Anna Kinberg Batra
Speaker, advisor and board director
Anna Kinberg Batra became the first woman to lead the Moderate Party of Sweden in 2015, after former Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt. But instead of becoming her country’s first woman as PM, she became the first leader of her party in over 100 years not to stand in elections. Instead, she was forced to resign over a year ahead of them after internal stress over opinion polls. She left parliament and politics after the general elections of 2018.
In her praised book "Inifrån" (Swedish for "From the Inside"), published in November 2018, Ms. Batra writes about her experience from the top in times of political instability and change in Sweden and internationally. She served as party leader 2015-2017, in the years of terrorism, Brexit, Trump, the rise of populism, polarization and the transformation to the digital, around-the-clock media and social media. She also gives some insight into everyday family life as Prime Minister candidate, where being a woman and mother poses its special challenges both professionally and in private.
Today, Ms. Batra serves as Leader in Residence at the Stockholm School of Economics Centre for Advanced Studies in leadership, as a board director of Swedish Space Corporation, Collector bank, and SJR/Women’s Executive Search. She works as an advisor to the Sweden-India Business Council and Confederation of Swedish Industries, as a columnist in Swedish leading business daily Dagens Industri and as speaker and moderator. Also, Batra is a Swedish patron of the international youth leadership program Seeds of Peace.
Anna Kinberg Batra has not only served as party leader herself but also worked internationally with party leaders, business leaders and heads of states and governments in Europe, Middle East, India, and the US. She has international conference and speaking experience from Europe, US, and India. Topics where her experience is best used, which she can speak or moderate discussions about are:
- Politics, economic and security policy
- Leadership in turbulent times
- Challenges for business leaders in political surroundings
- Women on, or striving towards, the top
Ms. Batra is a graduate of School of Economics and has also studied French, Dutch and Political Science at the Stockholm University. Her vast and wide political experience includes local, regional, national and international level including elected posts as MP, Parliamentary Group Leader/Chief Whip, Committee chair of Finance (first Moderate) and European Affairs, first female chair of Young Conservatives Stockholm region, chair of Stockholm University Student Union and civil servant work at the office of PM Bildt and the first Moderate Party office in the European Parliament.
Apart from politics, Batra worked on the founding teams of two recruiting start-ups, (Monster and Nova100), as a journalist at major Swedish Daily Svenska Dagbladet, with SSE Business Lab at the start of Klarna and as VP of Stockholm Chamber of Commerce. Apart from the book "Inifrån", she has written a book on India in 2005, co-authored an award-winning book on leadership in 2003 as well as a number of policy papers and articles. Batra is born 1970, speaks English, Dutch and French and lives in Stockholm with her husband and daughter.
