The Board of Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) has appointed Charlotta Sund as the new President and CEO of the SSC Group. She will take office during the autumn of 2023, and succeeds the current CEO Stefan Gardefjord who retires after twelve years in the company.
“Sweden can take a leading role in the global space development – with our engineering expertise, our geographical location between the Baltic Sea, the Atlantic and the North Pole, our global presence on all continents, and with Esrange Space Center as the EU’s only mainland-based spaceport. Therefore, I am pleased that the SSC Board has decided to employ a CEO with solid experience both from commercial and international business operations as well as from critical societal infrastructure. Both these aspects will be needed to lead SSC to the next level,” says Anna Kinberg Batra, SSC Chair of the Board.
Since 2018, Charlotta Sund is the President and CEO of Tekniska verken in Linköping, an industrial group tasked by regional community owners with creating resource-efficient energy systems for a sustainable society. There, she has led the organization through times of change, during the current energy crisis, as well as adapted to new regulations and expectations from both private and commercial actors on sustainable, safe and secure services.
Her background also includes a vast experience from Ericsson, a global telecom group where she held several senior positions. From this period of her career, she brings a customer focused mindset and deep knowledge on how to integrate sustainable innovation into the core business and use it as a tool to attract new customers.
Today, she also has board assignments for Swedish companies Enea and Hexatronic. She was born and raised in Gothenburg and holds a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering & Management from Linköping University. In April this year, Charlotta was also appointed an honorary Doctor of Technology at Linköping University.
“It feels incredible to join the space industry during this historic period in time. As space infrastructure gets increasingly important for our modern societies on Earth, SSC is truly establishing itself as a societal builder. I hope to combine my background in digitalization and sustainable innovation with the deep knowledge and experience that I know exist in SSC. And I will bring my passion for leadership and organizational development to this exciting journey,” says Charlotta Sund.
Charlotta will officially take office during the autumn of 2023, according to an agreement between the SSC Board and the retiring CEO Stefan Gardefjord.
“The inauguration of Spaceport Esrange in January brought worldwide attention to our company. But none of that could have happened without the decisive efforts and hard work of our retiring CEO Stefan Gardefjord. I want to thank him for his meritorious efforts for both the company and for Swedish space operations,” says Anna Kinberg Batra.