February  14, 2021

Pall Rikhardsson the new CEO of Planet Youth

In the beginning of February Planet Youth promoted Dr. Pall Rikhardsson to be the new CEO of the company. At the same time a new organizational structure was set in action to better meet the growing demand for the Planet Youth services.We welcome Pall to this new role and very much look forward to making use of his talents in guiding Planet Youth forward in improving the live environment of children around the globe. 

Dr. Pall Rikhardsson (born 1966) comes with the highest merit. He holds a PhD degree in business from the Aarhus School of Business, Denmark. His past positions include dean of the School of Business at Reykjavik University, Iceland, senior manager with PwC in Denmark, and business advisor at the SAS Institute in Denmark. Throughout his career Pall has focused on managing, delivering, and developing knowledge-based services in a variety of contexts.

This includes for example organizational development, development and accreditation of education programs, the   selection and implementation of complex information systems, strategy development, performance management, assessing corporate social responsibility, and measuring the hidden costs of occupational accidents.

Pall joined Planet Youth in 2018 as a service development manager and has in that capacity participated in more than a 150 engagement with communities and organizations in 16 different countries. Planet Youth is growing rapidly and is entering a new phase in its development. Pall’s main tasks together with the chairman of the board and the Planet Youth team is to continue developing and supporting data driven primary prevention for youth around the globe.

Pall is married to Dr. Jennifer Kricker, who works for a pharmaceutical company in Iceland and they have 4 children aged 10, 12, 23 and 25. In his spare time Pall is an avid scuba diver and a motorcycle enthusiast.

New Organizational structure

The growing Planet Youth team has extensive experience and diverse backgrounds among them are:

Jon Sigfusson, former director, takes on the role of acting Chairman of the Board, he will be attending to strategy development, relationship building and the development of the Planet Youth Ambassador network around the world.

Thorfinnur Skulason is the Chief Communication Officer of Planet Youth. He has over 20 years of experience in digital marketing from the pharmaceutical industry, telecommunications, and the software industry. Thorfinnur holds a master’s degree in Icelandic 18th century literature from the University of Iceland.

Dr. Ingibjorg Eva Thorisdottir is the Chief Analytics Officer of Planet Youth and she has worked on analytics, data storage, and structure for the past years. She holds a master degree in public health and a Ph.D. in psychology.

Erla Maria Tölgyes is the Chief Project Officer of Planet Youth. She has experience in project management and coordination of various projects and programs including research, political campaigns and events. She holds a master’s degree in criminology & criminal justice from Griffith University and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Reykjavik University.