Mads Nipper

Mads Nipper
Birthplace	Denmark
Nationality	Danish
Occupation	Business executive, corporate board chairman
Title	Chairman of the Board, MacArtney Underwater Technology
Known for	CEO of Ørsted, CEO of Grundfos, Senior Vice President at Lego Group

Mads Nipper is a Danish business executive who has held senior leadership positions at several major Danish and international companies. He is known for his tenure as Chief Executive Officer of Ørsted, the Danish multinational energy company focused on renewable energy, and for his earlier career at the Lego Group, where he spent more than two decades rising to the role of Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Vice President. Before joining Ørsted, Nipper served as CEO of Grundfos, the world's largest pump manufacturer. His career has spanned consumer products, industrial manufacturing, and the energy sector, and he has been a prominent figure in Danish business circles. Following his departure from Ørsted in 2025, Nipper transitioned into corporate board roles, including the chairmanship of MacArtney Underwater Technology, a manufacturer of high-technology underwater equipment. His career trajectory has reflected the broader shifts in Danish industry toward sustainability and green energy, and his leadership at Ørsted placed him at the center of the global offshore wind energy sector during a period of significant expansion and subsequent financial turbulence.

Career

Lego Group

Mads Nipper began his professional career at the Lego Group, the privately held Danish toy company headquartered in Billund, Denmark. Lego, founded in 1932 by Ole Kirk Christiansen, had grown from a small carpentry workshop into one of the world's most recognized toy brands by the time Nipper joined the company. The company's origins lay in Christiansen's decision during the Great Depression to produce miniature versions of his furniture products, which led him into toy manufacturing. By 1934, the company had adopted the name "LEGO," derived from the Danish phrase leg godt, meaning "play well."

Nipper spent more than two decades at Lego, during which the company experienced both profound crises and a remarkable recovery. In the early 2000s, Lego faced near-bankruptcy due to overexpansion and a loss of focus on its core product lines. The company subsequently undertook a significant turnaround under new management. At Lego, Nipper rose through the ranks to become Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Vice President, positions in which he oversaw the company's global brand strategy and marketing operations. His work at Lego coincided with a period during which the brand expanded into films, video games, theme parks, and digital products, while maintaining its core construction toy business.

The Lego Movie, released in 2014, became a major commercial and critical success, helping to further cement the brand's cultural relevance. During this era of growth and brand expansion, Nipper played a key role in shaping Lego's global marketing approach. The company's recovery from its early-2000s crisis was widely documented in business media, with The New York Times and other outlets chronicling the strategic shifts that restored the company to profitability.

Grundfos

After departing Lego, Nipper was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Grundfos, a Danish multinational corporation and the world's largest manufacturer of pumps. Grundfos, headquartered in Bjerringbro, Denmark, operates in dozens of countries and produces pumps and water technology solutions for a range of industrial, commercial, and residential applications. As CEO, Nipper led the company through a period of strategic realignment, with an emphasis on sustainability and digital transformation. His tenure at Grundfos represented a shift from consumer branding to industrial leadership, and the role positioned him as one of the most prominent executives in Danish industry.

Ørsted

In January 2021, Mads Nipper became the Chief Executive Officer of Ørsted, succeeding Henrik Poulsen. Ørsted, formerly known as DONG Energy (Danish Oil and Natural Gas), had undergone a transformative shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy, particularly offshore wind power, in the years prior to Nipper's appointment. The company had become the world's largest developer of offshore wind farms and was listed on the Nasdaq Copenhagen stock exchange.

Nipper's tenure at Ørsted coincided with a period of ambitious expansion in the global offshore wind sector. The company pursued large-scale projects in Europe, the United States, and Asia, seeking to capitalize on growing government commitments to renewable energy and decarbonization targets. However, the offshore wind industry encountered significant headwinds during this period, including rising interest rates, supply chain disruptions, inflation in construction costs, and regulatory uncertainties in key markets.

These challenges resulted in substantial financial write-downs for Ørsted. The company was forced to impair the value of several major projects, particularly in the United States, where the economics of offshore wind development deteriorated sharply. The financial difficulties weighed on Ørsted's share price and prompted scrutiny from investors and analysts regarding the company's strategic direction and risk management.

In 2025, Ørsted's Board of Directors announced that Rasmus Errboe would replace Mads Nipper as group president and CEO of the company. The leadership change was interpreted by industry observers as a response to the financial and strategic challenges the company had faced. Nipper's departure was accompanied by a severance package totaling nearly DKK 33 million (approximately EUR 4.4 million), as reported by EnergyWatch.

Following his departure, Nipper spoke publicly about his experience. In an interview with Recharge News in June 2025, he stated that he was "not traumatised" by his ousting but indicated that he would not seek another CEO role. "I'm not traumatised, but I won't be a CEO again," he said, reflecting on the intensity and demands of the position. In a separate interview with EnergyWatch, he confirmed that he was not looking for a new CEO position, signaling a shift toward board-level and advisory roles.

Post-Ørsted board roles

After leaving Ørsted, Nipper moved into corporate governance roles. In December 2025, he was appointed Chairman of the Board of MacArtney Underwater Technology, a Danish company that designs and manufactures high-technology underwater equipment, connectors, and systems for subsea operations. The appointment was reported by both Marine Technology News and EnergyWatch. Wind Power Monthly described the appointment as Nipper "landing a new job" nearly one year after his replacement at Ørsted.

Nipper also served as chairman of the board of FLSmidth, a Danish engineering company specializing in the cement and mining industries. However, in early 2026, EnergyWatch reported that Nipper would not stand for re-election as chairman of FLSmidth, with the company instead nominating Lene Skole, the current chair of Ørsted, as his successor. This transition indicated a continued evolution in Nipper's portfolio of board positions following his departure from executive management.

Personal Life

Mads Nipper is a Danish national. Following his departure from Ørsted in 2025, he publicly reflected on the personal toll of leading a major public company through a period of financial and strategic difficulty. In his June 2025 interviews, he expressed that while the experience was demanding, he was not "traumatised" by it, and he indicated a deliberate choice to step back from the intensity of a CEO role. His severance from Ørsted amounted to nearly DKK 33 million (approximately EUR 4.4 million), reflecting the contractual terms of his departure from the company.

Beyond his corporate roles, limited publicly documented information is available regarding Nipper's personal life. He has maintained a relatively private personal profile compared to his public-facing professional career.

Legacy

Mads Nipper's career has intersected with several significant chapters in Danish and international business history. At the Lego Group, he was part of the leadership team that oversaw the company's transition from a period of near-insolvency to one of the most successful turnarounds in modern corporate history. The Lego turnaround, driven by a renewed focus on core products and strategic brand extensions including films and digital media, was chronicled by outlets including The New York Times and Business Insider.

At Ørsted, Nipper's tenure represented a more complex chapter. He led the company during a period in which the offshore wind industry faced its most severe economic headwinds in years, including cost inflation, rising interest rates, and project cancellations in the United States. The financial write-downs that occurred during his leadership led to significant shareholder losses and prompted his replacement as CEO. His departure and the accompanying severance terms received considerable attention in Danish and international energy media.

Nipper's post-CEO transition to board-level roles at companies such as MacArtney Underwater Technology and FLSmidth reflected a broader pattern among senior Danish executives of continuing to contribute to corporate governance after stepping back from operational leadership. His public statements about not seeking another CEO role offered a candid perspective on the demands and personal costs of leading major publicly listed companies during periods of significant industry disruption.

His career arc—from consumer branding at Lego, to industrial leadership at Grundfos, to the helm of a global renewable energy company—illustrated the evolving priorities of Danish industry and the broader European economy's shift toward sustainability and green energy over the early 21st century.