Swiss Impact with Banerjis

Host: Ben Banerjee & Sveta Banerjee
Topic: Why empowering girls can change the world?
Guest: Dr. Vibeke Riemer and Lars Kolind, Founders of World Guide Foundation

Dr. Vibeke Riemer (a Danish citizen), is a medical doctor, entrepreneur, board chair and philanthropist, has over 30 years of experience from public and private sector management and philanthropy. Specialized in Public Health with additional business education from Copenhagen Business School and the Wharton School, Dr. Riemer joined the National Board of Health (Ministry of Health) where she was engaged in developing and designing future structure and standards for the Danish public health service. Later she joined the Ministry of Finance, to work with similar challenges in other sectors. Realizing the importance of the human factor Dr. Riemer co-founded PeopleTools A/S, a management consultancy providing psychological assessment tools for public and private corporations, with the scope of improving leadership and social skills.

Dr. Riemer has been a volunteer Scout/Guide leader throughout her career. She has held numerous positions at local, regional, national and world levels. She has served as President of the Olave Baden-Powell Society, supporting the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS). Dr. Riemer’s passion is to develop tomorrow’s leaders with focus on girls and young women. She is a major contributor to this work, and she has been engaged in leadership development projects and social entrepreneurship around the world. She has received awards for her work including the Princess Benedikte Award and the Regal Circle Award from the World Scout Foundation, and she is a Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog. Dr. Riemer attended the Clinton Global Initiative in 2012.

Lars Kolind (a Danish citizen) is a mathematician, serial entrepreneur, bestselling author and philanthropist. He has started more than 25 businesses and he is a thought leader on leadership and strategy. He has written five books about leadership and strategy that have been published in nine languages.

Kolind has been a pioneer in organizational design. He created one of the world’s first paperless and truly knowledge-based organizations in 1991 where he demonstrated how an organization can simultaneously become more innovative, more flexible, more responsive, more efficient and more meaningful to employees.

Kolind’s philanthropic work focuses on enabling young people throughout the world to be active citizens leading positive change in their communities. This is the vision of the World Scout Movement where Kolind has been engaged for four decades. He has received numerous awards including Denmark’s Man of the Year, the Bronze Wolf, The BSA Silver World Award, The Silver Fox, the Princess Benedikte Award, the Regal Circle Award, and he is a Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog. He currently serves as chairman of the World Scout Foundation.