Catharina Lagerstam

I have a new hero. This time it’s a woman, namely economist Catharina Lagerstam. For a short time in the spring of this year, she sat on the board of a Swedish bank called HQ Bank, which is now crumbling even as I write this.
She resigned from the board when her concerns over the bank’s trading portfolio being valued too high (whatever that means) were ignored. Her PhD and research into financial risks apparently didn’t impress the boys at HQ.
After her resignation, Lagerstam was ridiculed publicly by HQ chairman Mats Qviberg (the “Q” in “HQ”), who said she simply “didn’t have the nerves for this kind of work.” Really? Luckily, with his precious bank in tatters, Qviberg himself is now being whipped by the financial press like the incompetent fool he is. Justice somewhere in the universe, and I love it.
If I had a say over any board of directors anywhere, I would recruit Catharina Lagerstam. If I could afford her.