Who is Halla Hrund?

Halla Hrund was born in Reykjavik on March 12, 1981. Her parents are Jóhanna Steingrímsdóttir, a nurse and EMDR therapist, and Logi Ragnarsson, a computer scientist. Halla Hrund has a younger brother, Hauk Stein Logason, a senior producer at CCP. Her husband, Kristján Freyr Kristjánsson, is the CEO and co-founder of the software company 50skills. They have two daughters, Hildur Kristín, aged 11, and Saga Friðgerður, aged 4.

Halla Hrund's paternal grandparents hailed from Leiðólfsstaðir in Laxárdalur in Dalasýsla and Hléskógar in Höfðahverfi near Grenivík, while her maternal grandparents were farmers at Hörgslandskot in Síða in Vestur-Skaftafellssýsla. Halla spent all her summers and most long holidays there until adulthood.

Energy and Environmental Issues in Iceland and Around the World

Halla Hrund grew up in Árbær and attended Árbæjarskóli. She then studied at Kvennaskólinn in Reykjavik, graduating in 2001. She holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Iceland, a Master's degree in International Cooperation with a focus on economics and energy from The Fletcher School at Tufts University, and a Master's in Public Administration from Harvard University, specializing in environmental and energy issues.

Appointed as Energy Director in 2021, Halla Hrund was the first woman to hold the position. She also serves as an adjunct professor at Harvard, where she teaches at the master's level. Since 2017, she has been co-founder and executive director of the Arctic Initiative at Harvard. In 2019, Halla Hrund was named a Young Global Leader and contributed to mapping the changes in the Arctic at the World Economic Forum. From 2015 to 2021, she worked on the Arctic Innovation Lab project in collaboration with numerous universities and served as a mentor in various energy-related innovation accelerators.

Gender Equality, Culture, Education, and International Affairs

Alongside the Arctic Initiative, Halla Hrund worked on establishing the international gender equality project, Project Girls for Girls. This initiative brought together women from eight countries across different continents to develop a program aimed at enhancing skills and strengthening connections among young women. The project now operates in dozens of countries.

Halla Hrund has been a board member of the Energy Fund since 2015. That same year, she began teaching part-time at Reykjavik University (HR), where she teaches courses on energy policy strategy with an emphasis on climate issues. She was the executive director of the Iceland School of Energy at HR from 2013 to 2016. Between 2011 and 2013, she was the director of international development at HR.

After graduating with a degree in political science in 2005, Halla Hrund moved to Brussels, Belgium, where she worked on cultural affairs for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There, she organized one of Iceland’s largest cultural festivals abroad, with participants including the National Theatre of Iceland, the Icelandic Dance Company, Iceland Airwaves, the Reykjavik Art Museum, and others. From Brussels, she moved to Lomé, Togo, in West Africa, where she participated in innovation and teaching projects in the capital city. Halla Hrund then spent several months in Paris working at the OECD, the European Economic and Development Organization, before continuing her studies.

Strong Rural Roots and a Clear Vision for the Future

As a child and teenager, Halla Hrund spent all her summers as well as most Christmas and Easter breaks in the countryside at her grandparents' farm in Hörgslandskot in Síða in Vestur-Skaftafellssýsla. These experiences profoundly shaped her values and vision. Halla learned the importance of hard work, cooperation, and solidarity in achieving goals. In the countryside, she also learned to respect the land and nature, to utilize and enjoy the country's resources responsibly, and the importance of preserving the environment for future generations.

Halla Hrund is as comfortable on the international stage as she is in the Icelandic countryside. She understands the nature, culture, history, and uniqueness of Iceland and is passionate about Icelandic society and the Icelandic people. As President of Iceland, Halla Hrund intends to contribute to increasing opportunities for all, both at home and abroad, fostering national unity and solidarity, nurturing a sustainable and peaceful future—with the public interest as her guiding light.