Christina Niemelä Ström is the Global Head of Sustainability for IKEA Supply at Inter IKEA Group. She is responsible for the IKEA supply chain sustainability agenda as well as Inter IKEA’s Strategic Sustainability Assignments. In this role, she oversees initiatives across purchasing, transportation, wholesale, manufacturing, and operations, while also leading the broader Inter IKEA sustainability agenda covering responsible sourcing, climate action, biodiversity, water stewardship, and human rights advocacy.
An internationally experienced business leader, Christina has spent more than 25 years with IKEA in senior global roles across supply chain management, range and product development, and the franchisor organization. This breadth of experience has given her a deep understanding of the total IKEA value chain, underpinned by values-based leadership and systemic decision-making.
Christina began her IKEA journey in 2000 in South East Asia, working in Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore on sourcing and supply chain management—strengthening supplier capabilities, improving delivery performance, and securing high-quality, sustainable, and affordable products. She later moved to Japan to support the sourcing and development of a locally relevant product range for the Japanese market.
Back in Sweden, she took on senior leadership roles within Inter IKEA Group, including as Global Business Area Manager, with responsibility for global business strategy and development—shaping the product offer, customer communication, and ensuring effective sourcing and supply to drive growth across all markets. Before her current role, Christina served as Head of IKEA Culture & Learning at the franchisor in the Netherlands, where she led the global corporate learning and development function for more than 200,000 co-workers across the IKEA Franchise system.
Under her sustainability leadership, IKEA Supply has strengthened global partnerships to drive positive impact. This includes a collaboration with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to improve the rights and well-being of migrant workers in the supply chain, as well as advancing IKEA’s long-standing partnership with WWF, now extended into its next phase through 2030. Beyond IKEA, Christina has actively contributed to global sustainability advocacy, including co-authoring an op-ed in Business Green with WWF’s Cristianne Close and H&M’s Leyla Ertur, calling for coherent policies, transparent traceability, and cross-sector collaboration to enable nature-positive business transformation.
Christina holds a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Stockholm. Originally from Gothenburg, Sweden, she is currently based in Switzerland.