Bengt Baron (born 6 March 1962) is a business leader and former

backstroke Backstroke or back crawl is one of the four Swimming (sport), swimming styles used in competitive events regulated by FINA, and the only one of these styles swum on the back. This swimming style has the advantage of easy breathing, but the disa ...

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

from

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. Baron won the 100 m backstroke at the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, and was a member of the bronze winning team from Sweden in the 4×100 m freestyle at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, California. An undergraduate student from the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

, Baron was named into its Hall of Fame in 1999. In the years 1979–1985 he won a total number of 33 Swedish titles. After his career as swimmer, Baron attended the

Haas School of Business The Walter A. Haas School of Business (branded as Berkeley Haas) is the business school of the University of California, Berkeley, a Public university, public research university in Berkeley, California. It was the first business school at a pub ...

at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, where he received his

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

in 1988. Upon graduation, he joined

McKinsey & Company McKinsey & Company (informally McKinsey or McK) is an American multinational strategy and management consulting firm that offers professional services to corporations, governments, and other organizations. Founded in 1926 by James O. McKinse ...

in their

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

office, after which he joined numerous consumer companies, including

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

, AB Frionor (a Norwegian frozen seafood company), and

Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company, referred to simply as Kodak (), is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in film photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorporated i ...

. From 2001 to 2004, Baron was CEO and President of

Absolut Vodka Absolut Vodka is a brand of vodka, produced near Åhus, in southern Sweden. Absolut is a part of the French group Pernod Ricard. Pernod Ricard bought Absolut for €5.63 billion in 2008 (equivalent to € in ) from the Swedish state. Absolut ...

, CEO and president of its parent company V&S Group 2004–2008, then CEO for Leaf 2009–2012 and after Leaf's merger with

Cloetta Cloetta is a Swedish confectionery company. The company manufactures and sells local confectionery brands on its main markets Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany and the UK. History In 1862, Christoph Cloëtta (1836–1897) ...

he was CEO of the new Cloetta from 2012. He announced in 2015 that he was going to leave Cloetta.''Aktiespararen'' no. 5/2015, ISSN 0345-049X He was previously married to

Agneta Mårtensson Ulla Agneta Linnéa Mårtensson (born 31 July 1961) is a Swedish former freestyle swimmer. She won a silver medal in 4 × 100 m freestyle relay at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow along with Carina Ljungdahl, Tina Gustafsson and Agneta Eri ...

, the couple has two daughters. He now lives with another woman.

Personal bests

Long course (50 m)

Clubs

* Finspångs SK * SK Korrugal * Järfälla SS

References

Sveriges Olympiska Kommitté
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Baron, Bengt 1962 births Living people Haas School of Business alumni McKinsey & Company people Olympic bronze medalists for Sweden Olympic gold medalists for Sweden Olympic swimmers for Sweden Swedish chief executives Swedish male backstroke swimmers Swedish male butterfly swimmers Swimmers at the 1980 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1984 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists in swimming Swedish male freestyle swimmers World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in swimming Järfälla SS swimmers 20th-century Swedish sportsmen