CEO & Board of Directors
Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Hörður Arnarson
Education: Engineering, Ph.D., 1990, Technical University of Denmark. Electronic Engineering, B.Sc., 1985, University of Iceland.
Hörður Arnarson joined Marel hf in 1985, two years after the company was founded, as a project manager. In 1994, he became Director of Product Development, and Director of Production in 1998 until 1999 when he became the CEO of Marel and now Marel Food Systems. Hörður is vice chairman of the board of the Association of Icelandic Industries, and on the board of the Icelandic Chamber of Commerce.
Chairman of the Board
Árni Oddur Þórðarson
Education: MBA from IMD in Switzerland, 2004.Cand. Oecon, Business Administration from the University of Iceland, 1993.
Elected: 2005
Árni Oddur is the CEO of Eyrir Invest, and has extensive experience working in the financial markets. Before co-founding Eyrir Invest he was head of Corporate Finance and Capital Markets at Búnaðarbanki Íslands, which later merged with Kaupthing Bank. Árni Oddur has been a director of Ölgerð Egils Skallagrímssonar ehf., since 2003, and on the advisory board of Arctic Ventures, a high-tech fund in Stockholm, since 1999.
Board Members
Arnar Þór Másson
Education: Political Science with a M.Sc. in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science, 1997. BA in Political Science from the University of Iceland 1996. Currently studying Investment Management at Reykjavík University.
Elected: 2001
Arnar has been a specialist at the Ministry of Finance for the past five years. Alongside his work at the ministry, Arnar is an adjunct in the Political Science Dept. at the University of Iceland. Arnar does not sit on the board of any other company than Marel. He was on the boards of Hjaltadalur Heating Utility sf. from April 2003 to November 2005, and the Weights and Measures Office from April 2003 until July 2005.
Friðrik Jóhannsson
Education: Business Administration from the University of Iceland, 1982. CPA 1987.
Elected: Alternate 1997-2004. Board member since 2004. Chairman of the Board from the AGM 2005 until October 2005.
Friðrik became CEO of the Straumur-Burðarás Investment Bank hf. in June 2006. Previously, Friðrik was the CEO of Burðarás hf. from March 2004 until September 2005. Friðrik is the chairman and largest shareholder of TM Software hf., and a member of the Board in Cyntellect since April 2006. Friðrik is the Chairman of the Board of the Iceland Stock Exchange, Icelandic Securities Depository and Eignarhaldsfélag Verðbréfaþing hf. Friðrik has sat on the boards of the following companies: Iceland Genomic Ventures Holding, Alfesca hf., Þróunarfélag Íslands hf., Eimskipafélag Íslands ehf., Haraldur Böðvarsson og Co hf., Skagstrendingur hf., Flow Matrix Inc., Urður Verðandi Skuld hf., Og fjarskiptum hf.
Helgi Magnússon
Education: Business Administration from the University of Iceland, 1974. CPA 1975.
Elected: 2005
Helgi is the largest owner, chairman of the board and CEO of Eignarhaldsfélag Hofgarða ehf., and Eignarhaldsfélags Hörpu ehf. Helgi is the chairman of Flügger Harpa Sjöfn ehf., chairman of the Federation of Icelandic Industries, member of the board of directors and the executive board ofthe Confederation of Icelandic Employers. Helgi is also on the board of Blue Lagoon hf., Icelandic Pension Fund and Skipasmíðastöðvar Njarðvíkur. Helgi has sat on the boards of the following companies: Íslandsbanki hf. (now Glitnir hf.), Lífeyrissjóðurinn Framsýn and VVÍB investment fund.
Lars Grundtvig
Elected: 2007
Lars Grundtvig is the MD of Grundtvig Invest Aps, an investment company which he owns together with his two sons. This company was previously the owner of the Scanvaegt Group, of which Lars was the working chairman since 1993. Having joined the company in 1959, Lars served in several different capacities and was the managing director for many years.
Margrét Jónsdóttir
Education: Business Administration from the University of Iceland, 1983, Master of Accounting and Auditing from the University of Iceland, 2006.
Elected: 2006
Margrét is the CFO of Eyrir Invest ehf. Margrét was the director of the finance department at Edda Publishing hf. from December 2001 until October 2002. She was the director of finance at Kreditkort hf. from August 2000 until December 2001. She was also the Manager of accounts and planning at Fjárfestingarbanki atvinnulífsins hf. (FBA) from January 1998 until June 2000.