Kristoffer Svensson leads Berg-Hansen's Swedish expansion

Kristoffer Svensson has been the CEO of the Norwegian business travel giant Berg-Hansen's Swedish venture since the new year. 

- We have already signed the first customers, he says.

Berg-Hansen is the third largest business travel agency in the Nordics with over 500 employees in Norway and a gross turnover of nearly 4 billion kronor. 90 percent of bookings are made online in a self-developed system.

The company previously had a cooperation agreement with CWT, but it ends this year after Amex GBT bought the partner. Instead, Berg-Hansen is starting a Nordic expansion, beginning in Sweden.

- The strategy for Nordic expansion was made before the pandemic, but was paused for understandable reasons, says Kristoffer Svensson.

- But I am just about to start a new round of recruitment, he says. We receive many applications because Berg-Hansen is an attractive brand that many have encountered in their previous jobs.

- Now I am mainly looking for salespeople, for functions like HR or finance we can initially hire consultants. Additionally, we have the support of a Swedish team in Norway that backs us up with customer support and marketing.

The first few months in the new job have been hectic:

- Setting up offices, acquiring computers and IT, insurance for employees, recruiting and signing collective agreements, it has been both high and low. But it has gone well and we have recruited some real stars in the team.

Kristoffer Svensson comes from the CEO position at Champion Health Nordic, which works with corporate health on self-developed platforms. He was previously the sales manager at Parks and Resorts and before that, he worked in sales within the food industry wholesale sector.

But in his early career, he was really on thin ice:

- I was an ice hockey player, including for Brynäs and the Norwegian Bergen Flyers.

You must benefit from that now, elite athletes are competitive, aren't they?

- That's probably true, but above all, I like to build teams.