Helena Stjernholm

Helena Maria Stjernholm ( Carlsson; born 1970) is a Swedish business executive who since September 2015 has been CEO of Industrivärden, a major Swedish investment firm. She previously spent 17 years with IK Investment Partners where she latterly had responsibility for their Stockholm office.

Early life and education Born in 1970, Helena Stjernholm was brought up in the central Swedish town of Kristinehamn where she attended Källgårdsskolan and Södermalmsskolan before opting for technical secondary school subjects at Brogårdsgymnasiet. She then spent a year in the United States as an exchange student before completing her secondary education in Karlstad. On matriculating, she took a year off, working as a replacement teacher and a healthcare assistant. She also spent four months in Austria, working in a hotel and enjoying the skiing. She then spent a year in Munich studying business administration and management at LMU Munich before returning to Sweden to study at the Stockholm School of Economics, earning an MSc in business administration, accounting and finance in 1997. While studying in Linköping, she met her husband Stefan Stjernholm with whom she has two sons.

Career After working for Bain & Company as a consultant (1997–98), she joined the venture capital firm IK Investment where she worked for 17 years. In 2015, she was appointed CEO of Industrivärden after Anders Nyrén left following an expenses scandal. Stjernholm also serves on the boards of Handelsbanken, SCA, Skanska and SSAB. She had succeeded in achieving better results not only for Industrivärden but for their holding companies Volvo, SSAB and Sandvik. She recognized that one of the most difficult sectors for women to rise to the top was in fact finance.