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Who's Who: Thor Ibsen

The transition from the automotive world to the kiosk sector has so far proven a smooth ride for former Ford Motor Co. executive.

February 21, 2002

It could have been easy for Thor Ibsen to knock back Kudos Development Group Ltd.'s offer to become the company's president and chief executive officer. After all, why join the kiosk industry when you are an Internet executive with a major international powerhouse like Ford Motor Co.?

But sitting back and soaking up the easy life is not Thor Ibsen's way.

The 35-year-old native of Reykjavik, Iceland, has an entrepreneurial spirit and a thirst for challenge. It has been that way ever since he was a kid, when he maintained that distinctly American of all youthful business pursuits - a newspaper route. And it continues to this day as he runs a high-profile kiosk software development company.

"There's always been an entrepreneurial edge in me, from running my own paper route as a kid to running my own business while I worked my way through college (in Iceland)," Ibsen said a week before Christmas.

So Ibsen took over the helms in April, the company has moved into offices from Iceland to London and launched a new remote software management line.

All in all, it has not been a quiet eight months for Ibsen. But change does not bother the 35-year-old executive.

Moving forward, staying put

The paper route was the start of greater pursuits for Ibsen in his native country. Bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, Ibsen ran several different companies - one that sold books door-to-door and another that distributed roofing products - to raise funds for school.

Thor Ibsen has guided Kudos Development Group Ltd. through a series of changes since joining the company in the spring of 2001.

"That was how I was able to earn my keep and move forward," Ibsen said.

Ibsen said those early years taught him salesmanship in ways that can only be gained from direct experience, not from hours of pouring over a textbook.

"You learn a lot when you knock on a door completely unannounced and try to sell them something completely unexpected," he said. "While you have the audacity to go to people and knock on their doors, you've got to make it something they can't be without and leave them with that thought."

Leaving Iceland, Ibsen arrived in the United States eager to continue his education and hone his business chops.

"I thought I'd come back to my native Iceland pretty quickly," he said. "I must have liked something over there."

Slightly sticking around

Instead of returning to Iceland, he spent 11 years in the U.S., earning a BS degree from Embry-Riddle University and an MBA at the University of Texas, before beginning his career at Ford.

He also got married and became the father of three sons, all of whom were born in Royal Oak, Mich.

"I learned a new term I hear from people in big business - corporate tourist," he said. "I don't really feel like one, though, because I spent a lot of time in Detroit. All three of my children were born there, in Royal Oak, and it's somewhere where I have deep roots."

He also developed his taste for the Internet and the potential for delivering services digitally to a broad range of customers, rising to become vice president of North America e-commerce for the automotive conglomerate.

"I was one of the people there early on that got involved in digital delivery on the Web and in dealerships," Ibsen said. "We incorporated retail partners into the digital world to assist in the customer experience."

London Calling

But despite settling deep roots in the Detroit area, Ibsen and his family departed for London in 2000, first to work for Ford as director of B2B and B2C solutions, then for Kudos.

The opportunity to remain involved in high-concept technology appealed to him when Kudos called.

The company, which has concentrated on the development of platforms and software suites for the kiosk and interactive sectors since 1997, offers a remote-management software package that allows kiosk deployers to develop and manage the content on their units. Kudos received a boost in July of 2001 when the company received $3 million in funding from The Venturos Group, a Norwegian company that invests in the technology sector.

"Two or three things got me excited about Kudos," he said. "One is that I'd been exposed to the product while I was at Ford and was really excited about the company's approach and ability. Two was the people I was introduced to in the core team, who I'd put up against anybody. And three is I really believe in the sector. I see huge opportunities moving forward."

Ibsen's transition from Ford to Kudos has been smooth, according to Kudos chairman of the board John Bacon, a reflection of Ibsen's experience at both ends of the business world.

"Thor's an extremely rare person in making the transition out of a huge company like Ford into a smaller company like Kudos with brilliant clarity and speed," Bacon said. "He's a terribly smart guy, aggressive but mature, and is doing so well in this environment."

But making the switch was far from daunting, Ibsen said.

"It felt like a natural thing," he said.

But that should not be surprising. Given's Ibsen's background, personally and in the business world, transforming a new situation into a natural fit appears a simple, enjoyable task.