Rune Bech (born 26 June 1966, in Denmark) is a serial digital entrepreneur living between
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
and Denmark, and a former
foreign correspondent
A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...
,
broadcast journalist
Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are broadcast by electronic methods instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. It works on radio (via air, cable, and Internet), television (via air, cable, ...
and television executive. In 1998 he was one of the early internet pioneers in Europe when he co-founded the award-winning independent health information portal NetDoctor.com. Later, after six years as digital head for Denmark's national broadcaster TV 2, he co-founded the healthtech company Liva Healthcare working with
NHS England
NHS England, officially the NHS Commissioning Board, is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care. It oversees the budget, planning, delivery and day-to-day operation of the commissioning side of the ...
in preventing diabetes and obesity. In 2010 he made headlines in the jazz world when re-opening Copenhagen's legendary jazz venue,
Jazzhus Montmartre
Jazzhus Montmartre is a jazz club in Copenhagen, Denmark. Many jazz musicians, including Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, and Chet Baker, have performed there. It is sometimes called Cafe Montmartre. The Montmartre was located first in Dahlerupsgade, then ...
.
Career
After an early career as a foreign correspondent for the Danish newspaper
Politiken
''Politiken'' is a leading Danish daily broadsheet newspaper, published by JP/Politikens Hus in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was founded in 1884 and played a role in the formation of the Danish Social Liberal Party. Since 1970 it has been independe ...
from 1989 until 1997 (Eastern Europe and London), and as a foreign affairs reporter with the national Danish broadcaster TV 2 in 1997–1998, he co-founded NetDoctor.com in 1998 and took it from a Danish start-up into a major digital publisher of health information in Britain, Germany,
Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...
and several other European countries. Later, in 2001, he re-joined TV 2 as
Chief Digital Officer A chief digital officer (CDO) or a chief digital information officer (CDIO) is an individual who helps a company, a government organization or a city drive growth by converting traditional "analog" businesses to digital ones using the potential of ...
for six years and in this position launched one of Europe's first TV and film on-demand services, TV 2 Sputnik, later renamed TV 2 Play.
After co-founding and selling two more healthtech companies E-Doktor (2002-2008) and SundhedsDoktor (2006-2016), he co-founded Liva Healthcare in 2015, specialised in digital health coaching and disease management, with offices in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
and
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
. NHS England selected Liva as a digital innovation partner in trying to prevent and reverse
type 2 diabetes
Type 2 diabetes, formerly known as adult-onset diabetes, is a form of diabetes mellitus that is characterized by high blood sugar, insulin resistance, and relative lack of insulin. Common symptoms include increased thirst, frequent urination, ...
and
obesity
Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it may negatively affect health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's we ...
in 2017 (The "Healthier You" Digital Diabetes Prevention Programme, DDPP).
Passion
As a passion project in 2010, Rune Bech initiated the re-opening of Copenhagen's legendary
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
venue, Jazzhus Montmartre. The place has a story going back to 1959 when it put Copenhagen on the world map of jazz by attracting some of the best artists of the time. Several famous jazz musicians fell in love with the place and relocated to Copenhagen in the 1960s and 1970s. Among them
Dexter Gordon
Dexter Gordon (February 27, 1923 – April 25, 1990) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and actor. He was among the most influential early bebop musicians, which included other greats such as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gi ...
,
Ben Webster
Benjamin Francis Webster (March 27, 1909 – September 20, 1973) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.
Career Early life and career
A native of Kansas City, Missouri, he studied violin, learned how to play blues on the piano from ...
,
Stan Getz
Stanley Getz (February 2, 1927 – June 6, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist. Playing primarily the tenor saxophone, Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, with his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of ...
, Kenny Drew, and many more. Using Jazzhus Montmartre as their hub, they served as mentors for major Danish jazz artists such as
Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen
Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (, 27 May 1946 – 19 April 2005), also known by his abbreviated nickname NHØP, was a Danish jazz double bassist.
Biography
Pedersen was born in Osted, near Roskilde, on the Danish island of Zealand, the son of ...
,
Palle Mikkelborg
Palle Mikkelborg (born 6 March 1941) is a Danish jazz trumpet player, composer, arranger and record producer.
He is self-taught on the trumpet, although he studied conducting at the Royal Music Conservatory in Copenhagen. He became a professio ...
,
Bo Stief
Bo Stief (born 15 October 1946) is a Danish jazz and rock bassist, composer, and arranger born in Copenhagen.
He has worked or recorded with Don Cherry, Miles Davis, Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Johnny Griffin, Jackie McLean, G ...
,
Alex Riel
Alex Riel (born 13 September 1940) is a Danish jazz and rock drummer.''Jeg skal sgu sidde ved trommerne'' Af Bine Madsen. Dagbladenes Bureau, 9 February 2010. Same interview in Flensborg Avis, 17 February 2010, Side 18''Alex Riel'' Horsens F ...
and many more.
Private life
Rune Bech is son of deputy headmaster Thomas Bech Pedersen (born 1920, deceased 2004) and pre-school teacher Anne Margrethe Nygaard Pedersen (born 1931, deceased 2004). He grew up as the youngest of four children at a hobby farm near the village of Køng on the Danish island of
Funen
Funen ( da, Fyn, ), with an area of , is the third-largest island of Denmark, after Zealand and Vendsyssel-Thy. It is the 165th-largest island in the world. It is located in the central part of the country and has a population of 469,947 as of ...
.
Rune Bech lives between London in the UK, and Copenhagen and
Svendborg
Svendborg () is a town on the island of Funen in south-central Denmark, and the seat of Svendborg Municipality. With a population of 27,300 (1 January 2022), Svendborg is Funen's second largest city.Portrait of Rune Bech – Berlingske 2016 read 28 February 2020