Leadership Team
Frode L. Odegard
Founder, Chairman, and CEO
Frode studies how enterprises, investors, and policymakers can best navigate the transition to a post-industrial civilization and economy. He is the founder of the Post-Industrial Institute, which provides advisory, educational, and strategic services to corporates and investors to help them turn disruption into opportunity. Frode is also the founder of the Post-Industrial Forum, a global community formed to develop and promote a better understanding of the post-industrial transition and how to navigate it. Its members include investors, executives, founders, and policymakers.
Frode is the author of a forthcoming book on the post-industrial transition and regularly speaks to international corporate and investor audiences. A serial entrepreneur since his high school years, Frode’s multi-disciplinary background stretches from theoretical computer science to the boardroom. He has a passion for history, linguistics, disruptive technologies, philosophy, and Iwama-style Aikido.
Dr. Eythor Ivar Jonsson
VP of Research
In addition to his work with the Institute, Eythor is also the President of Akademias and the Center for Corporate Governance in Iceland. Eythor is furthermore the VP of European Academy of Management (EURAM).
In 2006 Eythor founded an advisory board program in collaboration with Copenhagen Business School which has spawned advisory boards for more than 200 fast-growing Nordic companies. Eythor has created programs for Icelandic companies to improve the corporate governance in association with NASDAQ OMX, Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of industries, as well as accounting firms like KPMG, PWC and Deloitte. He has published more than 700 articles for specialized journals and magazines about business and economics. Eythor earned his doctorate in business administration from the Henley Business School at the University of Reading.
Sergei Mitrofànov
Chief Marketing Officer
Sergei is an expert on branding as part of strategy, and on how disruptive technologies influence brand value. He is an active member of the Medinge Group branding think tank, and serves as an advisor to Pulsar Venture Capital.
As a Partner in Swedish branding agency Brandflight, Sergei worked with clients such as Virgin, Spotify, Johnson & Johnson, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), Deutsche Bank, Scania, Net Jets, Nokia, Nestlé, Airbus, Nordea , Skype, Microsoft, Airbus, BMW, Proctor & Gamble, Unilever, Volvo, and Breitling. In Russia Sergei has also worked with the Skolkovo Startup Academy and industry giants such as Gazpromneft and Rostelecom. He developed the brand for the City of St. Petersburg. Sergei’s international experience includes Russia, Ukraine, India, Latvia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, the United States, and Georgia.
Sergei is a visiting lecturer at the Advanced Management Institute of the Stockholm School of Economics and at the Masters Program at the Moscow Institute of Physics & Technology. He holds an MEng from the Marine Polytechnic Institute, and an Executive MBA from the Stockholm School of Economics, where he also served as director of corporate programs. In addition to English and his native Russian, Sergei speaks Swedish and Portuguese.
Tom Pai
Chief Financial Officer
Tom has over 25 years of financial and operations experience in technology, media, and consumer products companies ranging in size from start-up to Fortune 100 global enterprises. He helped raise over $150M in venture financing, and played a key role in successful exits totaling $500M.
In addition to his work with Institute, Tom is the CEO and Founder of Sage Development Company, a Boutique Real Estate Development and Investment company focusing on redevelopment in the San Francisco Bay Area. Prior to Founding Sage, Tom was also a Founder and Managing Partner of Sunstone Group, a management consulting practice that specialized in helping early-stage and high-growth companies build the essential foundations for success.
Prior to founding Sunstone Group, Tom was a partner with Ravix Group, a leading startup consulting firm in Silicon Valley. Tom He previously the CFO and COO for several venture backed companies in technology, media, and consumer products. He co-founded DART Partners, an investment firm specializing in underperforming mid-sized companies, and was with Bank of America’s venture capital and private equity group. Tom has an M.B.A. from Carnegie Mellon University and a degree in Computer Engineering from University of California, Santa Barbara.