Cristina Stenbeck

Cristina Mayville Stenbeck, born 27 September 1977 in New York City, United States, is a Swedish business woman and investor. She is a major shareholder and former executive chairman of Kinnevik AB, one of the largest investment companies in Sweden.

Early life
Stenbeck was born in New York City as the eldest daughter of Jan Stenbeck (1942-2002), a Swedish industrialist and entrepreneur, and her American mother, Merrill MacLeod Stenbeck. Her parents had three other children, Hugo, Sophie and Max Stenbeck. Stenbeck is the granddaughter of Hugo Stenbeck (1890 – 1977), a Swedish industrialist and lawyer who was one of the co-founders of the family company, Kinnevik AB.

Stenbeck attended St. Andrew's School in Delaware (where she later served as a trustee), and graduated from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., with a Bachelor of Science in 2000 at age 22.

Career
Stenbeck's business career began in 1997 after she joined the board of Invik & Co, a financial services company supporting the insurance, fund management and banking industry. Stenbeck became the vice chairman of Kinnevik AB in 2003, later becoming chairman in 2007. In 2016 she stepped down as chairman of Kinnevik to concentrate on her investor role.

For the next decade after 2003, Stenbeck made successful changes at Kinnevik AB, consolidating the ownership of the group, whilst simplifying the corporate structure. She also divested peripheral businesses in order to reduce leverage and increase transparency of the company.

Her leadership has also seen the group's global network expand; the Kinnevik Group now operate in more than 80 countries in the communication, entertainment, media and e-commerce sectors, with well-known brands like Tigo, Tele2, Viasat, and Zalando forming part of the firm's reach.

Tigo, Viasat and Zalando have since spun out of Kinevik AB and are independent of Kinevik AB.

In early 2014, she was appointed chairman of the board at the online fashion retail platform Zalando. She also joined the board of Spotify. She served as the Chairperson on the Board of Zalando (2019-2023) and as a non-executive director on the Board of Spotify for 6 years (2017-2023).

Honors and awards
In April 2012, Stenbeck was awarded the Swedish Royal Patriotic Society Business Medal for outstanding entrepreneurship, while in November 2012, she won the Golden Gavel for her leadership as chairman of a listed company.

Personal life
Stenbeck has been married to the English businessman Alexander Fitzgibbons since September 2005. She has five children. She was named 2016 European Manager of the Year by European Business Press (EBP).