Jon Axel Olafsson
Jón Axel Ólafsson (born September 27, 1963) is the CEO of Edda USA, renowned radio and TV personality and business executive. He is an innovative entrepreneur and has an extensive background in media, marketing business development and restructuring.
Mr. Olafsson acquired Edda Publishing Ltd., one of Iceland's oldest and most respected publishing houses, in 2009 and became its CEO. Since then Edda has specialized in publishing lifestyle, family and children's books and magazines, especially Disney related.
He also founded Edda USA, Edda Europe and Edda Nordic, focusing mainly on licensee operation with Disney and other respectable brands.
Mr. Olafsson was awarded the prestigious Disney Marketing Awards in 2010 with his team.
He is one of the pioneers who fought for the end of the strictly state-owned media in Iceland, having started working in radio at the age of 20 hosting a hugely popular music show, a rarity in those days. Three years later his fight for free broadcast media in Iceland yielded results with a comprehensive legislation passed in Althing, the Icelandic Parliament, that allowed privately owned and operated broadcast media.
Mr. Olafsson successfully owned and operated two radio stations and co-hosted the most popular radio morning show in Icelandic history that repeatedly set daytime listening records that haven't been matched or broken since. He has worked as a manager and VP for all leading media firms in Iceland, specializing in turnaround management and restructuring. The longest involvement has been with 365 Media, the largest privately owned media company in Iceland.
Novator, a EUR 900 million investment company, hired him in 2006 as the company entered the mobile market. Novator operates Play in Poland and Nova in Iceland . There he was responsible for local marketing strategy and business planning. After that, Novator hired him to manage the content and online developing creation for Arvakur, Iceland's largest newspaper and online publishing company, where he stayed until he bought Edda Publishing Company in 2009.
Mr. Olafsson was born in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, and has an MBA degree and a B.Sc. degree in Business Administration.