The new Board of Directors has extended the President's contract for four years
The new Board of Directors; Sigurður Hannesson, Tanya Zharow, Svanhildur Hólm, Halldór Benjamín Þorbergsson, Guðbjörg Edda Eggersdóttir, with the President of Reykjavik University; Ragnhildur Helgadóttir.
Reykjavik University's Board of Directors has extended the contract of dr. Ragnhildur Helgadóttir, RU‘s President until 2026. Ragnhildur took over from dr. Ari Kristinn Jónsson in 2021, but he had been President for eleven years. Ragnhildur initially signed a contract for one year, which has now been extended.
Dr. Ragnhildur says that the past year has been fun and challenging.
Reykjavik University is stronger professionally than ever, and everything works extremely well. The school has an excellent staff, and there have never been more students. Three hundred employees and 350 part-time teachers currently work with over four thousand students. The declared role of RU is to prepare society for the future, and we do that by creating and sharing knowledge. The school ranks high on The Times Higher Education World University, which measures an institution's performance. It is my job, now and before, to think about the school's greater good. We do that, for example, by strengthening our human resources in education, research, and work. When we succeed, we nurture growth spurts that lead to innovation. We know about sixty startups with roots in RU projects. I think it's very good for a young school of modest size.
For the first time, an agreement is made with the President to hold the position for a specific period – four years – but there is a possibility that the same person may hold the position for two periods. That is in line with what happens in other universities in Nordic countries.
Ragnhildur has been among the most active researchers at Reykjavík University for about two decades, but she also has extensive management experience. She was Dean of the School of Social Science 2019-2021, Chair of the Department of Law 2014-2019, and professor at the Department of Law since 2006. She started teaching at RU in 2002. Ragnhildur was the Chairman of the Science Board of the Science and Technology Policy Council for six years and has held various other confidential positions. She has taught at universities in Montreal, Ottawa, Paris, and Toulouse.
New Board of Directors at Reykjavik University
The new RU‘s Board of Directors are:
- Guðbjörg Edda Eggertsdóttir, Chairman of the RU Board of Directors
- Halldór Benjamín Þorbergsson, Managing Director, SA – Confederation of Icelandic Enterprise
- Sigurður Hannesson, Director General, SI - The Federation of Icelandic Industries
- Svanhildur Hólm, Managing Director, Icelandic Chamber of Commerce
- Tanya Zharov, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Alvotech
Reykjavik University is a non-profit corporation, owned by the private non-profit institution of the Iceland Chamber of Commerce for business education (Sjálfseignarstofnun Viðskiptaráðs um viðskiptamenntun, SVÍV) 64%, the Federation of Icelandic Industries (Samtök iðnaðarins, SI) 24%, and Confederation of Icelandic Enterprise (Samtök atvinnulífsins, SA), 12%. The University is run as a private non-profit institution, therefore its owners do not profit financially from the University's activities. All financial contributions and profits from the University's activities are spent on furthering the operations of RU. The Board performs general board duties and is responsible for strategic planning, administrative structure, finances and general operations.
