New Foundation Governing Board members decided

The Swedish Government has appointed two new board members to the Jönköping University Foundation Governing Board. In addition, a new teacher representative and a new student representative will be added to the Board. Together, the board members have broad and varied experience and come from academia, business, and local industry.

The two new board members, appointed by the Government, will take office on 1 May and are:

Karin Sandén Ahlqvist, CEO, Axelent AB Group

Karin has been CEO of Axelent AB Group since 2023, where she was previously marketing director. Before that, Karin has been both marketing manager and education manager Bufab Group. She also has a board assignment in the Jönköping County Chamber of Commerce and has held other board assignments in different associations.

Lena Johansson, Economist

Lena has been Director General of the Swedish National Board of Trade, Secretary General of ICC Sweden (International Chamber of Commerce) and responsible for the EU budget at the Ministry of Finance. She is also a senior advisor to ICC Sweden, where she is also a member of the Trade and Investment Committee.

The following members of the Foundation Governing Board have already been appointed by the Government:

• Anders Danielsson, Lawyer (Chairman of the board)
• Søren E. Frandsen, Director, Research & Innovation Organisation, University of Southern Denmark and Chief Executive Officer, MedTech Odense
• Mats Eriksson, Professor, School of Health Sciences, Örebro University
• Maria Jarl, Senior Lecturer, University of Gothenburg
• Annie Lööf, self-employed with some board assignments
• Johan Simonsson, Director of R&D, Toyota Material Handling

In addition to the external members, the Board also includes Jönköping University’s (JU) President as well as a representative for the teachers and students respectively. The new teacher representative is Kristina Säfsten, Professor of Production Systems at the School of Engineering (JTH) at JU. The new student representative will be Yaman Zaidan. He has studied the Lighting Design programme at JTH and will take up the position of Student Union President on 1 July.

The term of office for the Board members runs from 1 May 2025 to 30 April 2028.