Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson

Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson
Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson
	Guðmundur in 2018
Minister for the Social Affairs and the Labour Market
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 28 November 2021
Prime Minister	Katrín Jakobsdóttir ; Bjarni Benediktsson
Preceded by	Ásmundur Einar Daðason; (Social Affairs and Children)
Minister for the Environment and Natural Resources
	In office; 30 November 2017 – 28 November 2021
Prime Minister	Katrín Jakobsdóttir
Preceded by	Björt Ólafsdóttir
Succeeded by	Guðlaugur Þór Þórðarson; (Environment, Energy, and Climate)
Personal details
Born	28 March 1977 (age 47); Brúarland, Iceland
Political party	Left-Green Movement
Education	University of Iceland (B.Sc); Yale University (M.E.M.)

Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson (born 28 March 1977) is a member of parliament (Alþingi) in Iceland and the Minister of Social Affairs and the Labour Market since 28 November 2021. He represents the Left-Green Party. He was Minister for the Environment and Natural Resources from 30 November 2017 to 28 November 2021. He has also served as the CEO of Landvernd, the largest nature conservation and environmental NGO in Iceland, from 2011 to 2017.^[1] In 2017 he became the first openly gay man to become an Icelandic Minister.^[2]

Education and career

Guðmundur was raised on a farm. His intention was to be a sheep farmer. When he went to a secondary school in Akureyri he started acting and was interested in becoming an actor, but found out that he didn’t sing well enough. After graduation he went to the Reykjavik household school and then travelled to Germany, where he stayed in a convent for a few months. He found out eventually that his faith was not strong enough to be a monk.^[3] Guðmundur holds a BSc degree in biology from the University of Iceland and a master's degree in environmental science from Yale University.^[4] He has worked with research in ecology and environmental studies at the University of Iceland and at The Soil Conservation Service of Iceland. He then worked at The Institute of Freshwater Fisheries in Hólar in Hjaltadalur.^[5] Since 2006 he has been a part-time teacher at the University of Iceland, the Agricultural University of Iceland and the University Center of the Westfjords.^[6] He has also worked as a ranger in Þingvellir National Park and Vatnajökull National Park.

He was one of the founders of The Icelandic Association of Environmentalist and was the first chairman from 2007 to 2010. In 2011 he became the CEO of Landvernd, an Icelandic environment association. He served as CEO of Landvernd for 6 years.^[7]

References

^ "Guðmundur Ingi ráðinn framkvæmdastjóri". Landvernd (in Icelandic). Retrieved 2018-03-24.
^ "Skiptir miklu máli að vera fyrstur". Retrieved 2018-03-24.
^ "Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson: Planned to be a sheep farmer, now Iceland's labour minister". Nordic Labour Journal. Retrieved 2021-12-28.
^ "Government Offices of Iceland | Government.is". www.government.is. Archived from the original on 2019-08-03. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
^ www.nepal.is, Nepal hugbúnaður -. "Veiðimálastofnun". gamli.veidimal.is. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
^ "Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson" (in Icelandic). Archived from the original on 2018-03-25. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
^ "Iceland elects 41-year-old environmentalist as prime minister". Retrieved 2018-03-24.

External links

Biography of Guðmundur Ingi on the parliament website (Icelandic)

Political offices
Preceded by Björt Ólafsdóttir	Minister for the Environment and Natural Resources 2017–2021	Succeeded by Guðlaugur Þór Þórðarson as Minister for the Environment, Energy and Climate
Preceded by Björt Ólafsdóttir as Minister of Social Affairs and Children	Minister for the Social Affairs and the Labour Market 2021–present	Incumbent