LEGO appoints new CEO; JVK to head up new business group
Posted by Huw,
It's all change at the top at LEGO: On 1st January current CEO Jørgen Vig Knudstorp is to head up a new business group focussing on the long term brand potential of LEGO; Bali Padda, current COO, is to replace him.
Read the full press releases after the break.
New structure for active family ownership of the LEGO brand
Jørgen Vig Knudstorp to head up LEGO brand entity to increase focus on the long-term brand potential
Based on a strong commitment to continued active family ownership, the Kirk Kristiansen family, owners of the LEGO brand, have decided to establish a new entity, the LEGO Brand Group.
The LEGO brand is built on a simple idea with endless possibilities; an idea that has proven its durability and timelessness, not least demonstrated by the unparalleled growth the LEGO Group has achieved over the past 12 years. With this in mind, the owner family firmly believes that there is still untapped potential in the LEGO brand.
“Our family ownership is deeply rooted in the LEGO Idea, which is about learning and development through play and a unique, creative play system that offers endless possibilities. With our recent growth and globalisation come new and exciting opportunities for the brand, and we establish the LEGO Brand Group to look into these new opportunities,” says Thomas Kirk Kristiansen, fourth generation owner of the LEGO Group.
The LEGO Brand Group will thus facilitate the owner governance of all LEGO brand related activities. This includes activities such as the LEGO Group and LEGO Education, and also how the brand is being expressed by entities such as LEGO Foundation and in LEGOLAND attractions (by Merlin Entertainments Group). Therefore, the purpose of the LEGO Brand Group is also to protect and develop the LEGO brand.
Current CEO of the LEGO Group, Jørgen Vig Knudstorp will chair the new entity in close partnership with deputy chair, Thomas Kirk Kristiansen.
“It has been very exciting to make these preparations for the future – not just for the next generation but also for generations to come. I am very pleased about the partnership between Thomas and Jørgen because I am convinced that their joint efforts and skills support our mission to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow in the best possible way,” says Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, third generation owner of the LEGO Group and Chairman of KIRKBI A/S.
As a consequence of his new role in the LEGO Brand Group, the Board of Directors of LEGO A/S will nominate Jørgen Vig Knudstorp to become Chairman of the Board in May 2017.
Niels Jacobsen, present Chairman of the Board of Directors of LEGO A/S, will continue in his role as Deputy Chairman in KIRKBI A/S. Commenting on Jørgen Vig Knudstorp’s new role, he says:
“Over the past 12 years, Jørgen Vig Knudstorp has developed an outstanding knowledge and understanding of the opportunities and challenges for the LEGO Group and the LEGO brand. Now is the right time to use Jørgen’s capacity in a broader role. I look forward to continue working with Jørgen in the future and to continue my work with Kjeld and Thomas Kirk Kristiansen in the KIRKBI A/S Board of Directors”.
Commenting on his new role and the new entity, Jørgen Vig Knudstorp says:
“I really look forward to this new challenge together with Thomas. I have enjoyed being the CEO of this great company, because I have a lifelong passion for the LEGO Idea. The role and the job have changed very much over these years, and this is the natural next step, as I am a firm believer in the value of active family ownership.”
Bali Padda, currently Chief Operations Officer in the LEGO Group, has been appointed to replace Jørgen Vig Knudstorp as CEO, and he will take on his new role as of January 1, 2017.
Bali Padda, current Chief Operations Officer, appointed CEO of the company
Bali Padda takes over from Jørgen Vig Knudstorp who will head up the new entity LEGO Brand Group.
Bali Padda has been with the LEGO Group for 14 years and is at present heading up Operations while at the same time being overall responsible for people and organisational development. During the past ten years, he has been a member of the LEGO Group’s top management.
Commenting on the appointment of Bali Padda as CEO, Niels Jacobsen, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the LEGO Group, says:
“Bali Padda has a fantastic track record in the LEGO Group with more than 14 years of experience especially within supply chain functions, but more recently also focusing on people and organisational development. Bali has demonstrated an ability to drive the changes required in operations through the significant growth we have experienced during the past years. I am confident that Bali will continue to develop the company in close cooperation with management.”
Thomas Kirk Kristiansen, fourth generation owner of the LEGO Group, comments:
“Bali possesses the right LEGO mindset. He has a deep knowledge of our entire company, a very clear sense of what we need to do to take the company to the next level, and he is a true ambassador for the LEGO Idea and the LEGO brand.”
Jørgen Vig Knudstorp is very pleased to hand over the management of the LEGO Group to Bali Padda:
“I have learnt a lot from Bali’s great leadership and execution which he has displayed through all of his career here. I have worked closely with Bali for many years and I am confident that we will continue to build on that close collaboration in our new roles,” says Knudstorp.
Commenting on his new role as CEO, Bali Padda says:
“I am extremely honoured by this opportunity. It is a huge and exciting task, and I look forward to the challenge. I have a strong passion for our product and brand, and I look forward to continuing the strategic direction we have set for the company. With the great collaboration in our management as well as the support from Thomas and Jørgen, I am confident that we can continue the success of the LEGO Group and reach many more children in the future with high-quality play experiences.”
Source: LEGO newsroom, via BricksFans.
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19 comments on this article
I wonder how this will affect sets. They need to remake the good sets (Jabba's Sail Barge,Millenium Falcon,Cloud City,Hulkbuster Smash,Super Hero Airport Battle,Ant Man Final Battle,Fun in the Park,Heartlake Grand Hotel etc) and include better minifigures/minidolls in a way that makes it feel like it's worth your money (especially kids saving up) like give us a whole Disney Castle/Carbon Freezing chamber not half of it! And putting sought after (but not too sought after like Darth Revan/ Gold C3PO but put in say Slave Leia,Jabba,Emperor Palpatine or Darth Vader) because most kids only want the "main characters" to recreate their favourite scenes from. Star Wars/Avengers/Justice League or act out their own stories based on Minecraft. Let's hope the new CEO will be kind and make 2018/2019/2020 a great year for sets (especially Star Wars and Super Heroes because the builds can be really lame sometimes)
It will have no impact on sets. I doubt the CEO has, or wants to have, much say on which minifigures appear in which sets!
I don't think that Lego will remake anything Jabba related due to the news of a people that was insulted by the portrayal of ME living on temples (corrupt and womanizers), unless that was a big Lego April Folls day joke.
May the addition of him to the Lego family brings us better sets (Tie Bomber, a modular school, a hospital, etc).
You guys are misguided.
The CEO is not going to have anything to do with what sets are created. The overall play experience should be his goal and complete sets (such as a full castle rather than a half castle) could be a push but minifigures or remakes are most likely not in his wheel house.
I do hope that LEGO's globalization (as stated in the article) does not take LEGO down the dangerous path that many globally large corporate entities have taken and that is to become so large (while being centralized) that the company is unable to with stand the ups and downs that a business will eventually experience no matter what they sell or who their customer base is. LEGO's success is due to dedication to quality in materials/product, play and image. Customers will pay more for a LEGO branded set over a competitor because of these qualities. That said there is no entity that is safe from economic down turns and so I hope that the LEGO group does not expand to the point that they are unable to act (as opposed to react) to these changes in business. As a father of 2 it would break my heart if LEGO ever got to a point where they either had to sell out (to any interest be it an investment group or individual) or went bust because they became too big and yes it is possible to be come too big too fast. I'd like to think that this new group/effort is the LEGO groups strategy to ensure success (both financially and ethically) for the future no matter what happens to the economies of the world.
it appears to me that the new owners of LEGO have ideas beyond plastic bricks. Whilst this sounds positive, so many companies have failed big time by spreading their product thinly into so many diverse areas. Perhaps LEGO will follow in the footsteps of the likes of LFL/Disney and then take over the planet? :-D
I wish Bali Padda the best of luck! I hope he will keep the company where it is now, or perhaps to even make it better :)
I believe TLG has learnt the hard way that their core business is the brick and I highly doubt they will go down that path again! ;-)
So good luck to Bali Padda... and to JVK too, for his new assignment!
Nice. Bali Padda is both a familiar name and somebody who's been very involved in the company for years. While I'm not as familiar with him and his work as with Knudstorp's, I trust that he'll do a good job.
It's neat reading about how varied his background is compared to other leading figures at the LEGO Group (past and present). He's British, born in India, and first began working at the LEGO Group through their branch at Enfield. Yet despite being the first CEO of the LEGO Group who isn't Danish, he's been working with the LEGO Group in a global capacity long enough to understand how a Danish business functions.
@Bubba and mr_skinny: Actually it seems like LEGO may be going about this the right way. The impetus for this shift is that Jorgen Vig Knudstorp will be leading the new LEGO Brand Group which will handle some of the less toy-focused extensions of the LEGO brand. That relieves The LEGO Group from having to worry about as much outside the toy industry sphere. This is in contrast with the LEGO Group's diversification in the late 90s and early naughts, when they were getting directly invested in lots of things outside that sphere.
Also, JVK seems like one of the most trustworthy people to handle this kind of new organization, since during the LEGO Group's recovery period he played a leading role in reining in TLG's excessive diversification and helping them to innovate in a smarter way that was truer to LEGO brand values. So he of all people should know how to maintain healthy brand growth without making reckless investments or losing focus on the brick.
Overall while this news is a big surprise, it also seems like it has a lot of positive potential for LEGO as we know it.
I was having similar thoughts to @Aanchir; this all seems encouraging news...
Don`t screw up and focus on the main core, the bricks, sets and themes. Not games, clothes and themeparks. I wish them good luck!
(don't you hate it when you press Post comment and it disappears :/ )
I'd say it is more of an appreciation for long term work kind of promotion. Mr. Padda is with LEGO last 14 years out of which last 5 he was COO. I guess whatever influence he would like to make on products he can propose in the inner circle of the top management even now :D
https://www.lego.com/en-us/aboutus/lego-group/management/management-board/bali
Padda is not part of the foundering family. Why go to an outsider?
@mike978: Jorgen Vig Knudstorp was not part of the founding family, either, and he's been CEO of the LEGO Group since 2004. The family still owns the company, but they haven't run it themselves in over a decade. Also, Bali Padda is hardly an "outsider". He's been working at LEGO for around 14 years. Jorgen Vig Knudstorp had only been working at LEGO for around three years when he took over as CEO.
^ that's interesting because without checking I had this false impression that JVK had also worked for decades with the company too before becoming CEO. But despite well-deserved recognition of years of service for both JVK and Padda for their new respective roles, years of experience seemingly aren't the be all and end all - it's that next level of passion and dedication to the brand that really pushes the company forward.
But a very carefully considered approach is key given the antics of the turn of the Millenium (excluding Lego Star Wars obviously), so it's good that Lego actually have a working group to consider the impacts of brand growth. For example, I would personally like the 'Lego Education' strand to be pushed far more in schools and it looks like this would fit the ambitions in the press release perfectly
The new re-organisation is basically run by the very same talented people (after more than a decade of working experience within the corporation) running the very same company, but with a promotion and a fatter pay check. :) I will be worried if they bring in someone from outside and mess things up. I am hopeful of the new re-organisation as it paves the way for more exciting things to come.
@papluh; indeed. Bali Padda is already 60, and apparently one of Jørgen Vig Knudstorp's first tasks will be to help source a new CEO to follow Mr. Padda (http://www.business.dk/industri/ny-lego-direktoer-paa-laant-tid-jagten-paa-hans-efterfoelger-er-gaaet-ind).
Aanchir - by outsider I meant not Scandinavian.
@mike978: Ah, OK, that makes a bit more sense. In answer to "why?", I suppose he was probably just the most qualified person for the job at this time. Ethnicity and national origin are not important considerations as long as the person taking the job understands how a Danish company operates, and as the company's Chief Operations Officer for the past five years, Bali Padda should understand that about as well as anyone.