FDBusiness.com

Kjeld Johannesen, chief executive of Danish Crown, has joined an exclusive group of Danish executives, who have received the Tietgen medal following extraordinary initiative and enterprise.

The Tietgen medal is awarded by the Tietgen Foundation. Its board consists of the chairmen of four organizations – Danish Agriculture & Food Council, Danish Shipowners’ Association, Confederation of Danish Industry, and DanishChamber of Commerce. The medal has been awarded 21 times since 1932 when it first was awarded.

”Kjeld Johannesen receives the Tietgen medal for a very good reason. Because he has developed Danish Crown from a regional slaughterhouse to a highly notable and strong company which with its 23,500 employees is active around the world,” says Morten Østergaard, Minister for Economic Affairs and the Interior (Social Liberal Party). ”This is a story we can be truly proud of.”

Michael Kjær, member of the Tietgen Foundation board and chairman of Danish Chamber of Commerce, comments: ”Kjeld Johannesen’s visions and abilities to contemplate alternative solutions in a production intensive sector, which like many others has been under pressure for the past years, has had a huge impact, not just on Danish Crown. Kjeld Johannesen’s initiative has attached great importance on growth and employment in Denmark.”

Kjeld Johannesen remarks: “I am both proud and humble to enter such distinguished company. And it is important for me to say that the honour is equally awarded to the visionary farmers, who own Danish Crown. Through 127 years they have continuously shown courage to focus and invest in what is today one of the leading companies in its field.”

Former recipients of the Tietgen medal count among others Jørgen Vig Knudstorp and Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen from LEGO, Lars Rebien and Mads Øvlisen from Novo Nordisk, and Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller, Shipowner, from A.P. Møller-Mærsk.