Meet Jesper

After finishing his service in 1989, Jesper enrolled in 3rd level education at KTH, Stockholm, joining the four-year Electrical Engineering program. Initially avoiding software focused projects his final year thesis work allowed Jesper the opportunity to work with embedded micro controllers, necessitating a deeper understanding of software and the opportunities that it unlocked. Having initially planned to accept an offer to return to the Turbo Generator department of ABB as an engineering manager, this software enlightenment lead to joining the Robotics unit at ABB as a developer of motion control systems for industrial robots.

Working directly as a development engineer until 1999, Jesper then spent the next eleven years holding various management roles within ABB Robotics within the Control Systems and Electronics departments. In 2010, after 24 years of employment with ABB, Jesper looked for a new challenge and joined Stoneridge Electronics as the Director of Engineering for Sweden. Two years later he was promoted to Vice President of Engineering, responsible for the company’s global engineering operations.

Jesper’s new role allows for shorter decision paths and faster progress towards reaching the right choices. As a key leader, within a smaller company, he now has the opportunity to both sit in on board meetings, in the morning, focusing on strategy and growth and be hands on with product development, working directly with his engineering team. As CrossControl is a mid-sized company Jesper

is focused on helping the business grow and mature into a larger supplier of systems for making machines smarter safer and more productive and has the experience from his previous stops to help navigate the company on its journey forward.

Jesper has been married for over 30 years and has two adult children. When not in the office Jesper enjoys working with his hands on DIY projects or electronic projects, the latter allows him to gain insight into the problems his team faces and a greater understanding of their day-to-day tasks, the former lets him make improvements for his other hobbies; sailing and skiing. Jesper sailed from Greece to France when just 17 and now owns a 12m long yacht (that he took the Västerås office out on for their 2019 summer party), that he enjoys sailing in Mälaren, the third largest lake in Sweden and the Baltic Sea. While earlier Jesper focused on cross country skiing, competing in the Vasaloppet six times with a personal best finish of just 5hr 23min and 3 additional medal winning finishes, he now enjoys downhill alpine skiing and ski touring.

When looking for new challenges, at the end of his quarter century tenure at ABB, Jesper had looked initially at joining CrossControl and then gone on to investigate the company with Stoneridge Electronics as part of their acquisitions team’s due diligence (CrossControl was instead acquired by Enerpac, then Actuant). CrossControl’s company journey, and overall evolution, from its beginnings as a pure consultancy operation to a company that designed, developed and built its own IP was impressive and paired with its medium size with room for growth created a desirable position leading to Jesper to apply for and accept the position of Head of Engineering (a position now titled Engineering Director) in 2016.

What is the best thing about working at CrossControl?It is a mid-sized company where you can work across all levels and where you as an employee can really make a difference that is seen and recognized by your co-workers.

How would you describe the workplace culture at CrossControl?

The atmosphere reflects that a lot of people are proud of their company and what they have achieved and we have very committed people who will go the extra mile to succeed, across all levels and products.