Jonathan is born and raised in Germany, where he grew up as part of the Danish minority. He has a Master’s degree in Finance and International Business from Aarhus University and has during his studies spent a semester abroad in Hong Kong. After finishing the program with rotations in Finland, Denmark and Malaysia, he is now based in Copenhagen, working as Senior Commercial Manager.
F15 Graduate
Jonathan Tei Bergfeld
When and how did you join Arla?
I first joined Arla as Summer Intern in 2015 while I was still studying for my master’s degree in Aarhus. It was a great experience, so I stayed on as Student Assistant for the remainder of my studies. After finishing my master’s degree, I joined the F15 Graduate programme, which first took me to Helsinki, working as Executive Assistant for the Managing Director. My second rotation took me back to Aarhus, where I worked in Commercial Development in Arla Foods Ingredients. In my last rotation I was based in Kuala Lumpur, where was working on advancing our Organic ambition in Southeast Asia. More specifically, I was responsible for launching a product range in the Philippines. Today, I’m working out of our Copenhagen office as Senior Commercial Manager, driving our licensed Starbucks RTD business across 20 distributor markets.
How has the F15® programme helped you to grow your career?
Besides the obvious advantages of being exposed to multiple areas of the business and building a great network, the F15 programme helped me to take a structured approach to my personal development. There is great emphasis on identifying and consciously working with your development areas. Most importantly, this goes beyond functional skills and to a more personal level. It helped me to identify my strengths and weaknesses and gave me a clearer picture of the career I want to build for myself.
What has been your biggest challenge as an F15 Graduate?
Being a F15 means moving to a new geographical location and often radically different culture every 8 months. Whilst being overly excited about the professional aspects, it is easy to forget the impact on your personal life. In your new location you might easily be the only “expat” or foreigner, whilst most people will go on with their every-day life. As a very social person I found this at times challenging. On the other hand, it has challenged me to become even more open and proactive, which lead to many new connections that have outlasted the duration of my rotations.
What’s your next step?
Since 2021 I’m responsible for our licensed Starbucks RTD business in around 20 distributor markets in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, Turkey, Caucasus, and South Africa. It’s been an incredible growth journey and we are looking to further grow our geographic footprint, as well as existing business, together with our distributor partners. In the longer term, I could imagine moving abroad again to support our commercial agenda in one of our exciting international regions.
