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What led to the creation of Rud Pedersen in the form we see today?

Before creating Rud Pedersen, I worked in a company where it was clear I was just an employee. When I asked about becoming more financially invested in the company, I was told that wasn’t possible.

I wanted to create a company that could answer ‘yes’ to all the questions where I had been told ‘no’.

I started the company in 2003, and for the first five years was the only partner. The first shareholder I brought into the company was Jan Juul Christensen, when we opened our second office in Denmark. He is now the head of communications for Copenhagen Airport.

Until 2018, we had shareholders in the individual offices, but not in the group. Opening a new office was akin to placing a bet on another country. Now, with shareholders in the group, there are more people involved in decision making and more people can feel like a part of the business is theirs.

We currently have 80 shareholders in our group and that’s a reflection of the kind of company we want to be. We believe that the more owners we have, the better the company will be.

How did you land on the name Rud Pedersen?

Originally, I wanted a name that reflected knowledge. One of the names that was initially floated was the ‘Institute of Public Affairs’. I also considered how to incorporate our geographical roots into the name.

But in a conversation with our group photographer Jäger, he suggested I use my name for the business. At the time, we had no money, no clients, or reputation; the only thing I had was my name. I had to back myself.

Naming the company after myself was a way to hold myself completely accountable. Don’t get me wrong – it can sometimes get confusing – but clients know they can count on us, they can count on me, because it’s my name that will be called out if we do something wrong.

Did you intend to grow Rud Pedersen into a business that has 16 offices in 15 countries across Europe?

YES!

I can’t say I foresaw the company being as big as it is today. But I did have a vision that to be successful we needed to be present in a number of cities across Europe.

I’m Danish, but I left Denmark in 1991 and have lived across many cities since then. I am a European and so is our company.

From the moment I created the business in Gothenburg, I knew that Sweden wasn’t our only home market; Europe is our home. This is probably one of the key reasons for our success and growth over time. We have always known that we want to be a leader across Europe, not just in the markets we have offices in.

What have been your top highlights over the last 20 years?

What a difficult question!

In 2018 when we introduced the group shareholder system it felt like we had transformed from being my company to being a company. Today, we have many people involved in group strategy and have lots of internal stakeholders to consider. We changed the destination of our group to create a much more integrated co-ownership structure.

Over the last six years, we have more than trebled in size.

Strategically, winning the Bayer account represented a big change for the company. Even though I wasn’t the one winning it, it showcased our European company in action. Winning against a number of serious competitors was a significant result for us and it enabled us to create structures in many European countries. The meaningfulness of the work also made this account special; working on an issue of such importance as food security, and helping a company work in an area that is consistently under public scrutiny, is at the heart of our business.

Apart from everything else we have achieved, opening the Ukraine office was also an important success. Besides being the right thing to do, it fits really well in our group. We have also successfully won our first client in the Ukraine office!

What are your hopes for the business over the next few years?

Many of the newer offices are working together and creating business opportunities across borders. This is a much newer way of working for us and is something we wouldn’t have seen three or four years ago. We want to see more of this going forward and help everyone to feel like they’re part of a truly European company.

We are taking time at the moment to complete our picture within Europe. We want to be in the top 5 consultancies in the markets we’re present. We have acknowledged that we don’t need to be present everywhere, but we want to be taken seriously where we are present.

We hope to make some connection to the USA in the not-so-distant future, but the form that will take is yet to be decided.