Susanne Arfelt Rajamand will take the helm as chief executive officer of Royal Greenland A/S on February 1, succeeding Mikael Thinghuus, who resigned in October after 12 years on the job.
She comes to the Nuuk-headquartered seafood company from a position as managing director of the dairy giant Fonterra’s division in Southeast Asia, an organization with more than 2,500 employees. Rajamand previously worked with the Unilever consumer goods giant, where she started as a trainee and rose to managing director in Singapore. She later joined McCormick & Company and was responsible for its ingredients business in Asia (excluding China) and the Pacific region, including four factories and four joint ventures, with over 800 employees.
“Susanne has the profile, international experience and personality to head Greenland’s most important company. She will help to ensure Royal Greenland’s continued development in Greenland, while maintaining the international focus,” said Maliina Abelsen, who chairs the company’s board of directors.
Royal Greenland’s North Atlantic strategy focuses on boosting value product sales in Asia, North America and Europe. The clear ambition is to be the world’s leading supplier of wild-caught North Atlantic seafood including coldwater prawns, Greenland halibut and snow crab.
“Royal Greenland is the whole of Greenland’s company, and we have a strong focus on developing in this country. To do so, we must maintain our international focus and sell more in the markets that will pay the most for our products. Susanne’s experience is therefore exactly what we need,” said Abelsen, who has unanimous support from the board of directors.
Rajamand, who is multilingual and has lived in Singapore for the past 15 years, holds an MSc in Business Economics from Copenhagen Business School and has completed an Executive MBA from Tsinghua University in Beijing and INSEAD.
“We’re proud to be able to attract such a strong candidate with international experience. Over many years Susanne has shown what she can achieve on the international stage, and we look forward to continuing the company’s positive development with her at the helm,” said Abelsen.
