Gunnar Wieslander
Gunnar´s span of unique experience and expertise comes from 30+ years in senior roles and assignments serving at the highest executive level of the Swedish Government, being at the helm of a major commercial defense contractor, heading up naval forces in the field and teaching military strategy.
Top positions held range from Naval Officer, Commander of the Swedish Submarine Force, Military Adviser to the Minister of Defense, State Secretary for Foreign Trade, at the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, State Secretary to the Prime Minister of Sweden to President of Saab Kockums - the naval business arm of the defense contractor Saab.
Gunnar is a senior resource at Senior Advisers and owner of Navegante AB providing strategic advice in Government matters in interactions with the private and public sector and especially in the context of international relations.
Background of Gunnar
During his naval officer career in the submarine branch he mixed sea-going assignments with staff duties and teaching military strategy. Having commanded three submarines and a submarine squadron he became Commander of the Swedish Submarine Force and later the military adviser to the Minister of Defense.
Between 2007 and 2014 Gunnar Wieslander served in the positions as State Secretary for Foreign Trade, at the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and The State Secretary to the Prime Minister of Sweden from 2010.
When serving as State Secretary for Foreign Trade, at the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the following agencies reported directly to Gunnar:
- SEK- state-owned company providing financial and credit facilities on commercial and sustainable terms to the Swedish export industry
- Swedish Export Credit Agency
- Swedish National Board of Trade
- Business Sweden - agency having a unique mandate to provide aid to Swedish companies to grow internationally and to foreign companies to invest and expand in Sweden.
- The Swedish Institute - public agency promoting interest and trust in Sweden around the world.
In 2015 Gunnar became the President of Saab Kockums, the naval business arm of the defense contractor Saab, with the aim to re-establish and transform Swedish naval shipbuilding capacity. In that role he successfully brought in the latest technology, methods, tools and machinery resulting in much improved product quality, life cycle cost and availability. Saab Kockums shipyard in the city of Karlskrona is presently a truly state-of-the-art facility.
In 2020 Gunnar started up his own company, Navegante AB. Main objective is to give strategic advice on matters concerning Government, public and private activities and their interactions in an international context.
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