Sara Riis-Carstensen

Biography

Sara Riis-Carstensen is a brand strategist who has led transformations across some of the world's most prominent companies, including LEGO, De Beers, Carlsberg, Giorgio Armani, and Lufthansa Group. As Director of Global Brand Development at LEGO, she built the brand strategy that propelled the company to become one of the most powerful brands globally in any sector, working across brand, marketing and product, whilst expanding into digital content and engagement. She then brought the same transformational approach to De Beers, moving a 130-year-old prestige heritage brand into a digital world.

Sara explores how organisations can build brand-driven cultures, maintain authenticity in an age of AI and automation, and stand out in industries trapped in conformity. Drawing from her experience repositioning traditional businesses and expanding brands beyond their established markets, she examines how brands can stay culturally relevant by aligning strategy with both customer needs and organisational behaviour, but without ever forgetting their core values. She addresses the mindset shifts required to become disruptive rather than simply react to disruption, challenging leaders to rethink brand not as a marketing function but as a strategic discipline that drives growth.

Since working with LEGO and De Beers, Sara also had a period working for the business reinvention consultancy Vivaldi in New York, global insurers Zurich, and Europe's largest aviation business, Lufthansa Group. There she is driving a major brand transformation, aligning a diverse portfolio of B2B and B2C brands including Lufthansa, SWISS and ITA Airways into one cohesive brand narrative. With both boardroom and leadership experience as well as creative thinking, Sara helps organisations navigate change, redefine cultural relevance, and build powerful brands.