Stockholm-based entertainment company Pophouse is now ready to present its new board in full, having brought in senior executives with backgrounds from companies such as Disney, Airbnb, Manchester United, Cirque du Soleil and EQT. The newest additions – Catherine Powell, Global Head of Hosting at Airbnb, and Alexandra Lutz, partner at EQT – join Pophouse chairman, former Manchester United executive Michael Bolingbroke, co-owners Conni Jonsson and Björn Ulvaeus, group CEO Per Sundin, Universal executive Frank Briegmann, and Per-Arne Blomquist, former CFO
of SEB, on the board.
Pophouse recently opened the world’s largest gaming centre, Space, in Stockholm and is investing in the ABBA Stadium in London to create the year-round ABBA Voyage concert experience, a giant venture in live entertainment. The company is also moving into IP investments, particularly music rights, through several strategic acquisitions and development projects.
“Alexandra brings world-class experience in digital growth that will help our brands expand their businesses. Catherine will provide us with extensive knowledge of entertainment and customer experience that will be valuable in creating even better experiences throughout our group,” says Björn Ulvaeus.
“Michael’s multiple experiences from developing global household brands reaching huge audiences, both live and digitally, has already proven highly valuable for Pophouse. His extraordinary ability to create commercial value in artistic environments supports our ambition to become a global powerhouse in entertainment,” says Conni Jonsson.
The new Pophouse board of directors
Michael Bolingbroke, chair
Executive producer for ABBA Voyage. Previously served as CEO of FC Inter Milan between 2014 and 2016. Michael served as COO and Principal Financial Officer of Manchester United from 2007 to 2014. He also served as the SVP of Shows at Cirque du Soleil from March 2001 to 2007, managing strategy, profitability, and operations of its global business comprising fixed and touring shows.
Catherine Powell
Global Head of Hosting at Airbnb. Before that, Catherine worked at The Walt Disney Company for many years, most recently as president of Disney Parks, Western Region where she oversaw Disneyland, Walt Disney World, and Disneyland Paris. She has also led the media distribution department for Disney in the EMEA region. Early in her career, Catherine worked at BBC Worldwide. Her first job was to produce news features in the Horn of Africa. Catherine studied Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Somerville College, Oxford.
Alexandra Lutz
Joined EQT in 2019 as Head of Digital Growth, US. Alexandra works to identify, define and execute trajectory-changing growth strategies across EQT’s global portfolio of companies with an emphasis on go-to-market, product and service innovation, customer experience transformation and data strategy. Prior to joining EQT, she was Chief Strategy Officer at IPG agency Huge. Earlier in her career, Alexandra was a start-up executive and a management consultant. She has a BA from Yale University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
Frank Briegmann
Music industry executive and Chairman and CEO of Central Europe at Universal Music Group (UMG). He is a member of the global UMG Executive Management team and responsible for Universal’s operations in Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Benelux, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, and Western Balkans. Frank joined Universal Music Germany in 2004, as the youngest CEO in the history of all major German labels. He is also chairman of legendary classical music label Deutsche Grammophon.
Per-Arne Blomquist
CEO at investment firm Qarlbo and senior advisor to EQT. Chairman of Bluestep Bank and board member for GlobalConnect and IP-Only. Per-Arne has been CFO at SEB and TeliaSonera, where he also served as deputy CEO and interim CEO. From 2014 until 2019, he was CFO at Dometic and led the company’s IPO in 2015. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration and Finance from Stockholm School of Economics.
Per Sundin, CEO
Became group CEO of Pophouse in 2019. Before that, he was the President of Universal Music Nordic Region and the Managing Director of Universal Music Sweden for more than a decade. Per was the first label executive to partner with Spotify, driving the industry shift to a streaming revenue model, and signed Avicii when he was still an unknown artist. He is today a board member in the Tim Bergling Foundation.
Conni Jonsson, co-founder and owner
Founded EQT in 1994, today the world’s sixth largest private equity firm. Managing Partner since the company’s foundation and Chairperson since 2014. Prior to founding EQT, he worked at the Wallenberg Holding Company, Investor, as Executive Vice President.
Björn Ulvaeus, co-founder and owner
Singer, songwriter, producer, and member of the pop group ABBA, which has sold almost 400 million albums worldwide, produced 17 No.1 hits, and generates more than 16 million weekly global streams. Since 2020, Björn has been president of CISAC, the global confederation of authors’ societies and the largest network of creators worldwide. He is co-creator of the musicals Chess, Kristina från Duvemåla, and Mamma Mia! and executive producer of the Mamma Mia! and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again films.