Steering Committee and Funding

Steering Committee

Arctic Consensus has an operational steering committee that acts as a link for stronger cooperation between the private and public sectors as well as relevant knowledge institutions. The steering group is composed with a focus on creating synergy across traditional, professional and organizational barriers.

The steering group consists of decision-making leaders in both the private and public sectors. The capabilities of the steering committee have considerable experience with international relations, networking and extensive knowledge of the Arctic region.

Tonny Skovsted Thorup
Head of Department
Phone: 99 31 15 65

Tonny S. Thorup is a member of Aalborg University’s class of 1999 with a Master’s of Science in Public Administration. As the head of the business department in the municipality, he works to create growth and jobs in Aalborg and the North Denmark Region. He is deeply connected throughout the region with contacts in other administrations, organizations, and businesses. Anchoring Aalborg as the gateway to the Arctic is a strategic move for Tonny and he has a multitude of ideas to do so: for example, connecting Norway and the city of Stavanger to the existing collaboration in Arctic Consensus.

Claus Holstein
CEO
Phone: 99 30 15 01

Claus Holstein holds a Master’s in Business with a specialization in Organization and Strategy from Aalborg University, and has been the CEO of Port of Aalborg A/S since 2007. The Greenlandic harbor in Aalborg is the main port for ship traffic between Greenland, Denmark, and the EU. Claus Holstein has a wealth of business experience from the Arctic and the North Atlantic. As a member of the steering committee, he is focusing on logistics and business cooperation between actors in the Arctic and Denmark.

Henning Christensen
Head of Department
Phone: 97 64 82 65

Henning Christensen holds a Master’s of Science in Public Administration. He is currently the head of regional development in the North Denmark Region and the executive secretary of the North Sea Commission. Henning Christensen has a substantive background in international relations and has been involved with regional political affairs for over 22 years. He has a network that includes contacts in the EU, and he is focusing on the business perspective of the collaboration between Greenland and the North Denmark Region.

Henrik Halkier
Dean
Phone: 99 40 91 38

Henrik Halkier is dean of the Faculty of Humanities at Aalborg University. Previously Halkier has been tourism researcher and professor at the Department of Culture and Global Studies at Aalborg University. With this role, he has established a stronger research focus on the Arctic regions. Furthermore, is Halkier behind the initiative AAU Arctic, which is a platform, which bring together Arctic focused activities.

Funding

Arctic Consensus is supported by the Danish Business Promotion Board

Arctic Consensus is supported by the Danish Business Promotion Board
The Danish Business Promotion Board initiates and finances decentralized business promotion efforts that take into account differences in the regional and local business challenges, opportunities and priorities.

With the strategy Business Promotion in Denmark 2020-2023 as the framework, the Board of Directors is to ensure a coherent, efficient and decentralized business and tourism effort that is based on the needs, opportunities and challenges of companies in all parts of Denmark.