Dr. Svafa Gronfeldt ’95, The Building Blocks of Progress
Svafa Grönfeldt, PhD, has built parallel careers in academia and entrepreneurship. She received her master of science in technical and professional communication from Florida Tech in 1995; she went on to earn her PhD in industrial relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science where her major focus was on leadership and organizational behavior.
A member of a founding team of Alvogen, a global life science company, Svafa serves on the executive team where she has led the company’s organizational development, communication, and strategic planning initiatives from the start. She is also a founding member and chair of the advisory board for SA+P DesignX, an innovation accelerator at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and serves as the senior advisor to the dean on entrepreneurship. She is a member of the board of directors for Ossur, a Nasdaq Copenhagen listed orthopedic company, as well as the Florida Tech Board of Trustees and International Advisory Board.
“I am not an architect in the classical term, but a die-hard optimist and organizational designer working with amazing teams of people to build companies, brands, career paths, processes, and experiences with the hope of making the world a little bit better place,” she explains.
Svafa’s previous positions include president of Reykjavik University, deputy to the CEO of Actavis Group, assistant professor of business administration at the University of Iceland, and managing partner of IMG Gallup/Deliotte.
She also established a scholarship fund to support Florida Tech students who wish to study abroad.
Gronfeldt was featured in Florida Tech’s 60th Anniversary special edition book, “60 for 60: Celebrating Sixty Years of Alumni at Florida Institute of Technology.” Copies are available for purchase here.
