Date and place of birth: August 20, 1948, Denmark
Residence: Cambridge, UK
Marital status: Married to Marianne since 1971
Education: Ph.D. in Mathematics
Career path: Started off as a researcher, then founded my own company Cryptomathic specialising in data security and eventually quit my professorship in mathematics
Current posts: CEO of Cryptomathic, non-exec director of Velux Industries and other companies, member of the technical advisory board of the Microsoft Research Lab in Cambridge, UK

Q: What was your first job?
A: Research stipend from The Royal Society, London

Q: Who is or was your mentor?
A: Professor Roger Needham (deceased), prof. of computer science at Cambridge University, later first director of the Microsoft Computer Lab at Cambridge University

Q: Which business leaders do you most admire?
A: Villum Kann Rasmussen, who built the Velux and Velfac empire, Lord Browne, Jack Welch

Q: If you weren't in your current job, which company would you most like to lead?
A: A company with a significant division in research & development

Q: Do you read books on management theory? If so, which has influenced you the most?
A: A few. In general, books written by hands-on people rather than researchers

Q: Which competitors do you benchmark your company's performance against?
A: RSA Security, Entrust, Thales e-Security

Q: What has been your best experience in business?
A: Happy customers, and engaged and clever employees

Q: What was your biggest mistake in business?
A: To leave it to others to run my company

Q: What keeps you awake at night?
A: Unhappy customers - and prime numbers

Q: How do you relax?
A: Doing mathematics and gardening

Q: What was the last gadget you bought?
A: I don’t particularly like gadgets

Q: Favourite Web site
A: www.bbc.co.uk

Q: Desert island disc/book
A: The Queen of Mathematics by Jay R Goldman, Le Nozze di Figaro by W A Mozart