Lars Heikensten is executive director of the Nobel Foundation. Among other things responsible for the financing of the Nobel Prize. He received an MSc in 1974 and a doctorate in 1984 at the Stockholm School of Economics, where he also worked as a teacher and researcher.

Between 1984 and 1992 Heikensten held various positions in the Swedish Ministry of Finance including director-general and head of the Economic Affairs Department. In 1992 he became chief economist at Handelsbanken.

Heikensten became Deputy Governor in 1995 and later Governor of the Swedish Central Bank. In 2006 he became the Swedish Member of the European Court of Auditors, the external auditing organisation of the European Union before joining the Nobel Foundation in 2011.

Heikensten has held many international positions, such as in the General Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Board of Directors of the Bank of International Settlements (BIS), as well as Swedish Governor at the IMF. He has also held board positions in companies, university departments, think-tanks and government agencies. He has written several books, numerous articles in professional journals and participated actively in the Swedish and European economic policy debate.

Heikensten is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering. He is honorary doctor at Umeå School of Business and Gustavus Adolphus College, Minnesota. He has been awarded the H.M. the King’s Medal at the highest level.