Susanne Arfelt Rajamand named CEO of Royal Greenland

Susanne Arfelt Rajamand has been named the new CEO of Nuuk, Greenland-based seafood firm Royal Greenland.

Rajamand is currently the managing director of the Southeast Asia operations of New Zealand-based dairy company Fonterra. She previously served as the vice president of McCormick and Company’s Asia Pacific operations, and as managing director for Unilever’s Singapore operations. Rajamand will begin her new position on 1 February, 2023.

“Susanne has the profile, the international experience, and the personality needed to lead the country's most-important company," Royal Greenland Board Chair Maliina Abelsen said. “She wants to help ensure Royal Greenland's continued development in this country and maintain the international focus.”

Rajamand will replace Mikael Thinghuus, who announced his departure from the company in January 2022 after 12 years as CEO. Thinghuus joined the board of directors of Danish seafood trading firm Nowaco in September 2022.

In a press release, Rajamand said she wants to prioritize Royal Greenland’s presence in Asia, as well as its sales in North American and Europe.

Royal Greenland recorded a pre-tax profit of DKK 326 million (USD 44.4 million, EUR 43.8 million) in 2021 on revenue of DKK 5.64 billion (USD 769 million, EUR 758 million). Its post-tax profit was DKK 257 million (USD 35 million, EUR 34 million). That represented a bounceback from 2020, when the company posted a loss of DKK 39 million (USD 5.3 million, EUR 5.2 million) as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the loss of nearly its entire sales total to China.

In March 2022, Thinguus said the company struggled in the short-term during the pandemic as it made the decision to continue with its full operational plans, but that in the long-term, the move paid off.

“That decision has ensured that the group entered 2021 with full staff both at sea and on land, with healthy stocks and with well-maintained relationships with suppliers and customers all over the world,” he said. “If we had significantly reduced our fishing and our production, it could have caused lasting damage to access to resources and caused significant social and economic problems for the local communities in which we operate.”

However, in 2022, Royal Greenland once again faces economic challenges, this time from global inflationary trends and Greenland’s decision to place sanctions on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine, a decision Thinguus backed.

“Individual needs must give way to the greater good, and commercial pain is nothing compared to the pain the Ukrainian population is exposed to through no fault of their own,” he told Sermitsiaq.ag.

Photo courtesy of Susanne Arfelt Rajamand/Linkedin