Lars Rebien Sørensen (born 10 October 1954) is a Danish businessman and former CEO of the pharmaceutical company

Novo Nordisk Novo Nordisk A/S is a Danish multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Bagsværd, with production facilities in nine countries and affiliates or offices in five. Novo Nordisk is controlled by majority shareholder Novo Holdings A/S ...

and current chairman of the board at the

Novo Nordisk Foundation The Novo Nordisk Foundation (NNF) is an international enterprise foundation focusing on medical treatment and research. In 2023, the foundation had a net worth of DKK 1,114 billion (167 billion), making it the wealthiest charitable foundation ...

(from 2018) and

Novo Holdings A/S Novo Holdings A/S (formerly Novo A/S) is the Novo Nordisk Foundation's wholly owned holding company for Novo Nordisk A/S and Novonesis (formerly ''Novozymes A/S''). Novo Holdings A/S was established in 1999 and manages the Novo Nordisk Foundat ...

Biography

Education

Lars Rebien Sørensen was educated at Brondby High School and has a bachelor's degree in international finance from the

Copenhagen Business School Copenhagen Business School (Danish'': Handelshøjskolen i København'') often abbreviated and referred to as CBS (also in Danish), is a public university situated in Copenhagen, Denmark and is considered one of the most prestigious business scho ...

. He is a MSc forestry graduate from the

Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University (, abbr. KVL, , abbr. RVA) was a veterinary and agricultural science university in Denmark. It was founded in 1856 and operated until 2007, when it became a part of the University of Copenhagen. It ...

, now part of the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

(1981).

Career

Sørensen was employed by

in 1982 within marketing of

enzyme An enzyme () is a protein that acts as a biological catalyst by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different mol ...

s, having joined right out of military service. He then became sales and marketing director for the enzyme department in 1989. He joined the Group Executive Board of

in 1994 and was handed the responsibility of the medical department of

. In 2000 the enzyme department was de-merged from

and became its own entity,

Novozymes Novozymes A/S was a global biotechnology company headquartered in Bagsværd, outside of Copenhagen, Denmark. The company's focus was the research, development and production of industrial enzymes, microorganisms, and biopharmaceutical ingredie ...

, and Lars Rebien Sørensen took over the position of CEO for

, after Mads Øvlisen. In January 2017, Lars Rebien Sørensen was succeeded as CEO by

Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen (born 29 November 1966) is a Danish businessman and has been the chief executive of Novo Nordisk since January 2017. He is the chairman of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations. Early l ...

. As part of his

severance package A severance package is pay and benefits that employees may be entitled to receive when they leave employment at a company unwilfully. In addition to their remaining regular pay, it may include some of the following: * Any additional payment based ...

, Sørensen received a "

golden handshake A golden handshake is a clause in an executive employment contract that provides the executive with a significant severance package in the case that the executive loses their job through firing, restructuring, or even scheduled retirement. Thi ...

" of 65.7 million DKK (approx. US$10.7 million). His annual salary in 2016 was 22.7 million DKK (approx. US$3.7 million). He was CEO at

from 2000 until the end of 2016 and was replaced by Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen at the beginning of 2017. Sørensen took on the position as

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

on 1 July 2018. He is also the chairman of the board at

. The

is one of the largest foundations in the world and the foundation which is the

majority shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of corporate stock refers to an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the le ...

and NNIT (Novo Group) along with investments in more than 80 other companies within the

life-science This list of life sciences comprises the branches of science that involve the scientific study of life – such as microorganisms, Plant, plants, and Animal, animals including human beings. This science is one of the two major branches of natu ...

s sector through its 100% owned subsidiary Novo Holdings A/S. Sørensen was a representative in the Danish Central bank and he holds a seat at the board of directors in Axcel Management A/S, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (USA), Essity AB (Sweden), Jungbunzlauer Suisse AG (Switzerland) and Novo Holdings A/S.

Other activities

Sørensen joined the life sciences faculty of the University of Copenhagen as an adjunct professor in 2007.

Board membership

Sørensen currently holds the following board member seats: *

– chairman of the board *

Axcel Axcel is a Nordic private equity firm with offices in Stockholm and Copenhagen. Since its foundation in 1994, Axcel has made 68 platform investments. The firm currently owns 20 companies across all four Nordic countries The Nordic countries ...

Management A/S – Vice Chairman of the board *

Thermo Fisher Scientific Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is an American life science and clinical research company. It is a global supplier of analytical instruments, clinical development solutions, specialty diagnostics, laboratory, pharmaceutical and biotechnology s ...

Inc. (USA) – Board member *

Essity Essity AB (commonly known as Essity) is a Swedish multinational company specializing in hygiene and health products headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Established in 2017 through a spin-off from the forest products company Svenska Cellulosa ...

AB (Sweden) – Board member * Jungbunzlauer Suisse AG (Switzerland) – Board member * Ferring Pharmaceuticals – chairman of the board

Personal life

Sørensen is married to Charlotte Idin Sørensen and they have three children.

Recognition

Sørensen was appointed a

Knight of the Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and civil. Currently consisting of five classes, it was ...

by the French government in 2005. He was awarded the "''World's Best CEO''" by ''

Harvard Business Review ''Harvard Business Review'' (''HBR'') is a general management magazine published by Harvard Business Publishing, a not-for-profit, independent corporation that is an affiliate of Harvard Business School. ''HBR'' is published six times a year ...

'' in 2015 and 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sorenson, Lars Rebien 1954 births Danish business executives Novo Nordisk people Living people Copenhagen Business School alumni Knights of the Legion of Honour