Caroline Farberger

Caroline Farberger
Farberger in September 2019
Farberger in September 2019

Caroline Farberger (born 1967) is a Swedish business executive currently working as chairwoman, board advisor and board member on several boards.[1]  She previously served as the CEO of the Swedish company ICA Insurance [sv], part of the ICA Group, from 2016 to 2022. Formerly having lived as a man, Farberger is known for being the first Swedish top CEO coming out as transgender.[2][3][4] She came out at the age of 49.[5]

Farberger grew up in Uddevalla and Lerum. She completed military service as a company commander at the Älvsborg Regiment (I15).[1] After completing degrees in business administration at Gothenburg School of Business, Economics and Law and electrical engineering at Chalmers University of Technology, Farberger worked as a management consultant with McKinsey for six years. During the dot-com bubble she founded InsMark, a finance company, before moving on to work in the insurance industry.[1] Farberger held various management positions at Trygg-Hansa [sv] before taking the helm as CEO of ICA Insurance [sv] in May 2016. A year later she began the process of seeking gender-affirming care, eventually coming out as trans in 2018.[6] In 2019 she won "LGBTQ person of the year" at Gaygalan Awards.[7] In 2020, her autobiography Jag, Caroline was published. The book was nominated for Book of the Year by QX magazine.[8][9] After quitting her job as CEO at ICA insurance in 2022 she moved on to become a venture capitalist and board professional. She is a chair person, board member and advisor on several boards.[1]

  1. ^ a b c d Saldert, Johanna (2022-01-13). "Banbrytande Ica-chef lämnar matjätten – Caroline Farberger blir riskkapitalist". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). ISSN 1101-2447. Retrieved 2022-07-02.
  2. ^ Quecke, Franca (2022-01-28). "Coming-out als CEO: Der Weg eines Topmanagers, vom Mann zur Frau - DER SPIEGEL". Der Spiegel (in German). ISSN 2195-1349. Retrieved 2022-01-28.
  3. ^ "CEO who was once man brings unique gender perspective". Bloomberg News.
  4. ^ "This 53-yr-old CEO who was once a man is bringing a unique perspective to gender-equality at work". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2022-07-01.
  5. ^ Scipioni, Jade (2022-01-30). "A transgender CEO on coming out at age 49: 'The biggest transphobia' was 'my own'". CNBC. Retrieved 2022-07-01.
  6. ^ Saldert, Johanna (2019-09-12). "Unikt reportage: Icas toppchef korrigerar sitt kön – "det fick kosta vad det ville"". Dagens industri (in Swedish). Retrieved 2022-07-02.
  7. ^ "Caroline Farberger prisad på QX Gaygala". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). 2019-02-05. ISSN 1101-2447. Retrieved 2022-07-02.
  8. ^ "Jag, Caroline - Henrietta Westman - Hörbuch - E-Book". BookBeat (in German). Retrieved 2022-07-01.
  9. ^ "TEDxSSE | TED". www.ted.com. Retrieved 2022-07-01.