Varða appoints advisory council

Varða, a think tank on security and resilience, has appointed a five-member advisory council.

Varða is an independent think tank working to strengthen Iceland's national security and resilience. Among its aims is to establish a new and independent forum in Iceland for these important but complex issues.

Varða's advisory council is made up of highly experienced experts who support Varða's professional development and strategy. Its role is to provide Varða with advice and professional oversight regarding the think tank's strategy, plans, projects and priorities, and to ensure that its work rests on a solid foundation of knowledge and experience. The advisory council bears no responsibility for operations or published material.

The members of the advisory council are as follows:

Ari Kristinn Jónsson, PhD

Ari Kristinn Jónsson is CEO of Videntifier and a board member of the NATO Innovation Fund. He was Rector of Reykjavik University and before that spent ten years as a scientist and manager at NASA in the United States.

Garðar Forberg

Garðar was Iceland's defence attaché in Washington, DC, and before that Iceland's permanent representative to the NATO Military Committee. He is a trained officer from the officer academy of the German armed forces, the Bundeswehr, and has years of experience in aviation operations.

Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir

Ingibjörg Sólrún served in Alþingi for the Women's List and the Social Democratic Alliance, and is a former leader of the Social Democratic Alliance, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Mayor of Reykjavík. She was UN Women's regional director for Europe and Central Asia, and later Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

Rannveig Rist

Rannveig Rist is CEO of ÍSAL – Rio Tinto in Iceland. She has served on numerous boards of companies and organisations, including SAMÁL, the Confederation of Icelandic Enterprise, the Iceland Chamber of Commerce, HB Grandi, Klíníkin, Lýsi and Síminn.

Þórdís Kolbrún R Gylfadóttir

Þórdís Kolbrún is a Member of Alþingi for the Independence Party and has served as Minister for Foreign Affairs; Minister of Tourism, Industry and Innovation; Minister of Finance; and Minister of Justice. She is also the Special Envoy of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe for the Children of Ukraine.

“It is a windfall for us at Varða to have individuals of such experience join the advisory council. Their knowledge and insight will be invaluable to us on this journey of shaping a new think tank in the field of security, defence and resilience,” says Kristinn Árni Hróbjartsson, co-founder and director of Varða.