Jesper Brodin

Business leader, Change Agent, Parent

Jesper Brodin is the CEO of Ingka Group. His career with IKEA spans over 20 years, and he stepped into his current role in September 2017. Before being appointed CEO, Jesper was Managing Director at IKEA of Sweden/Range & Supply, which is responsible for the development of the product range and supply chain of the IKEA Brand. Jesper’s started his career at IKEA in 1995 as a purchase manager in Pakistan; not long after that he became Regional Purchase Manager for South East Asia. In 1999, he took on the assignment of assistant, both to IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad and to Anders Dahlvig, who was CEO at that time. As a leader, Jesper is known for his belief in values-based leadership and for his emphasis on togetherness, saying: “The power is where the people are. Believe in yourself and your strengths, but don’t forget to rely on other people’s strengths, too. Because we’re truly stronger together.” Jesper recently joined The B team, a global non-profit initiative co-founded by Sir Richard Branson and Jochen Zeitz that brings together a group of global leaders from business, civil society and government to catalyst a better way of doing business with people and planet in focus. Jesper was born in Gothenburg, Sweden, and holds a Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. Married with three children, he fills his spare time with sailing and music: “To play the guitar is my yoga. I do it every day.”

Climate, leadership and people