Distinguished alumnus 2018 Ulrik Federspiel

A special sense for diplomacy

He has worked to make the world a more peaceful place close to the world’s most powerful people. He has a unique ability to create relationships and an unparalleled network, but he prefers to work behind the scenes. Meet Ulrik Federspiel, the 2018 distinguished alumnus, who  has distinguished himself as a top government official, diplomat and executive.

The year is 1952. The prominent Federspiel family is hosting guests from Denmark and abroad, and their home north of Copenhagen is buzzes with conversation. The family’s youngest son, 10-year-old Ulrik, is helping to serve dinner, and is just about to place bottles of Carlsberg beer on the table. But when the boy catches sight of the CEO of Tuborg – the other major Danish brewery and Carlsberg’s great rival – he hastens to hide them. One of the guests, the English diplomat Sir Harold Nicolson, looks at Ulrik’s father and comments approvingly, “He could be a big diplomat”.

Nicolson, who described the episode in his published diaries, turned out to be right.

Ulrik Federspiel’s decades-long career in the Danish foreign service has been closely intertwined with a series of epochal events on the international diplomatic stage. He was Permanent Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark when the Danes voted against signing the Treaty of Maastricht. He was the Danish ambassador to the United States of America when terrorist planes struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and when the war on Irak was declared. Federspiel was again Permanent Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs when the Mohammed crisis broke out – the most critical Danish foreign policy crisis since  the Second World War – and travelled around the Middle East attempting to create dialogue. During the war in Lebanon in 2006, Federspiel evacuated about 6000 Danes from the country in just one week – the largest government evacuation in Danish history.

Without trust, they tell you nothing

We meet Ulrik Federspiel at Aarhus University for a chat about his student days, his career and the role of diplomacy today. He is friendly and interested; more often than not, he wears a teasing smile. He’s the kind of person you’d like to sit next to at a party. And there’s general agreement that precisely this unique ability to create a connection to other people is what accounts for his success as a government official, diplomat and executive.

“In my time as a diplomat, I focussed on creating relationships, and here it’s absolutely crucial that other people trust you. Otherwise they tell you nothing. You have to be prepared to solve the problems together. Then people open up. It’s been extremely exciting to be able to contribute to solving small and large problems for my country,” Federspeil says.

AU’s new distinguished alumnus began studying political science in 1963 at AU, in one of the first year groups to enrol in the subject. The students didn’t even have a classroom to begin with, as the university wasn’t entirely certain the new degree programme would pan out. But after a few months, the approximately 40 students moved into a new prefab south of what is now Nobel Park. Federspiel remembers how he and his fellow students would sit and discuss high politics over their packed lunches, and despite the uncertain beginnings of their degree programme, they all had a sense that they would achieve positions of prominence in Danish society one day.

“Some of the students – among others Svend Auken (prominent Danish politician, ed.), who became one of my good friends – were explicit about their political convictions, while others – including myself – were more empirically inclined. And that’s how the roles were assigned, even back then. It suits me extremely well to be where the action is, but in a more unobtrusive role,” Federspiel says.

In the early days of the 1968 student uprising, the politically active political science students composed a ‘bull of excommunication’ for their professors. They had one simple demand: they wanted to know what they would be assigned to read during the autumn semester before the autumn semester.

“That probably doesn’t sound particularly revolutionary today, but it was back then, and the professors were hopping mad,” Federspiel remembers.

Diplomacy can create peace

That Federspiel became a diplomat is no surprise. The dinner party with the Tuborg CEO and the English diplomat was one of many such international gatherings of luminaries in his childhood home in Hørsholm. His father was the Liberal Party politician and minister Per Federspiel.

“Our home was extremely international. My father was chairman of the Council of Europe, which meant we often had foreign guests in our home. It became natural for me to associate with people from other countries. However, what caught my interest was not so much politics, but more the international aspect,” Federspiel says.

He experienced early on how diplomacy can build bridges between people, solve conflicts and create peace, and Federspiel is convinced that diplomacy is the key to a more peaceful world.

“We need diplomacy more than ever before.  The institutions which were formed after the Second World War – the UN, NATO, WTO and WTO – are under attack today. And without well-functioning international organisations, we don’t have a good method for settling disagreements between countries, and ultimately for avoiding war. We have to acknowledge that in many ways, these institutions are outdated today. Diplomats helped create them originally, and they can also contribute to changing them,” he says.

The first permanent secretary in the private sector

After 37 years of public service, in 2009 Federspiel embarked on a new career in the private sector: he became Vice President for Global Affairs at the engineering company Haldor Topsøe A/S. A few years later, he became Executive Vice President. From the public sector to the private. A brand new career – and yet: Federspiel still moves on a global stage, and he makes constant use of his extraordinary international network and political acumen.

“I was the first permanent secretary to switch to the private sector. In the beginning, it was very different: a new cast of characters and a lot of engineers. But relatively quickly, I realised that I actually just needed to keep on doing what I had also been doing in the public sector: developing and nurturing international relationships,” he says.

It is precisely Federspiel’s talent for creating relationships and cultivating the right contacts that brought him success as a government official, diploma and executive, according to Thomas Pallesen, dean of Aarhus BSS, who has worked with Federspiel in a number of contexts, including the Aarhus BSS Advisory Board.

“Ulrik Federspiel knows simply everyone. He has an ability to create personal relationships in his own unobtrusive way, and he’s an extremely well-rounded person. At the same time, he knows an enormous amount about politics and culture. The diplomat’s nature is to stay out of the limelight, and Ulrik Federspiel plays this role perfectly. He is a worthy representative for his subject, and has immeasurable value for Aarhus BSS and Aarhus University. For example, he played a decisive role in the establishment of the Crown Prince Frederik Center for Public Leadership,” Pallesen says.

A place on the wall

Towards the end of the interview, Federspiel walks past the main entrance to the Main Hall, where portraits of all of the university’s distinguished alums hang. Soon his portrait will take its place among them.

“I’m very grateful for the distinguished alumnus award. I see it as an award for what I’ve achieved in the public and private sectors, and in turn I would like to the Department of Political Science, which gave me the academic foundation I’ve drawn on in my various roles,” he says.

Federspiel nods in recognition at the 10 other distinguished alums on the yellow brick wall.

“I’ve worked with many of them. I’ve had contact with others in other contexts. One of them is my neighbour back home in Rungsted.”

Federspiel knows them all.

Ulrik Federspiel retired from full-time employment at Haldor Topsøe A/S a year ago, but is still serving as an adviser to the company. He now has more time for tennis, swimming in the Oresund and spending time in his summer cottage in northwest Jutland with his wife Birgitte Hartnack Federspiel, who is a senior hospital physician.

Quotes about Ulrik Federspiel

“Ulrik is a sphinx. But a clever sphinx. He doesn’t give himself away.” (Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, former minister of foreign affairs).

“He’s an incredibly able man. I have great faith in his judgement and his ability.” (Per Stig Møller, former minister of foreign affairs).

Ulrik Federspiel – curriculum vitae (highlights)

2018- : Associate Dean, Aarhus BSS, Aarhus University

2017- : Special Advisor to the CEO and the Boards of Haldor Topsøe A/S 

2009-17: Vice President for Global Affairs at Haldor Topsøe A/S

2011- : Member of the Advisory Board for Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University

2011-17: Member of the Steering Committee for the Bilderberg Group

2011: Alumnus of the Year, Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University

2005-09: Permanent Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs

1997-2000: Ambassador to Ireland; and 2000-05: Ambassador to the United States of America

1993-97: State Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office

1991-93: Permanent Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs

1989-91: Secretary to the Foreign Policy Commission of 1989

1984-89: Secretary to her Majesty the Queen in the Council of Ministers, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Danish Embassy in Washington, D.C.

1971-84: Various positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and at the Danish Embassy in London

1970: MSc in political science from Aarhus University; and 1971: MA from the University of Philadelphia