Anna Ryott new Chairperson of Summa Equity

Anna Ryott, Deputy CEO at Norrsken Foundation and former CEO of Swedfund International, has been elected as working chairperson of Summa Equity. The election of Ryott strengthens Summa Equity’s expertise and experience in the area of sustainability. Ryott’s Board of Directors will include several newly elected members with strong backgrounds in value creation, investments and sustainability.   

”Making sustainable investments here and now is the key to achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. In Sweden alone, the private equity industry’s turnover exceeds SEK 300 billion and accounts for 8 per cent of GDP. Summa Equity is a unique private equity company that invests exclusively in sustainable companies with potential for high growth and returns. By demonstrating that sustainability and profitability go hand in hand, we can help channel more capital to sustainable investments and thereby help achieve the UN’s sustainability targets,” says Ms Ryott.

Ryott comes most recently from Norrsken Foundation where she has served as deputy CEO. She was formerly CEO of Swedfund – the national Swedish development finance institution – and secretary-general of SOS Children’s Villages. She has also held a range of management positions in the advertising sector and worked as a management consultant at McKinsey. She will now be one of the first female chairpersons of a Nordic private equity company.

”Summa Equity invests in companies that operate in industries with tailwind from the megatrends of resource efficiency, changing demographics and tech-enabled business. These companies generate high returns while also helping to solve some of the greatest challenges of our time. We use investments in sustainable companies as a tool to create a better world. This is something I strongly believe in and am passionate about. It is a fantastic privilege to work to promote values that I believe are important,” continues Ms Ryott.

”Anna is precisely the chairperson Summa Equity needs as we take the next step in our ambition to promote a more sustainable society through making good investments in companies that solve challenges and helping them to outperform. Her background in investment, sustainability, operation and strategy will strongly add to our investment and value creation skills and approach,” says Reynir Indahl, Managing Partner at Summa Equity.

Several other leading individuals have been elected as directors to Summa Equity’s board:

• Göran Carstedt, chairman of Summa Foundation (charitable foundation and controlling shareholder of Summa Equity). Carstedt has held executive positions at international organisations including Volvo, IKEA, the Clinton Climate Initiative, and the Society for Organisational Learning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
• Martin Skancke, chairman of the UN’s Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and adviser to several sovereign wealth funds and asset managers. After working as a consultant at McKinsey, Skancke served as Director General at the Norwegian Ministry of Finance where his brief included responsibility for the Norwegian Pension Fund, with assets of over USD one trillion. He is also chairman of Storebrand, Norfund and Kommunalbanken in Norway.
• Kari Olrud Moen, who also has a background from McKinsey, has held leading positions within DNB, Norway’s largest financial group. She has also served as State Secretary at the Norwegian Ministry of Finance. She was recently appointed chairperson of the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH).
• Per-Anders Enkvist, is founder and CEO of Material Economics, a Swedish management consultancy that recently published a report on the extent to which a circular economy can help reduce carbon emissions. Enkvist has a background as a partner at McKinsey, where he was involved in founding and leading the sustainability practice. He is also co-author of the book “A Good Distribution: Redefining Growth in the Twenty-First Century”.
• Mirja Lehmler-Brown, with a background from Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, is a partner at Hayfin Capital Management. Prior to joining Hayfin Capital Management, she worked for over ten years at Aberdeen Asset Management.

”I’m very proud that we have been able to attract such a competent group of Board members with world class experience in investments, value creation and ESG – Environmental, Social and Governance – compliance and reporting. They share our view that our greatest challenges are also our best investment opportunities and that investing in purpose driven companies that put sustainability at the core of their strategy and operations will lead to outperformance,” continues Mr Indahl.

For more information please contact:

Jenny Keisu, Partner Summa Equity

Mobile: +46 72 24 24 144

Email: jenny.keisu@summaequity.com

About Summa Equity

Summa Equity was founded in 2016 by partners with a shared vision of building a leading, specialised private equity company in the Nordic SME market, positioned to capitalise on the investment opportunities created by the thematic megatrends that are expected to drive long-term growth. The company focuses on sectors associated with three megatrend-driven themes: Resource Efficiency, Demographic Changes and Technology-enabled Businesses. Summa Equity closed its first fund in February 2017 with investment commitments of SEK 4.7 billion.