Board of Directors

Kurt Anker Nielsen, Member of the Board

Kurt Anker Nielsen, Member of the Board

Kurt Anker Nielsen was initially employed in Novo Industri A/S in 1974 as an economist.

He served as CFO and deputy CEO of Novo Nordisk A/S until 2000 and from 2000 to 2003 he was CEO of Novo A/S. He serves as chairman of the Board of Dalhoff Larsen & Horneman A/S, as vice chairman of the Board of Novozymes A/S and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Veloxis Pharmaceuticals A/S and Vestas Wind Systems A/S, all in Denmark. In Novozymes A/S, Veloxis Pharmaceuticals A/S and Vestas Wind Systems A/S he is also elected Audit Committee chairman. Mr Nielsen serves as chairman of the Board of Directors of Collstrup's Mindelegat, Denmark.

Mr Nielsen has an MSc in Commerce and Business Administration from the Copenhagen Business School, Denmark, from 1972.

Mr Nielsen was first elected to the Board of Novo Nordisk A/S in 2000 and has been re-elected several times, most recently in 2012. His term as a board member expires in March 2013.

In April 2012, the Board of Directors of Novo Nordisk A/S assessed that Mr Nielsen is not regarded as an independent board member as defined in Section 5.4.1 of the Recommendations on Corporate Governance designated by NASDAQ OMX Copenhagen (2011) due to his membership of the Board of the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

Mr Nielsen has been chairman of the Audit Committee at Novo Nordisk A/S since 2004 and until March 2012 from which time Mr Nielsen continued as member of the Audit Committee. He is designated as Audit Committee financial expert under both Danish and US law. In February 2012, the Board of Directors of Novo Nordisk A/S assessed that Mr Nielsen qualifies as an independent Audit Committee member as defined by the US SEC and that he is not regarded as independent under part 8 of the Danish Act on Approved Auditors and Audit Firms due to his membership of the Board of the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

In February 2012, the Board of Directors also assessed that the special competences possessed by Mr Nielsen that are important for the performance of his duties are his in-depth knowledge of Novo Nordisk A/S and its businesses, his working knowledge of the global pharmaceutical industry and his experience in working with accounting, financial and capital markets issues.

Mr Nielsen is a male Danish national, born August 1945.