Steingrímur J. Sigfússon

This is an Icelandic name. The last name is a patronymic, not a family name; this person is properly referred to by the given name Steingrímur.

Steingrímur J. Sigfússon
Minister of Finance
In office 1 February 2009 – 23 May 2013
Prime Minister	Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir
Preceded by	Árni Mathiesen
Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture
In office 1 February 2009 – 10 May 2009
Prime Minister	Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir
Preceded by	Einar Kristinn Guðfinnsson
Succeeded by	Jón Bjarnason
Minister of Agriculture and Communications
In office 28 September 1988 – 30 April 1991
Prime Minister	Steingrímur Hermannsson
Preceded by	Jón Helgason (as Minister of Agriculture) Mattías Á. Mathiesen (as Minister of Communications)
Succeeded by	Halldór Blöndal
Personal details
Born	(1955-08-04) 4 August 1955 Gunnarsstaðir, Þistilfjörður
Political party	Left-Green Movement
Spouse(s)	Bergný Marvinsdóttir
Children	Four children
Alma mater	University of Iceland
Profession	Geologist

Steingrímur Jóhann Sigfússon (born 4 August 1955) is an Icelandic politician. He has been a member of the Althing (Icelandic parliament) since 1983 and is the founding chairman of the Left-Green Movement (Vinstri hreyfingin – grænt framboð). He was the Minister for Agriculture and Communications from 1988–1991. He became Minister of Finance in 2009. In 2011 he took on the roles of Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture and Minister of Economic Affairs.

Steingrímur was born in Gunnarsstaðir, a large sheep farm between Garður and Þórshöfn in the Þistilfjörður region of northeast Iceland (Svalbarðshreppur municipality). In his younger days he was an avid sportsman, both track and field and also a volleyball player. On 16 January 2006, Steingrímur was injured in a car accident not far from Blönduós, Iceland: he has now recovered.

He supported the end of the US military presence in Iceland, but believed Iceland itself should have taken the initiative in ending this presence. Since September 2006, when US forces left Naval Air Station Keflavik, he has strongly opposed any possible development of an Icelandic army seeing the country's need for armed forces as practically non-existent. He believes that civilian institutions such as the police and the coast guard should be organized in order to provide the needed protection in the unlikely event of a major disturbance.

In November 2006, he published the book Við öll – Íslenskt velferðarsamfélag á tímamótum ("All of Us – Icelandic Welfare Society at Crossroads"), laying out his political ideology.

External links

• Nordic Council: Steingrímur J. Sigfússon
• (Icelandic) Alþingi: Steingrímur J. Sigfússon

Political offices
Preceded by Árni Mathiesen	Minister of Finance 2009 – 2013	Succeeded by Bjarni Benediktsson, Jr.
Preceded by Einar Kristinn Guðfinnsson	Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture 2009 – 2013	Succeeded by Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson
Preceded by Jón Helgason	Minister of Agriculture 1988–1991	Succeeded by Halldór Blöndal
Preceded by Mattías Á. Mathiesen	Minister of Communications 1988–1991	Succeeded by Halldór Blöndal
Party political offices
New title	Chairman of the Left-Green Movement 1999 – 2013	Succeeded by Katrín Jakobsdóttir