Bjorn Edlund
Vice President, Communications
Royal Dutch Shell

Bjorn Edlund, who joined Royal Dutch Shell in the Fall of 2005, is responsible for the energy group's worldwide reputation management, internally and externally. He takes a special interest in large global organizations’ relationships with stakeholders, especially when these come under strain.

He began his career as a news agency journalist, and worked with United Press International in Sweden, Germany and Spain from 1977 until 1983, when he joined Reuters. In Reuters he held posts in Mexico, in Argentina as regional news editor, and in Germany. He traveled widely as a “fireman” and covered, general news, politics, coups, wars, natural disasters, sports and human-interest stories. Edlund has worked in global business communications since 1989 in corporate and consulting roles. He came to Shell from ABB Ltd, where he headed communications from 1998, adding sustainability affairs in 2005.

He co-founded the Business Leaders Initiative on Human Right while at ABB, and also got ABB to provide start-up funding for FRONTLINE/World on PBS. In Shell, Edlund provides support for an Oxford University project to train lawyers from countries in transition to defend journalists in freedom of expression cases.

Bjorn Edlund works in English, German, Spanish and French, as well as his native Swedish. He and his Swiss wife Veronika, a physiotherapist, have homes near Basel and in Sweden. Their daughter Rebekka is a graduate from Basel University.