Lene Espersen

Lene Espersen (born 26 September 1965) is a former Danish politician and the current CEO at the Danish Association of Architectural Firms. She has also since 1 July 2016 been chairman of the board of Aalborg University, a post she will have until June 30, 2020.

A member of parliament (Folketinget) since 1994, she served as Minister of Justice from 27 November 2001 to 10 September 2008 and as Minister of Economic and Business Affairs from 10 September 2008 to 23 February 2010. She was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 23 February 2010 to 3 October 2011, and was leader of the Conservative People's Party and Deputy Prime Minister from 9 September 2008 to 13 January 2011.

She attended Lester B. Pearson United World College of the Pacific in Canada.

On 13 January 2011, she announced at a press conference at 19.00 pm, briefly after her arrival in Denmark, that she would not continue as leader of The Conservatives. The announcement came after months of increasing pressure, where various issues regarding her work ethics, had gained national attention, and decreasing support in opinion polls for The Conservative party. During her tenure as political leader, support for the Conservative People's Party has been reduced from around 10% to below 5%. On 14 January, Lars Barfoed succeeded Lene Espersen as political leader of the Conservative People's Party.

Lene Espersen was also an attendee of Trilateral Commission meetings in 2002 and 2005.

She has two children.