This week’s Alliance Extra features a interview with Nordea-fonden’s CEO Henrik Lehmann Andersen, published today.

Nordea-fonden is a Danish foundation set up to promote ‘good living’ in Denmark. Its CEO, Henrik Lehmann Andersen talks to Charles Keidan about how it has taken this broad idea and refined it and how, in the process, the foundation has become more strategic. He also talks about the role and perception of philanthropy in Danish society and explains how, despite initial reluctance, Danish foundations are sharpening their practice.

Hired as CEO in 2012, he says, ‘the focal point of my work during the three years has been to shift from having 90 per cent of the time in the board meetings spent on projects and decisions on projects, to having 50 per cent on that and the other half on the more important things, like strategic direction’. He goes on to discuss philanthropy in a wider context, touching on how the Danish Ministry of Trade’s recommendations on good governance for foundations have changed the environment in which they operate.

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