing house Fri Tanke together with ABBA member

Björn Ulvaeus Björn Kristian Ulvaeus (; born 25 April 1945) is a Swedish singer, songwriter, producer, a member of the musical group ABBA, and co-composer of the musicals ''Chess'', '' Kristina från Duvemåla'', and '' Mamma Mia!'' He co-produced the films ...

. Sturmark is the CEO of Fri Tanke and editor-in-chief of its magazine, Sans. Between 2005 and 2018, he was chairman of the Humanists Association.

References

External links

Official homepage
1964 births Living people Swedish businesspeople Swedish atheism activists Swedish humanists Swedish atheists Swedish skeptics {{Sweden-bio-stub