Knud Balslev
ADVISOR
Knud Balslev is an experienced hands-on business development executive with 30 years of experience in the U.S. and Europe driving international growth for public, private, and start-up companies through business development and strategic partnerships. He maintains an extensive international network of contacts and relationships in the technology, financial services, security, and renewable energy sectors.
Knud was recruited from Europe to the U.S. in 2006 to build and nurture the global ecosystem of partners for Identrust, a PKI infrastructure for digital identities used in government and banks. He handled multiple roles as Business Development Director at FonWallet, an early-stage start-up with a tokenization-based mobile wallet technology. His role as Director of Business Development at Cryptomathic focused on encryption key life-cycle management for payments, and he was Co-Chair of the US Payment Forum Card-Not-Present Initiative. Prior to his move to the U.S., Knud managed an international portfolio of financial services and telecom software partners for the NonStop division of HP and Compaq in Europe.
Knud currently serves as Director of Business Development at Langtech, a San Francisco-based managed IT services provider. He is a co-founder and the advisor for international partnerships at Mercurius Biorefining, which has a patented process for converting forestry and agricultural residues into jet fuel, and he is a mentor for startups at Entrepreneur Futures Network. Knud also serves as a board member for Silicon Vikings, a Nordic professional networking organization, and chairs their Mobile and Security Committee.
Knud graduated from the Technical University of Denmark with a B.Sc. in Electric Engineering and Software, and he has completed corporate management training programs in Europe and the U.S.
He is passionate about sustainability and gastronomy, and enjoys sailing, running, biking, and hiking.
Location
San Francisco
Traits
Mentor
Business and Partnership Development
International Growth/Business Development
Partnerships Recruitment/Development
Cyber Security and Encryption
Strategy
Payments/Fintech
Software Services