Anders Knutsen

Biography:

Anders Knutsen is the former President Bang & Olufsen. “Anders Knutsen assumed the leadership of Bang and Olufsen, the Danish audiovisual company, at a time of severe crisis. He rescued a tradition of immaculate design and engineering, so “perfect” that fewer and fewer could afford it! It started with a bang. It nearly ended in a whimper, but, thanks to Knutsen, the Bang is now bigger than ever.” Extract from 21 Leaders for the 21st Century – Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner.

Anders began his career in personnel with Bang & Olufsen. He headed up the Personnel and Working Environment Department for three years, before moving through the company. In 1992 he was appointed President and CEO, a position he held for 11 years.

His main achievement was to help turn the company into a thriving business 'without destroying the heart and soul'. Bang & Olufsen went through a radical period of change, starting with the loss of 1200 dealers. The company moved from a product-driven to a vision-driven company. This had a dramatic impact on the quality of customer service leading to the realisation that communication is just as important as products, and that customers share values across national borders. The company developed a division called StoryLab, where messages are developed conceptually in the same way as new products.

29 years with Bang & Olufsen, 15 years in top management as CEO and president. Left in 2002 and since then holding a number of Directorships and professional non executive board memberships in several Companies in and outside Denmark, among others Danisco A/S and Copenhagen Business School – both as Chairman.

Also, from 2002 until 2007 several honorary duties for the Danish Government. Today, among others:

• Chairman Rossini Caviar A/S
• Chairman Hersild & Heggov A/S (biggest Alfa Romeo dealer in Denmark)
• Board member Audiomoda AS, official Aston Martin Licensee
• Received the Danish design Award in 2000
• Chairman of the Year in Denmark 2008