Cristina Mayville Stenbeck, (born 27 September 1977 in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, United States,) is a Swedish business woman and investor. She is a major shareholder and former executive chairman of Kinnevik AB, one of the largest investment companies in Sweden.

Early life

Stenbeck was born in

as the eldest daughter of Jan Stenbeck (1942-2002), a Swedish industrialist and entrepreneur, and her American mother, Merrill MacLeod Stenbeck. Her parents had three other children, Hugo, Sophie and Max Stenbeck. Stenbeck is the granddaughter of

Hugo Stenbeck Edvard ''Hugo'' Stenbeck (15 October 1890 – 6 January 1977) was a Swedish lawyer and founder of Investment AB Kinnevik. He belonged to a group called in to investigate the collapse of Ivar Kreuger's financial empire. Two of his children became f ...

(1890 – 1977), a Swedish industrialist and lawyer who was one of the co-founders of the family company, Kinnevik AB. Stenbeck attended St. Andrew's School in Delaware (where she later served as a trustee), and graduated from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, with a Bachelor of Science in 2000 at age 22.

Career

Stenbeck's business career began in 1997 after she joined the board of Invik & Co, a financial services company supporting the insurance, fund management and banking industry. Stenbeck became the vice chairman of Kinnevik AB in 2003, later becoming chairman in 2007. In 2016 she stepped down as chairman of Kinnevik to concentrate on her investor role. For the next decade after 2003, Stenbeck made successful changes at Kinnevik AB, consolidating the ownership of the group, whilst simplifying the corporate structure. She also divested peripheral businesses in order to reduce leverage and increase transparency of the company. Her leadership has also seen the group's global network expand; the Kinnevik Group now operate in more than 80 countries in the communication, entertainment, media and e-commerce sectors, with well-known brands like Tigo, Tele2, Viasat, and

Zalando Zalando SE is a publicly traded international online retailer based in Berlin which is active across Europe and specializes in shoes, fashion and beauty products. The company was founded in 2008 by David Schneider and Robert Gentz and has more th ...

forming part of the firm's reach. Tigo, Viasat and Zalando have since spun out of Kinnevik AB and are now independent of Kinnevik AB. In early 2014, she was appointed chairman of the board at the online fashion retail platform

. She also joined the board of

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

. She served as the Chairperson on the Board of Zalando (2019-2023) and as a non-executive director on the Board of Spotify for 6 years (2017-2023).

Honors and awards

In April 2012, Stenbeck was awarded the Swedish Royal Patriotic Society Business Medal for outstanding entrepreneurship, while in November 2012, she won the Golden Gavel for her leadership as chairman of a listed company.

Personal life

Stenbeck has been married to the English businessman Alexander Fitzgibbons since September 2005. She has five children. She was named 2016 European Manager of the Year by European Business Press (EBP).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stenbeck, Cristina 21st-century Swedish businesswomen 21st-century Swedish businesspeople American people of Swedish descent 1977 births Living people Stenbeck family Georgetown University College of Arts & Sciences alumni People from Long Island 21st-century American businesswomen 21st-century American businesspeople St. Andrew's School (Delaware) alumni