Björn Henriksson, CEO Partner, Nordic Interim
Björn Henriksson, CEO Partner, Nordic Interim

Nordic Interim is one of the pioneers within Executive Interim Management in Sweden, founded about 20 years ago when the market was entirely new in Sweden and the Nordic countries. A large part of the job was to educate potential clients about the brilliance of the concept, and to find senior leaders who were interested in this type of career. Today the company is part of Valtus Group, the world’s largest Executive Interim service provider with a turnover of + 110 MEuro.

We have talked to Björn Henriksson, MD of Nordic Interim, about the Swedish Executive Interim Management market.

What does the Swedish Interim Management market look like today?

The market is growing with 10-15% every year due to several reasons:

  • Due to less patience from active owners with a stronger value-creation agenda, the need for flexible solutions, also on an executive level, is increasing.
  • Executive Search recruitment processes sometimes takes too long. 9-12 months until a senior leader is in place is a very long time if you are an active owner with ambitions.
  • Large business-critical initiatives drive the need for more tailored Program Management organizations, often with more senior people and with a mix of backgrounds, rather than buying a standard consultancy pyramid team from one firm.
  • There is an increasing trend in the Western world that high potential leaders and experts +45 years old, wants to become independent professionals, drive change and make an impact rather than being permanently employed their whole career.

The demand from clients for Executive Interim Management is met by very qualified Interim Professionals. 

“Our clients are mostly Privat Equity-owned companies, followed by international large corporations. Our solutions are within three areas: Executive Management, Program Management, and Senior Functional Specialists. We see a rapidly increasing demand for Program Management support to drive critical change initiatives.”

Which roles are most in demand?

”Most of the assignments we are engaged in are related to some sort of change. More than 80% of our clients are boards, owners, and executive management. They engage us when they need to have an overdrive in moving their businesses forward fast. The most requested roles are CXOs, Business Unit Managers, and Senior Program Directors. We also see that the requests from companies in the size 300-600 MEuro has increased.”

What does the trend look like for the next five years?

”The industry will continue to grow and become truly international. We also see large multinational companies, that historically only occasionally used Executive Interim services, are starting to use these solutions more often. We also notice that neither Covid-19 nor the trouble time that the world is in right now have any effect on our industry’s growth. As a matter of fact, in troubled times the demand of experienced management capacity is actually increasing.”

Björn Henriksson, CEO & Partner, Nordic Interim

Interim Management is about reusing knowledge and skills. Reusing wisdom and the accumulated experiences of people when faced with challenges is brilliant.

Björn Henriksson
CEO & Partner, Nordic Interim

Björn started his career as a management consultant within Technology & Innovation Management, R&D and automotive. He has previously worked for Electrolux in Italy where he co-led a program office for 22 production sites in Europe. Before joining Nordic Interim, he was seven years at Etac in various executive positions.

Why did you choose to start a career within Interim Management services?

“When I got the question, I didn’t know what Interim Management was. I read several articles about the growth of the industry, and I could also see situations in the past when I would have needed this solution. But at that time, I did not know that it existed, so when I started to understand the great value it can bring, it was an easy choice to join Nordic Interim.”

Read more here: www.nordicinterim.com


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