Meet the transformational CIOs who are currently leading their businesses into the digital future.
Explore their most important initiatives, leadership goals, and how they see their roles evolving in the near future.
This time, in CIO Insights, we feature Heidi Marie Torm, CIO at LB Forsikring.
Leadership is about planting ideas and inspiring ownership
CIO Heidi Marie Torm blends scenario-based planning, human-centred leadership, and a measured, strategic approach to AI at LB Forsikring by only implementing technology when it truly adds value.
CIO Heidi Marie Torm stepped into the leadership role at the member-owned LB Forsikring a couple of years ago at a time when the insurance industry was facing rapid digital transformation, with increasing regulatory demands, complex IT landscapes, and rising expectations from members for seamless, digital experiences:
‘My most important realisation was that I needed to navigate not just IT systems, but the whole organisation – the interplay between technology, business processes, and our members’ needs – and truly understand the business. We operate in a field where technology and the core product are closely intertwined. The financial sector is especially complex because many systems need to communicate, regulatory requirements must be met, and we must be able to deliver digital solutions that work both internally and for customers and partners.’
Heidi began by mapping LB Forsikring’s needs and, together with the executive management team, establishing a strategy focused on cloud migration, consolidation, and later AI:
‘We have carried out core system projects, established architecture governance, optimised processes, and laid out roadmaps so that we can support future needs. It also means we have worked on freeing up resources to develop new solutions and ensure that our IT architecture can keep pace with both internal and external demands.’
AI sits at the top of most CIO agendas, but for Heidi it has been crucial to strike the right balance between ambition and realism. From the outset, LB Forsikring adopted what she calls a ‘follower strategy’ on AI, rather than being first movers:
‘We had no intention of reducing personal service to our members or replacing parts of our business model with AI-supported solutions. At the same time, we have a strong focus on the ethical aspects of AI. So, we decided to follow the technology and see when it was mature enough for our business – without having to take on large upfront costs and risks.
Many business needs can be met with classic digitalisation – and not large AI investments
This does not mean that AI is absent from LB Forsikring. On the contrary, the company has already implemented solutions internally within IT, and some of the standard platforms today provide AI-supported functionality. Yet for Heidi and her team, prioritisation remains deliberate and measured:
‘It is clear to me that a CIO currently serves their company best by having a rational and professional overview of the opportunities and maturity of new technologies – and not letting oneself be driven by the PR value and hype surrounding AI right now. Many business needs can be met with classic digitalisation – and do not necessarily require large AI investments. Other areas can more naturally be solved by building AI algorithms and working on scaling them. But it is precisely that professional judgement that is key: when is AI the right tool, and when is ordinary digitalisation sufficient? And above all: how do we create value without compromising our member service?’
Beyond AI and digitalisation, LB Forsikring actively works on preventive measures and member satisfaction, and for Heidi, this is a guiding principle as CIO: that future digital initiatives must create value without compromising member service:
‘We are always focused on how it supports the core business and our members. Technology is a tool, not an end in itself.’
“I don’t believe in leading through control”
For Heidi, this means that her decision-making process is analytical and heavily scenario-based:
‘I simply have to conduct a certain amount of analysis, otherwise I cannot make qualified decisions, but of course this happens together with my team and other relevant expertise. The more perspectives, the better the decision. At the same time, we work a lot with scenarios, which also means we become accustomed to thinking ahead, but with a large field of possibilities, which naturally narrows the closer you get to a decision.’
Heidi prefers to lead with what she calls ‘ripples in the water’ as a tool. It’s a continuous process of sparking ideas rather than dictating direction:
‘I don’t believe in leading through control. For me, it’s more about planting ideas, creating ripples, and giving others the desire to take ownership. When working with change and digitalisation, you cannot simply push development through – you need the organisation to want it themselves.’
It also means that getting it right the first time is not always possible:
‘We all make wrong decisions. The most important thing is not to be afraid of taking them, otherwise you stand too long in the process itself. We can always adjust. If we don’t make a decision, we effectively make a non-decision, and that has consequences too. I would rather make a decision I believe in and adjust along the way.’
It is much more valuable to see an idea grow because someone seizes it and makes it their own
Heidi also emphasises creating space for reflection and dialogue, even when the pace is high:
‘I see it as part of my responsibility to give room for reflection in everyday life. Of course, it is a balance between meeting the deadlines and creating reflection space. But I have seen much more valuable and also more radical results when ideas grow because someone seizes it and makes it their own. And we work in an industry where you can always run faster, but sometimes it’s wiser to pause and consider whether we are actually running in the right direction.’
Networking is also central to her work, and the CIO Transformation Board provides particular value to Heidi:
‘There are two things that make the board interesting. One is that the participants are extremely competent. I can gain a lot from a simple conversation across the table, plus we can be open because there are no competitive barriers. And the other one is in terms of themes, that we discuss is catered to our reality. For example, the discussion we had in the board about digital sovereignty is mega interesting and highly relevant. In general, I gain a lot from discussing with others and being out with them to see different strategies in practice.’
In addition to networking and professional sparring, Heidi draws perspectives from mentorship, and she has for several years has been a mentor in IT-Branchen’s programme for female tech talents:
‘I have gained so much from sparring with these young women and being on the sidelines of their reality. I hope they have gained something too. They leave me in great confidence that we have an extraordinary female talent pool for the future leadership of technology in Denmark. There a plenty of capable women out there!’
“There are plenty of capable women out there!”
Heidi also gains important insight and perspective from voluntary work. For seven years, she has been a counsellor for Livslinien, the Danish suicide prevention helpline:
‘It is my modest contribution to society. It’s not about money or IT projects, but about people and life crises. It has been a very valuable learning experience to see how consistent emotions and patterns are, whether in personal crises or, by no means comparably, in workplace changes. It makes me even more humble about what happens to people in their lives, including those I am responsible for on a daily basis at work.’
When she needs to find calm and perspective herself, she does it far from IT and KPIs:
‘I knit. It started during Covid – and then it stuck. It is the most relaxing thing I know, along with listening to audiobooks: on one hand, my head is listening to something, on the other hand, my hands are occupied. And then my brain shuts down from the professional. Because when you work scenario-based, the challenge is not to get inspiration – it’s to be able to switch off sometimes.’
For Heidi, it’s not about completely disconnecting, but about giving the brain a different form of movement:
‘When I knit, my hands are calm, and my thoughts calms down and are allowed to find new patterns. It’s a bit like my work – you lay down a pattern, follow it for a while, and then suddenly you see how it all starts to make sense.’
The CIO Transformation Board
In the Danish ICT Industry Association (IT-Branchen), we have the CIO Transformation Board, which brings together the most visionary CIOs from Denmark’s large and medium-sized companies. These are CIOs from businesses where digitalization is a strategic part of the business — but where there is also a desire to do more than just digitalize.
We aim not only to highlight Denmark’s most talented CIOs and share experiences and best practices across industries, but also to set the agenda in the media and with politicians regarding Denmark’s and the business sector’s digital future.
The CIO Transformation Board is created for those who also want to help find the new balance between people and technology. For those who have a stance and want to help influence our green transition, address the skills shortage, and strengthen growth in Denmark.
