“Who will be the new CEO?”
“Birger is after the job, but he’s out of the question. What’s going to happen is that
Henrik will step in as CEO pro tem from his sickbed until we hire either someone
from outside or someone from within the family...”
Blomkvist raised his eyebrows.
“Harriet? You can’t be serious.”
“Why not? We’re talking about an exceptionally competent and respected
businesswoman.”
“She has a company in Australia to look after.”
“True, but her son Jeff Cochran is minding the store in her absence.”
“He’s the studs manager on a sheep ranch. If I understood the matter correctly, he
sees to it that the correct sheep mate with each other.”
“He also has a degree in economics from Oxford and a law degree from
Melbourne.”
Blomkvist thought about the sweaty, muscular man with his shirt off who had
driven him into and through the ravine; he tried to imagine him in a pinstripe suit.
Why not?
“All of this will take time to work out,” Frode said. “But she would be a perfect CEO.
With the right support team she could represent a whole new deal for the
company.”
“She doesn’t have the experience...”
“That’s true. She can’t just pop up out of more or less nowhere and start micro-
managing the company. But the Vanger Corporation is international, and we could
certainly have an American CEO who doesn’t speak a word of Swedish...it’s only
business, when all’s said and done.”
“Sooner or later you’re going to have to face up to the problem of Martin’s
basement.”