Helle Østergaard Kristiansen

In early 2019, Denmark-based Kristiansen became the world’s first female CEO in the energy trading sector, heading up Danske Commodities—the 10th largest company in Denmark by revenue (generating some $10.7 billion in 2018). This year, Kristiansen, formerly Danske’s CFO, hit the ground running during the mega energy company Equinor’s $460 million acquisition of Danske in February. As part of the acquisition, Danske will lead the push to transition short-term energy trading toward a focus on renewables; it’s part of Equinor’s plan to invest 15% to 20% of total capital expenditures annually in new energy solutions by 2030. Kristiansen also worked to expand Danske into the U.S. energy market for the first time in July.

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