STS Chief Digital Officer Finalist for ‘Sweden’s Most Innovative Leader’ Award

Jessica Nordlander, STS’s Chief Digital Officer, is one of three finalists for the award ‘Sweden’s Most Innovative Leader’ at this year’s Chefgala, the most important management and leadership award in the country.

The purpose of the award is to recognize the leaders who have best adapted their operations to the globalized and digitized labour market in an innovative way. It is granted to leaders who think outside of traditional frameworks and act in innovative, creative and visionary ways in their business or industry, focusing on the values that form the basis of good leadership: sustainability, equality and diversity.

Before Jessica Nordlander joined STS as the company’s first Chief Digital Officer, she led impressive change and growth in other multinational companies. Previous positions include Head of New Business Development at Google and Managing Director on three different continents for SaaS growth wonder Meltwater. In parallel with her role at STS, Jessica serves on the board of several digital start-ups and contributes to Forbes.com as a member of the Forbes Technology Council (an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives).

Nordlander’s nomination comes as the result of STS’s ongoing digital transformation, of which she has been a vital conductor. As expressed by Chef, the organization in charge of the award, it is easy to be innovative in a new digital organization, but the real test for a leader's ability is to transform a sophisticated analogue business. It requires courage, reflection and the desire to try something new without tearing down what is already there, and to bolster everything good about the organization and its employees. Nordlander has demonstrated all of these qualities while reflecting on what leadership means today, what we can learn from the past and what is worth carrying into the future.

Nordlander had this to say about her nomination:

“Being chosen as one of three finalists for Sweden's Most Innovative Leader excites me in so many ways. First, it is very humbling that the enormous progress that we have been able to make on STS's digital transformation over the last two years is also being recognized outside of our organization. STS is an amazing place to be right now, and I am so very proud of everyone that has been a part of this exhilarating and terrifying journey.

Second, I am very happy that this award exists and that driving innovation and change within leadership and management practices is getting some serious attention. If the ways in which we lead do not develop, we can talk as much as we want about change, digitalization and innovation, but nothing will happen. If we want companies to operate differently, we need to lead differently; that is my strong conviction. We need to find a way to be both efficient enough to ensure our current viability and innovative enough to ensure the same for the future. This places an enormous demand for ambidextrous leadership, and in order to get there, we have a lot to learn about transparency, vulnerability and pushing decision making to the edges of our companies, to the people that interface with our clients and products on a daily basis. I read an article just last week that called Sweden one of the most innovative countries in the world, which makes the potential impact of being named a finalist for this award even greater, and I truly hope that I will be able to contribute a great deal to driving innovation in leadership in the near future.”

The winner will be announced at the Chefgalan ceremony in Stockholm on March 19^th.

About STS

STS Education is a global company within travel and education, founded in 1958 and with presence in over 30 countries. We offer experience-based learning in the form of guided youth trips, high school exchanges and study abroad programmes at colleges and universities. Our mission is to empower young people to grow through education and cultural exchange.

For questions or to get in touch with Jessica Nordlander, contact Elsa Lundström, Communications Manager at elsa.lundstrom@sts.se.

www.sts.eu