Lars H. Ramqvist

Biography

Lars Ramqvist was born on November 2, 1938 in Grangesberg, Dalecarlia, Sweden. Educated at the Universities of Uppsala and Stockholm he obtained the Ph.D. in solid state physics and chemistry at Uppsala in 1969. Dr. Ramqvist's thesis included works in electronspectroscopy under the expert guidance of Professor Kai Siegbahn, Nobel Prize winner in physics in 1981.

Dr. Ramqvist began his industrial career in 1962, when he joined Stora Kopparberg AB in their material lab at Soderfors Bruk. In 1965, he moved to Axeljohnson Institute for Industrial Research, Nynashamn, where he was President from 1975-1980. The Institute's activities covered a number of areas such as electronics, process automation, and material science. Dr. Ramqvist produced a number of patented innovations, mainly in areas related to refractory metals and materials. International licensing of these and other patents became one of Dr. Ramqvist's main tasks during the 1970's.

In 1980, Dr. Ramqvist was recruited by Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson as Vice President and head of the Information Systems Division. In 1984, he was appointed Senior Vice President and head of Business Area Components. There he worked out the strategy for Ericsson's present semi-conductor and microelectronic activities including a partnership with Texas Instruments in the USA.

In 1988, Dr. Ramqvist became head of Business Area Radio Communication and President of Ericsson Radio Systems AB. He was elected President and Chief Executive Officer of Ericsson on May 8, 1990. In 1994, Ericsson was an 11 billion dollar (U.S.) company with approximately 80,000 employees. Order intake, sales and profit have all risen sharply during the last 3 years. Ericsson is one of the world's largest suppliers of mobile cellular systems, both for analog and digital systems. Its AXE system is now sold in more than 110 countries.

These successes are the result of the heavy and persistant investment in research and development that Ericsson has made under Dr. Ramqvist's leadership. In 1994, Ericsson spent more than 2 billion U.S. dollars in technical development and 16,500 engineers and researchers were engaged in 40 research centers in 20 countries.

Concurrently, top priority was put on aggressive marketing and on achieving quality in all aspects. In 1994, Ericsson Spain was the selected recipient of the European Quality Prize and was national recipient in Sweden, Denmark and The Netherlands.

Lars Ramqvist is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. He serves on the Boards of the Swedish Employers Confederation, the Association of Swedish Engineering Industries, the Federation of Swedish Industries and of the largest European pulp and paper company, Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget SCA, and of the pharmaceutical company Astra AB. Dr. Ramqvist is also a member of the European Round Table of Industrialists.