Carsten Rasmussen of Lego ranked as Denmark’s most influential supply chain leader for 2019

Carsten Rasmussen, Chief Operating Officer at The Lego Group, has been ranked as Denmark’s most influential supply chain leader for 2019. Supply Chain Media arrived at that conclusion by applying its tried-and-tested methodology to produce the third edition of the Top 25 Supply Chain Executives in Denmark. Jean Marc Lechêne, Chief Operating Officer at Vestas, took the top spot last year, following in the footsteps of Susanne Hundsbæk-Pedersen, Senior VP Devices & SCM at Novo Nordisk, who was the winner in 2017.

As in the previous two years, the decision about who should top the 2019 ranking was a very close call. This year, the financial results of The Lego Group tipped the scales in Carsten Rasmussen’s favour. The Lego Group returned to growth in 2018 and its revenue and operating profit both grew by 4%, plus its market share increased in all major markets. As COO of The Lego Group and member of the Executive Leadership Team, Carsten has made a significant contribution to the changes and growth of Lego over the years. Rasmussen and The Lego Group have made highly valuable efforts in terms of embracing new innovations and focusing on supply chain sustainability – from both an environmental and a human/ethical perspective. After all, in The Lego Group’s case, it is a huge challenge to change not only the packaging, but also the ingredients of the product.

Rasmussen joined Lego in 2001 as a buyer and has since worked in various roles in purchasing, production and supply chain across the globe, including leading the supply chain office in Hong Kong (2006-2009), leading Lego Production in the Czech Republic (2009-2012) and overseeing the EU packing (2012-2014). Between 2014 and 2015, Carsten became responsible for the Lego Shopper Marketing & Channel development. This demonstrates Supply Chain’s role as an integral part of the company and a success factor in developing an omnichannel strategy.

Renewed growth

During 2016-2017, as Senior Vice President Capability Building, Rasmussen laid the foundations for the renewed growth by ensuring coherent alignment between the product innovation value proposition, the customer value proposition and the supply chain value proposition. In April 2017, Rasmussen became COO with global responsibility for Manufacturing, Distribution, Supply & Demand Planning, Quality, Engineering and S&OP.

The Danish ranking has been developed and published by Supply Chain Media in collaboration with the executive supply chain recruitment agency Inspired-Search, the Copenhagen Business School and its annual event, the Supply Chain Leaders Forum. Supply Chain Media has used a similar methodology to produce the Top 28 Supply Chain Executives in Europe (since 2015), based on the company success, the personal responsibility and the personal visibility of the executives, and peer voting.

Top 25 Supply Chain Executives in Denmark 2019

1. Carsten Rasmussen, Chief Operating Officer at Lego
2. Sami Naffakh, Chief Operations Officer at Arla Foods
3. Per Rud, Senior Vice President After Sales Marine & Power Plants at MAN Energy Solutions
4. Jan Breinholt, Vice President Customer Supply Chain at Carlsberg
5. Emmanuel Buyse, Vice President Head of Supply Chain and Procurement at ISS A/S
6. Mark Porter, Senior Vice President Operations Wind Power at Orsted
7. Morten Albin Olsen, Vice President Global Supply Chain at Demant
8. Jörn Neubert, Chief Operating Officer at Velux
9. Lars Bang, Executive Vice President Product Development & Supply at H. Lundbeck
10. Frank Berg Rasmussen, Vice President Global Supply Chain at Coloplast
11. Claudia Holmen, Head of Supply Chain Management at Biogen
12. Jacob Kops Pedersen, Vice President Global Supply Chain at Pandora
13. Nicolaj Boysen, Chief Supply Chain Officer at Coop Danmark
14. Dan Nielsen, Vice President Head of Supply Chain at FLSmidth
15. Panos Mytaros, Executive Vice President at Ecco
16. Karsten Gentner, Vice President Global Supply Chain at LEO Pharma
17. Andrew Finnegan, Corporate Vice President Supply Chain at Novo Nordisk
18. Kristian Sibilitz, Senior Vice President Supply Chain & Facility Management at H. Lundbeck
19. Per Sonne Sørensen, Senior Vice President Global Quality, Production & Supply Chain at Foss
20. Torsten Steenholt, Executive Vice President Global Operations at Chr. Hansen
21. Morten Lundsgaard Degn, Vice President Manufacturing & Supply Chain Technology at Lego
22. Kurt Tornbjerg Pedersen, Vice President Supply Chain at Danish Crown
23. Pernille Fagerberg, Global Supply Chain Director at Danfoss Power Solutions
24. Stéphane Simonetta, Group Executive Vice President Operations & COO at Grundfos
25. Thomas Børglum Jensen, Chief Financial Officer & Head of Logistics at Bestseller