The Arctic Economic Council gets a new director

Mads Qvist Frederiksen comes to the post from Confederation of Danish Industry, where he represented Denmark at the AEC.

By Trine Jonassen, High North News - December 7, 2020
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Mads Qvist Frederiksen, of Denmark, is the new director of the Arctic Economic Council. (Arctic Economic Council via High North News)

This year, as the Arctic Economic Council celebrates its sixth anniversary, the organization has a new director in place.

“The AEC symbolizes the best of the Arctic,” newly hired director Mads Qvist Frederiksen in a press release. “It is cooperation across large distances and different languages. It is the huge potential of a young organization that I look forward to being at the helm of.”

Passion for the Arctic

Frederiksen comes from the position as senior advisor in the Confederation of Danish Industry (DI), where he had the responsibility for Arctic affairs. He knows the Arctic Economic Council both as a representative from Denmark in the AEC and as member of the AEC Investments and Infrastructure Working Group.

“My passion for the Arctic began with a voyage in 2005 when I sailed from Iceland to Greenland and then onto Canada on an expedition with Justin Trudeau. Since then I have been working with business development in all Arctic nations,” he says.

Frederiksen will move to Tromsø, Norway, in the beginning of 2021 and take over the job after Anu Fredrikson, who has moved on to another Arctic position as director of Arctic Frontiers.

Facilitating sustainable business development in the Arctic

The AEC is a business forum established to facilitate Arctic business-to-business activities, promote responsible economic development and provide a circumpolar business perspective to the work of the Arctic Council.

The AEC’s active organizations include a diverse collection of business industries that operate in the region, from startups and small and medium entrprisess to Indigenous and multinational corporations. The Icelandic business community holds the Chairmanship of the AEC from 2019 to 2021.

“We are excited about announcing Mads Qvist Frederiksen as the new AEC director. We strive for sustainable development in the Arctic and we think Mads has both the Arctic mindset this position requires and the qualifications needed to lead the AEC office forward,” says Chair of the AEC, Heidar Gudjonsson.