Carl-Henric Svanberg

Carl-Henric Svanberg
Born	(1952-05-29) 29 May 1952 Porjus, Sweden
Occupation	Chairman of BP Chairman of Volvo

Carl-Henric Svanberg (born 29 May 1952), is a Swedish businessman and current Chairman of BP and Volvo.^[1]

Life and career

Svanberg holds a Master's degree in Applied Physics from the Linköping Institute of Technology and a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Uppsala University. Svanberg holds honorary doctorates from Luleå University of Technology and Linköping University.

Svanberg served as CEO of telecom company Ericsson from 8 April 2003 to 31 December 2009. Following his resignation, he remained on the board of Ericsson and holds 3,234,441 shares in the company.^[2][3]

Before joining Ericsson, he led another Swedish industrial company - Assa Abloy. Svanberg serves on other boards, including:

• The investment company Melker Schörling AB
• Stockholm Challenge Advisory Board

Svanberg joined the BP board as chairman-designate on 1 September 2009, and succeeded Peter Sutherland as chairman on 1 January 2010.^[4]

He and his wife Agneta, an associate professor at Uppsala University, filed for divorce on 17 September 2009. They were married for 26 years and have three children together. Svanberg is a dedicated fan of Djurgårdens IF and serves on the board of Djurgårdens IF Hockey. He is a former ice hockey player himself, having played for IF Björklöven in Umeå during his youth.

Deepwater Horizon oil spill

On 16 June 2010, Svanberg met with US President Barack Obama to discuss BP's responsibility for the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. He caused a PR uproar by afterwards expressing BP's concern for the common people along the Gulf Coast of the United States whose livelihood is threatened by the oil spill by saying, "We care about the small people", drawing upon a Swedish phrase, den lilla människan. The correct translation of the Swedish phrase would have been "the common man". Svanberg subsequently apologized for the term and attributed his unfortunate choice of words to a "slip in translation".^[5]

External links

• Tricia Bisoux, "Making Connections: Carl-Henric Svanberg, CEO of telecom giant Ericsson, takes on big problems by offering sweeping solutions" (profile of and interview with Carl-Henric Svanberg), BizEd (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International), January/February 2009, pp. 16–20, 22.

References

v t e Deepwater Horizon oil spill Companies and organisations Owners Anadarko Petroleum Corporation BP Mitsui Oil Exploration Co. Major contractors Cameron International Corporation Halliburton Nalco Holding Company Transocean Wild Well Control Other Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Flow Rate Technical Group Gulf Coast Restoration Organization Minerals Management Service National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling Unified Command United States Coast Guard Worst Case Discharge Events Deepwater Horizon explosion Volume and extent Efforts to stem the spill April May June July August People BP Bob Dudley Tony Hayward Doug Suttles Carl-Henric Svanberg Darryl Willis MMS S. Elizabeth Birnbaum Michael R. Bromwich Chris Oynes U.S. Coast Guard Thad Allen Mary Landry James A. Watson Paul F. Zukunft Other Kenneth Feinberg Places Macondo Prospect Mississippi Canyon Perdido Pass Vessels Drilling Deepwater Horizon Relief ships/rigs Development Driller III Discoverer Clear Leader Discoverer Enterprise GSF Development Driller II Helix Producer 1 Loch Rannoch Mighty Servant 3 Overseas Cascade Q4000 Seacor Lee Toisa Pisces A Whale Pacific Responder California Responder Reactions and impact Environmental Environmental impact Health consequences GuLF Study Socio-economic Deepwater drilling moratorium Economic effects Investigation Litigation Response fund Other Coon 2: Hindsight Hornbeck Offshore Services LLC v. Salazar Spillcam Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup X CHALLENGE Category Commons