Elaine Weidman-Grunewald

Elaine Grunewald is a global business leader with extensive international executive experience, with a focus on venture building and sustainable investing, tech & digitalization, public affairs and corporate development. Her advocacy for the private sector’s role in solving sustainability challenges has played out in multinational as well as startup environments, in investment funds and on public boards. She has advised numerous companies, funds and CEOs, and is actively engaged in the vibrant tech start up scene in the Nordics, the Middle East, and the US.

Grunewald spent two decades at Ericsson in Sweden as Senior Vice President and Chief Sustainability and Public Affairs Officer and a member of Ericsson’s Executive Team. More recently she was President of the Tonomus Venture Studio, where she focused on delivering future growth through the incubation and acceleration of cognitive, AI driven companies and technologies. Tonomus is the tech and digital arm of NEOM, a bold initiative shaping the future of living in Saudia Arabia and beyond. She led a global team focused on an applied model of venture building with a solid track record of delivering early stage ventures.

Her public board assignments have included the European Sustainable Growth Acquisition Corp, Azelio AB, Sweco AB and she was an advisor to the Rockton Sustainable Aviation Fund. She is on the board of the non-profit Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative, Forest Whitaker’s foundation to engage youth in leadership building, conflict resolution and peacebuilding, and she is actively engaged in the International Women’s Forum. In 2018, she co-founded the AI Sustainability Center, which aimed to assist companies with implementing responsible and ethical AI techniques.

Grunewald is a frequent speaker at industry and corporate events including the World Economic Forum, Mobile World Congress, Women in Tech, LEAP, and she is the co-author of the book “Sustainability Leadership: A Swedish Approach to Transforming Your Company, Your Industry and the World."