January 2023

The LEGO Foundation appoints new Chief Executive Officer and board member

Agnete Kirk Kristiansen returns to the LEGO Foundation Board of Directors as current board member, Sidsel Marie Kristensen, is appointed new Chief Executive Officer

The LEGO Foundation Board of Directors has appointed Sidsel Marie Kristensen as new CEO, where she will focus on setting a future strategic direction for the foundation. Building on her extensive experience from the LEGO®-ecosystem, she will step into the role from 1 February 2023, for a period of minimum one year and possibly longer.

Sidsel has been a board member of the LEGO Foundation since 2020 and a board member of Merlin Entertainments, who operates the LEGOLAND parks, since 2019. Recently, she also joined the Board of Directors at BrainPOP, a leading digital learning provider. As such, she brings a unique understanding of learning through play and the role of the LEGO Foundation in supporting children and families across the world.

With the appointment as CEO, Sidsel will step down from the LEGO Foundation Board of Directors and Agnete Kirk Kristiansen will return to the board as part of the Kirk Kristiansen family’s continued commitment to drive positive impact through the LEGO Foundation.

 

"I look very much forward to welcoming Sidsel Marie Kristensen as CEO of the LEGO Foundation. Through her extensive leadership and board experience from the LEGO-ecosystem, among others as a board member of the LEGO Foundation, Sidsel is deeply engaged in learning through play. Her unique understanding of our purpose, strategy and partnerships combined with her values, energy, and skillset, makes Sidsel well positioned to continue the development of the LEGO Foundation, recognised as one of the largest private donors within education."
Thomas Kirk Kristiansen, Chairman of the LEGO Foundation Board of Directors

Sidsel joins the LEGO Foundation from KIRKBI, the Kirk Kristiansen family’s private holding and investment company, where she currently holds the role as General Counsel and advisor to the Kirk Kristiansen family.

"I feel very fortunate to have been given the opportunity to join the LEGO Foundation and become part of an organisation working towards one of the most important purposes, there is, namely, to create a better future for our children. Through my work in the LEGO Foundation Board of Directors, I have seen first-hand how the capacity of the Foundation has been elevated to execute strong programs and increase its grantmaking capabilities. I look very much forward to continuing this development together with our partners. "
Sidsel Marie Kristensen, newly appointed CEO of the LEGO Foundation

She is taking over from the temporary leadership provided by the Board of Directors, after former CEO Anne Birgitte Albrectsen ended her tenure with the LEGO Foundation in October 2022.

In the LEGO Foundation Executive Team, she will work with Judith Diers (VP, Head of Center for Inclusion and Playful Learning), responsible for grants and programs with a background from Ford Foundation and UNICEF, and Netsanet Belay (Head of Centre for Influencing and Partnership), responsible for advocacy, communication, and partnerships, with a background from Amnesty International.

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The LEGO Foundation's governance and leadership

The LEGO Foundation

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