50. EU Business News- European CEO of the Year Awards 2025 Jun25022 Founded in 2021, Maven is a fast-growing Icelandic data service and consultancy company focused on helping organisations create real value through data. Specialising in modern data architecture, cloud data platforms, business intelligence, and data engineering, the company is steered by CEO and Founding Partner Helgi Hrafn Halldórsson – a seasoned data expert with a passion for building strong, collaborative teams. As Helgi is named in the European CEO of the Year Awards 2025, we caught up with him to find out more. Built upon the three key values of teamwork, innovation, and knowledge, Maven offers a comprehensive suite of services spanning data platform development, reporting automation, analytics solutions, and advisory around data-driven decision making. From the very beginning, the company’s goal has been to build long-lasting relationships with its diverse client base – across sectors including energy, retail, telecommunications, healthcare, and government – who each trust Maven to help them in modernising legacy systems, improving data quality, unlocking insights, and ultimately turning data into a competitive advantage. The company is headed by Helgi Hrafn Halldorsson, who steers his team under the philosophy of servant leadership. As CEO, Helgi believes that his role is to remove obstacles, provide clarity, and create the conditions for others to thrive. He does not believe in leadership through control, rather in making space for his team to move forward in unity – never aiming to be the loudest voice in the room but always ensuring that the right voices are heard and that his team has what it needs to operate with confidence and lead with purpose. Boasting decades of professional experience, Helgi entered the field in 2005 as a Web Developer for Thekking. He has held a number of leadership positions over the years, demonstrating his aptitude for excellence. Prior to co-founding Maven, Helgi worked as a data consultant for a now competitor, before evolving into a team lead and partner. He had already possessed a passion for the technical side of the field, but it was in this role that he also developed a deep love for the human elements – enabling teams and building trust between people and systems. In 2021, he went on to co-found Maven, driven by the staunch belief that data consulting could be done differently, with less individual heroics and more true teamwork. In the early days of establishing Maven, the biggest challenge was ensuring that the founders were truly aligned. Starting a company is an exciting period, but if shared values and expectations are not made clear, then cracks will eventually show. The founding team made time for such conversations upfront, and this alignment has been a key factor in how the Maven team handle decisions and challenges over time. As the company started to grow, Helgi found the next hurdle to be building a healthy culture – one that felt open and collaborative. This meant being deliberate with communications and placing significant emphasis on maintaining transparency and building trust across the entire team. “Over time, the ongoing challenge has been to turn that cultural foundation into something that scales,” he told us. “As the team grows, so does the need for structure. That has meant putting better systems in place and creating room for leadership to emerge across the team. Every stage of growth brings new learning, and we try to meet each one by staying true to what made us strong in the first place.” To guide this growth, Maven is following a six-year strategy built in two phases. The first three years focused on building trust in the Icelandic market through strong delivery and team building. Now in its second phase, Maven is shifting focus to long-term resilience — investing in internal structure, continuous development, and team empowerment. Initiatives like an employee stock option programme are helping strengthen ownership and alignment, all in service of the company’s goal to become a trusted data partner known for collaboration and long-term value creation. Continual learning and knowledge sharing remain central to Maven’s way of working, ensuring that the team evolves alongside technology and customer needs. The company believes that in order to help others succeed with data, it must stay curious and committed to growing its own capabilities first. As for Helgi’s vision going forward? “I do not see my success as something separate from the team; it is something we built together, and that is exactly how I plan to keep moving forward,” he shared. “My focus is on continuing to build Maven into the most respected data company in Iceland. That means developing the team, refining how we work, and helping more customers succeed with data in a meaningful way. And who knows, we might even expand abroad and see if we can become the most respected in the Nordics after all.” Contact: Helgi Hrafn Halldorsson Company: Maven ehf. Web Address: www.maven.is Data Management CEO of the Year 2025 (Northern Europe): Helgi Hrafn Halldorsson & EU Business News Leadership & Dedication Excellence Award 2025 Maven ehf.
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