I’m a firm believer that finance does not have to just be about profits spiralling upwards, it’s about allocating capital well, and thus an opportunity to do good and have a real human impact.
Aksel Mjøs
Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader During Turbulent Times
As part of the Authority Magazine series about leadership during turbulent times, they had an interview with Aksel Mjøs, Head of the Department of Finance.
`Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person. Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?´
`I’m a firm believer that finance does not have to just be about profits spiralling upwards, it’s about allocating capital well, and thus an opportunity to do good and have a real human impact. Since I graduated from a Master’s degree at NHH Norwegian School of Economics in 1987, I can divide my career pretty cleanly into four phases´.
`The first of these was the 14 years I spent working in the finance industry. It set me up for the future and gave me my first taste in leadership positions. I worked for three years at Morgan Stanley, ending up as Vice President. After that, I took the role of CEO at DnB Asset Management, the asset manager of the largest bank in Norway.
Then came a big jump — from CEO to PhD student. I went back to study, again at NHH. It was the right move for me. Not only did I want to increase the amount of time I could spend with my family, I had a desire to start doing more research on core finance topics than I was able to from within the industry, where it was about doing just what was needed to make deals happen. I’ve been in academia now for over 20 years´.
I’ve founded my own initiative, Gi Gaven Videre (in English, that is ‘Give the Gift Forward’), a non-profit startup offering digital giftcards.
Aksel Mjøs
`Since then, I have been fortunate enough to hold senior positions on several boards and committees, including a role as Chairman at the Kavli Trust, which provides around $10 million USD every year in financial support for great causes. Since then, I’ve founded my own initiative, Gi Gaven Videre (in English, that is ‘Give the Gift Forward’), a non-profit startup offering digital giftcards, and allowing the recipient to choose which pre-approved charitable causes their gift should be given to. We have a range of 116 causes to choose from´.
The last leg of his journey includes various governmental duties.
`I spent just over a year as Chair of The Capital Access Commission, which had an impact on policies and grants, contributing to more innovation. Currently, I’m Chair of The Committee on Nature Risk, tasked with reviewing how Norwegian industries and sectors will be affected by environmental factors like reduced biodiversity, as well as tightening international regulatory frameworks´.