Mikael Ingemarsson Odenberg (born 14 December 1953) 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 ...

politician of the

Moderate Party The Moderate Party ( sv, Moderata samlingspartiet , ; M), commonly referred to as the Moderates ( ), is a liberal-conservative political party in Sweden. The party generally supports tax cuts, the free market, civil liberties and economic liber ...

. He was a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

from 1991 to 2006 and

Minister for Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

in the

Swedish government The Government of the Kingdom of Sweden ( sv, Konungariket Sveriges regering) is the national cabinet of Sweden, and the country's executive authority. The Government consists of the Prime Ministerappointed and dismissed by the Speaker of the R ...

from 2006 to 2007. From 1 March 2008 to 28 February 2017 he was the director-general of Svenska kraftnät.

Education and military service

Mikael Odenberg performed his military service in the Coastal Artillery at the KA 4 training regiment in

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

from 1973 to 1974. He finished with good grades and went through Reserve Officer Training in 1976. He also finished a management course at the

Swedish National Defence College The Swedish Defence University ( sv, Försvarshögskolan, FHS) is situated on Drottning Kristinas väg 37 in Östermalm, Stockholm City Centre, next to the campus of the Royal Institute of Technology. History Today's Swedish Defence University ...

in 1994. As a Second Lieutenant he was trained at the Söderarm battery in the Roslagen archipelago, outside Stockholm. Odenberg today formally holds the rank of

Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

. From 1975 to 1976 Odenburg studied

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

Stockholm University Stockholm University ( sv, Stockholms universitet) is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, so ...

and from 1976 to 1978 he studied at the

Stockholm School of Economics The Stockholm School of Economics (SSE; sv, Handelshögskolan i Stockholm, HHS) is a private business school located in city district Vasastaden in the central part of Stockholm, Sweden. SSE offers BSc, MSc and MBA programs, along with ...

Political career

From 1972 to 1973, Odenberg was a local government ombudsman for the

Moderate Youth League The Moderate Youth League ( sv, Moderata ungdomsförbundet ; MUF), officially known in English as the Swedish Young Conservatives, is the youth wing of the Swedish Moderate Party. Of the political youth organizations that received financial supp ...

and the

Nacka Municipality Nacka Municipality (''Nacka kommun'') is a municipality in Stockholm County in east-central Sweden. Its seat is located at Nacka. The municipality is situated just east of the capital Stockholm and the western parts are considered a suburban par ...

outside

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

. In 1978 he was elected secretary-general of the Moderate Youth League; and from 1979 to 1985 he was deputy secretary to the Stockholm City Commissioner (real estate, town planning and highway departments) and secretary to the Moderate City Council Group. From 1988 to 1991 he was leader of the Moderate Party's group on healthcare matters in Stockholm County Council. In 1987 and 1991 Odenberg also served as a substitute

. Odenberg was elected as a Member of Parliament in 1991. He served as a member of the parliament's Committee on Housing from 1991 to 1994; as a member of the

Committee on Industry and Trade The Committee on Industry and Trade, also known as the Balfour Report because it was chaired by the industrialist Arthur Balfour, was a committee set up to discover the reasons for the United Kingdom's economic decline since the Great War ...

from 1994 to 1998; as a member of the Committee on Labour Market and Committee on EU Affairs from 1998 to 2002; as deputy chairman of the

from 2002 to 2003; as a member of the

War Delegation The War Delegation ( sv, krigsdelegationen, or ''KD'') is a standing committee of the Riksdag, with its functions enumerated in the Instrument of Government and the Riksdag Act, with the purpose of replacing the Riksdag as a whole whenever Sweden i ...

in 2003; and as leader of the Moderate Party parliamentary group, deputy chairman of the Committee on Finance, and member of the Advisory Council on Foreign Affairs from 2003 to 2006. On 6 October 2006 Odenberg was appointed as

. He resigned from this post on 5 September 2007 in protest against planned government defence cuts. At a press conference Odenberg said "I want to be able to face myself in the mirror and look our military in the eye".

Personal life

Mikael Odenberg is married to Catherine, and has four children. He lives with his family in Stockholm. His sister is

Christina Odenberg Christina Odenberg (born 26 March 1940) is the retired bishop of the Diocese of Lund in Sweden between 1997 and 2007. Biography Christina Odenberg is the daughter of Ingemar Odenberg and Kerstin, born Moberg. Odenberg was for some time politic ...

, a former

Bishop of Lund List of (arch)bishops of Lund. Until the Danish Reformation the centre of a great Latin (arch)bishopric, Lund has been in Sweden since the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658. The Diocese of Lund is now one of thirteen in the Church of Sweden. Cathol ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Odenberg, Mikael 1953 births Living people Politicians from Stockholm Members of the Riksdag from the Moderate Party Swedish Ministers for Defence Stockholm School of Economics alumni Swedish Navy officers Members of the Riksdag 2002–2006