We believe there is nothing more meaningful than our mission of helping save lives. Our goal towards 2030 is to help save one million more lives, every year. This is a big ambition, but we are up for the challenge together with our valued partners and customers.

In support of our 2030 One Million Lives goal, Tore Lærdal will focus on the impact and synergy potential of our complete toolkit; comprising Laerdal Medical, Laerdal Global Health, and the new Laerdal Million Lives Fund, as well as his role as Executive Director of the Laerdal Foundation.  As a result of this, he has decided to cease his role as both CEO and Executive Chairman of Laerdal Medical and continue as Executive Chairman only. His passion for building relationships, partnerships, and global health initiatives with far-reaching impact will continue to drive his work.

I will assume the role of CEO. Throughout my twenty-one years at Laerdal, it has been an honor to learn from Tore. For anyone who knows him, it is impossible not to be inspired by his determination and steadfast commitment to our mission.  Laerdal is a company that has always been evolving. But I have never seen the company as determined as now to do whatever it takes to get us to our goal. Our shared vision for the future direction of Laerdal will be instrumental in the transformation of our company and to our future success.

I am confident that my experience, together with the support of my exceptional colleagues around the world, will enable this to be a seamless transition. I want to thank Tore, the Lærdal family, and the Board of Directors for their confidence in me. I look forward to this new challenge. We have exciting opportunities ahead of us and we are taking important steps to ensure that we will reach our goal of helping save one million more lives, every year by 2030.

We are committed to doing business in ways that contribute to a better world. Our company culture will become stronger with a change mindset than makes us future proof, and with our strong strategy towards 2030, our future has never been more clear.  With this, we will better coordinate our combined initiatives, accelerate our use of enabling technologies, support alliances like the Global Financing Facility and Gavi, the global vaccination alliance. We will also build leadership capacity to support ongoing initiatives including the formation of RQI-Partners with the American Heart Association, the acquisition of B-Line Medical, and our vast expansion of development in five geographical locations.

For us, despite the hardship and challenges, 2020 was a year when we took many important steps towards the future. We have seen that we can pivot and accelerate our efforts at record speed, not only to remain relevant but to provide exactly what our customers need when they need it to help save more lives.

I am so proud of being part of this organization – and I love working with every one of our 1600 team members – every day. We know 2021 is off to a rocky start, but as always, we are here for you. And we’re just getting started.

Take care of yourselves and each other,

Alf-Christian