Björgólfur Jóhannsson (born in

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

on August 28, 1955) is an Icelandic business executive, former President and CEO of

Icelandair Group Icelandair Group hf. is an Icelandic travel industry corporation, the owner and holding company of the airline Icelandair and several other travel industry companies in Iceland. The group's headquarters are in Hafnarfjörður, Iceland. The cor ...

, the

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

Icelandair Icelandair is the flag carrier of Iceland. Linked from here It is part of the Icelandair Group and operates to destinations on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean from its main airline hub, hub at Keflavík International Airport. Its smaller dom ...

, the

flag carrier A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by that government for international operations. Histo ...

of Iceland. Björgólfur resigned as the Company's President & CEO on 27 August 2018 and Bogi Nils Bogason, the Company's CFO, became interim President & CEO of the Company Björgólfur was also the chairman of the board of the Confederation of Icelandic Employers but stepped down On 7 March 2017

Biography

Björgólfur comes from Grenivík in the north of Iceland, close to

Akureyri Akureyri (, ) is a town in northern Iceland, the country's fifth most populous Municipalities of Iceland, municipality (under the official name of Akureyrarbær , 'town of Akureyri') and the largest outside the Capital Region (Iceland), Capital R ...

. He graduated with a degree in

Business Administration Business administration is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. Overview The administration of a business includes the performance o ...

from the

University of Iceland The University of Iceland ( ) is a public research university in Reykjavík, Iceland, and the country's oldest and largest institution of higher education. Founded in 1911, it has grown steadily from a small civil servants' school to a modern co ...

in 1983 and became a Chartered Accountant in 1985. From 1980 to 1992 he worked for accountancy firms in Akureyri. In 1992 Björgólfur became

Chief Financial Officer A chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization who is assigned the primary responsibility for making decisions for the company for projects and its finances; i.a.: financial planning, management of financial risks, ...

of the fisheries company Útgerðarfélag Akureyringa hf, but in 1996 moved to the powerful Samherji fisheries company, also based in Akureyri, where he became Director of Innovation and Development. In 1999 Björgólfur became Chief Executive Officer of yet another fisheries company, Síldarvinnslan. Then in 2006 he was chosen as the new CEO of Icelandic Group, a global sales and marketing company for frozen fish products. From 2003 to 2008 Björgólfur was also the President of The Federation of Icelandic Fishing Vessel Owners (LIU), a very powerful position in Iceland. In May 2008 he became CEO of

. The 2008–2012 Icelandic financial crisis proved a great challenge for Björgólfur and his staff but after a financial reconstruction of the company, completed in 2011, he insisted the future looks bright, as the rise in

tourism in Iceland Tourism in Iceland has grown considerably in economic significance in the past 15 years. As of 2016, the tourism industry is estimated to contribute about 10 percent to the Icelandic GDP; the number of foreign visitors exceeded 2,000,000 for the ...

bodes well for the company. On 6 March 2013 Björgólfur was elected the Chairman of the Board of the SA, the Confederation of Icelandic Employers, a very influential position in Iceland. He received 98,5 percent of the votes. On 4 April 2014 Björgólfur was re-elected. As chairman of the SA, Björgólfur took an active part in negotiations with the ASÍ, the Icelandic Federation of Labour, in December 2013, resulting in attempts to maintain the fragile economic stability of post-crash Iceland. In April 2014 both SA and ASÍ joined forces with other important players in the Icelandic economic arena in presenting a comprehensive report of the Icelandic Institute of International Affairs about the state of Iceland's accession negotiations with the EU. On 14 November, following the bribery scandal allegations in the

Fishrot Files On 12 November 2019, WikiLeaks began publishing what it called the Fishrot Files (), a collection of thousands of documents and email communication by employees of one of Iceland's largest fish industry companies, Samherji, that indicated that the ...

, the board of Samherji announced that Þorsteinn Már Baldvinsson had temporary stepped aside as CEO and would be replaced by Björgólfur while the company conducted an internal investigation on the allegations.

Personal life

Björgólfur is married to teacher Málfríður Pálsdóttir and they have two daughters born in 1990–91 and two grandchild's.

Awards

In December 2012 both the Viðskiptablaðið, the Icelandic business weekly, and

Fréttablaðið ''Fréttablaðið'' () was a free Icelandic newspaper. It was distributed five days per week. At its peak, it was the most read newspaper in Iceland. History and profile ''Fréttablaðið'' was established in 2001. It was originally owned primari ...

, Iceland's leading newspaper, chose Björgólfur as their "Businessman of the Year" for 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johannson, Bjorgolfur Living people 1955 births

Björgólfur Jóhannsson Björgólfur Jóhannsson (born in Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and ...