About Scilla and Jaan Ivar Semlitsch
Jaan Ivar Semlitsch was born in Canada, grew up in Norway, and studied and graduated both in Norway at Norges Handelshøyskole (Norwegian School of Economics) and the US (Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University), prior to joining McKinsey&Company in 1995. He was promoted to Associate Partner in 1999 and left The Firm in 2001 at the age of 30 to become the Managing Director of Expert Denmark, one of his clients and a leading consumer electronics retailer in Denmark.
Until recently, Jaan Ivar was the President & CEO of Orkla ASA, one of the biggest companies listed on the Norwegian Stock Exchange, a market cap of 8 billion US dollars, and the leading FMCG company in the Nordics, and with many operations also outside of the Nordics, including Central Europe and India. (For more details about Orkla, please visit www.orkla.com)
Currently, Jaan Ivar operates as an independent advisor through his own consulting firm, Scilla AS, which he has owned since 2007, serving large companies, primarily based in Norway, but with a significant international presence.
In addition, Jaan Ivar is the newly elected Chairman of Norli AS, owned 51% by Aschehoug and 49% by Norgesgruppen, and he is on the Board of DnB ASA, since 2014.
For more on Jaan Ivar´s more detailed CV, click HERE
In his spare time, Jaan Ivar loves running and playing chess and to spend time with his family. He just turned 50 (born 10 December 1971) is married to the same woman for 24 years and have 3 children at the age 22, 20 and 14.
To follow Jaan Ivar on his personal facebook-site, see link:
The story behind the name Scilla
Why the name Scilla? I was Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Statoil Fuel &Retail, and I was approached by a well-known recruiter who wanted me to consider the position as CEO for Plantasjen, a leading Nordic garden center chain with a presence in Norway, Sweden, and Finland, and as part of the offer, I would receive a sign-on fee with shares in Plantasjen. The Chairman advised me to set up a company where the shares could be held, and so I did. I asked my wife, what´s a good name for such a company. After some brainstorming, we came up with the name Scilla.
It´s a beautiful flower, usually blue, but white, pink, and purple types are known, most flowers in early spring, perhaps the best part of the year. It´s international and can be found in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, even in Australia. It grows quickly, is strong, and is adaptable to new circumstances. It spreads around!
We liked the name, in fact, it´s even a girl´s name, and easy to pronounce and spell.
So Scilla was born. Later on, Scilla and I moved from being a shareholder in Plantasjen to taking more on an advisory role in certain areas.
As of 2022, Scilla has the ambition to become a selected boutique house consulting firm, but the name was invented in 2007.
