Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen

Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen (born December 27, 1960) is a Danish businessman, CEO of the Novo Nordisk Foundation and former Executive Vice President of Research & Development, head of R&D and Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) at the pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk.

Education and background
Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen went to boarding school in Epsom, Surrey in Great Britain from 1967 to 1971. He graduated from high school from Rungsted Stateside in 1979. He holds a master's degree from The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in 1986, now part of the University of Copenhagen. According to Krogsgaard Thomsen himself, he originally wanted to be a practicing veterinarian, and was inspired by the British television series All Creatures Great And Small. At the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, however, he started to take an interest in pursuing a career in either science or the pharmaceutical industry. He finished his PhD. from the same university in 1991.

Career
Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen was employed by Novo Nordisk in 1991 as head of Growth Hormone Research and became Executive Vice President for Diabetes R&D in 1994. He was appointed senior vice president of Diabetes R&D in 1994.

In November 2000, he was appointed executive vice president and Chief Scientific Officer (CSO). From 1994 to 2021 he was responsible for the research and development of 20 medical products specifically within diabetes treatment and the development of GLP-1 and tablet technology used as a replacement for conventional injection-based technology in biological diabetes treatment. He left the position as Senior Vice President of R&D on February 28 in 2021 and took the role as CEO of the Novo Nordisk Foundation on March 1, 2021.

From 2017 to 2019, Thomsen was the chairman of the board of directors at University of Copenhagen. Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen received the royal decoration of Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog by the Danish Royal House on 12 December, 2022.

Personal life
Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen is married to Ulla. Mads has three children from previous marriages.