Charlotte Sahl-Madsen or Sahl-Madsen (born 26 August 1964) is a Danish politician and businesswoman. She was the Danish Minister of Science, Technology and Development from 23 February 2010 to 3 October 2011. She had previously led Ebeltoft Glass Museum,

Lego Lego (, ; ; stylised as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. Lego consists of variously coloured interlocking plastic bricks made of acrylonitri ...

R&D and the

Universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents. It comprises all of existence, any fundamental interaction, physical process and physical constant, and therefore all forms of matter and energy, and the structures they form, from s ...

theme park.

Early life

Sahl-Madsen was born in

Holstebro Holstebro is the main town in Holstebro Municipality, Denmark. The town, bisected by Storå, Denmark, ''Storåen'' ("The Large Creek") and has a population of 37,487 (1 January 2025).hatter Hat-making or millinery is the design, manufacture and sale of hats and other headwear. A person engaged in this trade is called a milliner or hatter. Historically, milliners made and sold a range of accessories for clothing and hairstyles. ...

and the other was a self-employed business person. She was educated at Holstebro Gymnasium until 1983. She attended the

University of Aarhus Aarhus University (, abbreviated AU) is a public research university. Its main campus is located in Aarhus, Denmark. It is the second largest and second oldest university in Denmark. The university is part of the Coimbra Group, the Guild, and Utr ...

in 1985 but did not graduate. Her highest academic qualification came from her high school. Her first notable job was as director of the Ebeltoft Glass Museum.Charlotte Sahl-Madsen is all business and means business
, Chris Tachibaba, November 2010, Nordic Life Science Review, Retrieved 10 November 2015

Business career

Sahl-Madsen was CEO of Danfoss Universe and a director of

. She joined the Economic and Business Affairs experts and director of the Danish Ministry's innovation unit.New minister had no idea
, Peter Riddersborg et al, Universitypost.dk, Retrieved 9 November 2015 She describes how the CEO of Lego,

Jørgen Vig Knudstorp Jørgen Vig Knudstorp (born 21 November 1968) is a Danish businessman who is the current executive chairman of The Lego Group. He succeeded Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen as president and CEO of the company in October 2004, holding the position for over ...

, came to visit the Ebeltoft Glass Museum and she thought he had come to discuss a potential grant. Instead, however, she was offered the chance to lead their R&D department. She says that if people place trust in you then you need to return the compliment by justifying their trust. She was offered the job of leading what was then called Danfoss Universe. The theme park is now called "Universe" and it is a theme park that is focussed on interesting people in Science. Whilst she was at the theme park she worked with the developmental psychologist

Howard Gardner Howard Earl Gardner (born July 11, 1943) is an American developmental psychologist and the John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Research Professor of Cognition and Education at Harvard University. He was a founding member of Harvard Project Zero in 1967 ...

to create experiences that appealed to his theory of

multiple intelligences The theory of multiple intelligences (MI) posits that human intelligence is not a single general ability but comprises various distinct modalities, such as linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, and spatial intelligences. Introduced in Howar ...

Politics

She was a surprise choice as the Conservative Minister of Science, Technology and Development as she was not a member of the Danish Conservative People's Party. She did not know she was to be the new minister the day before she was given the job. She served from 23 February 2010 to 3 October 2011TV2 – Sahl-Madsen ny videnskabsminister
/ref> as part of Lars Løkke Rasmussen's first Cabinet. Whilst she was in office she was criticised by universities because she capped their funding at a time when they were seeing an increase in student numbers.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sahl-Madsen, Charlotte 1964 births Living people People from Holstebro Government ministers of Denmark Women government ministers of Denmark