Shortly after revealing new investment plans, NKT’s CEO resigns

NKT’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Alexander Kara has decided to leave the company and is being replaced from within. The announcement comes shortly after the company revealed it was planning new investments in additional production capacity and capabilities.

According to NKT, Kara has decided to leave the company for personal reasons and will be replaced by Claes Westerlind, who will assume the CEO and President role.

Westerlind, who has more than 15 years of experience with power cables and high-voltage DC converters, joined NKT in 2017. Since 2019, he has held the position of Executive Vice President, Solutions Karlskrona, and has been a member of the company’s global leadership team.

Before joining NKT, Westerlind worked in various technical, sales and managerial roles in ABB (today Hitachi Energy) from 2006-2017, both in the power cable and the high-voltage DC converter business units.

The company believes that the new appointment is set to strengthen NKT’s execution of ReNew BOOST as well as the execution of the recently announced expansions of Karlskrona, Sweden. 

“I would like to thank Alexander for his commitment to NKT since he joined the company in 2019. He has successfully headed the transformation of the cables business since 2019, which has lifted the financial performance. The company is now in a strong position to grow with the green transition and electrification of societies,” said Chair of the Board of Directors Jens Due Olsen.

“With the appointment of Claes as the new CEO of NKT, we have found the right profile to further strengthen our power cable business and continue positioning us to benefit from the green transition and electrification of societies.”

For 2023, NKT reported project awards and firm commitments for its power cables for approximately €5 billion. With this “record order intake”, NKT announced it would progress investments in additional production capacity and capabilities.

This includes a third extrusion tower at the high-voltage factory in Karlskrona, which will be around 200 meters tall and will become the second-largest tower in Sweden. The investments are expected to create more than 500 local jobs.