Kenny Lövingsson

Rolf Kenny Lövingsson (English pronunciation: [ɹˈɑːlf kˈɛni lˈɜːvɪŋsən]; born 8 October 1945) was a Swedish businessman, investor and sportsman. He was appointed CEO of Anderson & Lembke in 1979 and was appointed chairman of the Swedish Basketball Federation in 1992. He established the Swedish Basketball League (SBL) in 1992. In 2004 he was moderator for the EBC-Kreaprenör (today Creapreneur) annual club meeting. He was further appointed CEO and chairman of Styrelseakademien in Stockholm.

Early life
Rolf Kenny Lövingsson was born in Solna municipality, Sweden. He was the sole child of military official Axel Erland Lövingsson and chief secretary Lilly Lundbäck.

Lövingsson studied engineering, national economics as well as finance at University. In 1967, he was appointed as deputy site manager at Johnson Construction Company Nya Asfalt. In 1968, Lövingsson entered sales and worked as a sales engineer at Consensus.

In 1970, Kenny Lövingsson was appointed as Chief Sales Officer (CSO) and Chief Product Officer (CPO) at Interco.

Anderson & Lembke
In 1979, Lövingsson was appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the B2B marketing agency Anderson & Lembke. In 1979, under Lövingsson's management, Anderson & Lembke entered the UK market by opening an office in London. In 1980, he stepped down as CEO of the firm. In 1982, an Anderson & Lembke office based in Stamford, Connecticut was successfully launched. In the 1980s, the firm was awarded with creative awards and attracted major technology clients such as Microsoft and Sun Microsystems.

By the year 1984, the A&L group included four companies in Stockholm and agencies in Gothenburg, Helsingborg, Helsinki, Oslo, London, and Stamford. Their combined personnel was 170 and annual sales around US$65 million.

Rolf Kenny Lövingsson's team was active in the Chiat/Day/Mojo expansion of Anderson & Lembke Inc. into San Francisco, Amsterdam and Hongkong. In 1995, the shareholders of Anderson & Lembke sold the firm to McCann Erickson.

Cicero Group
In 1976, Rolf Kenny Lövingsson was nominated as Deputy CEO and senior consultant by the executive board of Utvecklingsplan.

In 1977, he was appointed as a board member of Utvecklingsplan.

In 1981, Lövingsson was appointed as CEO of Cicero and Utvecklingsplan. In 1984, he managed the fusion between Cicero Affärsinformation AB and Utvecklingsplan AB. He was appointed as deputy CEO and vice-chairman for the newly formed Cicero Group in 1985. In 1986, Lövingsson was further appointed CEO of Cicero Management.

KREAB
Rolf Kenny Lövingsson was appointed as deputy CEO and senior consultant at KREAB in 1990. KREAB was at the time the largest lobbying company in Sweden. He was nominated by Jan-Erik Ander, Peje Emilsson and Peder Olin, all of whom founded the PR firm in 1970 and had backgrounds in the Moderate Party. Lövingsson managed the public relations and lobbying of Carl Bildt’s administration from 1991 to 1994. Carl Bildt during his term as Prime Minister of Sweden and Minister of Foreign Affairs was alleged to have been responsible for the Georgian regime transferring over 20 MSEK to KREAB. KREAB's involvement with Carl Bildt has in media been heavily scrutinised due to lobbying and corruption allegations. Carl Bildt is currently the vice-chairman of KREAB worldwide. Bildt as well as KREAB denied the allegations.

Kenny Lövingsson further acted as the CEO for the firm Assimilator AB, a smaller advisory and consulting group, from 1989.

Other business
From 1988 to 1991, Kenny Lövingsson was a board member of Handels & Juristinkasso AB (today a part of Svea Inkasso AB), a Swedish debt collection company. The company was in a controversial trial for using unethical practices. The trial was held in the Supreme Court of Sweden.

From 1989 to 1992, he served on the board of Merkantil Leasing, Sweden's oldest financing company, founded in 1965. Merkantil Leasing is since 2016 owned by Swedbank.

From 1983 to 1994, Lövingsson was a board member as well as a principal shareholder of the Cicero Group.

From 1983 to 1994, he was a principal shareholder and served as the chairman of Lärdata. The company was founded in 1983 and became a leader in the early Information technology sector in Sweden. In 1984, one year after initially being founded, Lärdata had a revenue of 100 MSEK.

He was appointed as chairman of the company Meta Able in 1995.

Sports
Kenny Lövingsson was recruited as a teen for the Swedish Men's National Under-18 basketball team. He was granted an active role in the Sweden's nomination to host the Olympic Games. Lövingsson was the chairman of Täby's Basketball Association (Swedish: Täbys basketbollsförbund) from 1986 to 1990.

In 1992, he would be appointed as chairman of the Swedish Basketball Federation. Lövingsson's campaign slogan was: “en korg per torg” (one basket per square).

The same year, in 1992, the Swedish Basketball league was established under Kenny Lövingsson's chairmanship. In 1993, the league introduced awards and nominations.

During the 1980s, the Swedish Basketball Federation imposed restrictions on foreign talent and teams could solely have one player from the Americas. Kenny Lövingsson revoked these restrictions and allowed the teams in the Swedish Basketball Federation to have two American players in 1992.

The 1990s was regarded the most prominent period of Swedish basketball history. Under Lövingsson's chairmanship the Swedish Men's National Team reached its highest ranking to this current date.

In 2020, he would also initiate a fellowship with the Swedish Sports Confederation.

Family
Rolf Kenny Lövingsson is married to Ann-Britt Lövingsson (née Sundkvist), daughter of Else Lindholm, the owner of a consumer goods company, and paint master Gösta Sundkvist.

Kenny Lövingsson is the father of businessman and author Pehr Fredrik Helin Lövingsson and the director Johanna Lilja (born Lövingsson).

His family have held an active community role within the Västervik municipality, hosting sports events and art projects. Kenny Lövingsson was a major actor in the regional fiber-project (Swedish: Fiberprojektet i Hamn).

Under the Covid-19 pandemic Ann-Britt Lövingsson hosted an art exhibition in the forest and decorated it with classic Nordic folklore themed sculptures. The Lövingssons had previously been responsible for building Trolls and Sprites in the region. In the 20th century the family was involved in the promotion of Gamleby and its Troll forest. The family was further responsible for the Hummelstad Boule promotion campaign in 2022.

The Lövingsson's still own the estate Haga in Kälkestad first acquired by the family during the early 20th century.