Board of Directors

Ola H. Strand (born 1957) graduated from the Norwegian Military Academy and holds an MBA in Strategic Management from the Norwegian School of Economics. His previous roles include CEO of SAS Norge AS and Coop Norge SA. For several years, Strand has led and worked with start-ups based in San Francisco. In addition to chairing our Board of Directors, he currently chairs the Board of St. Olavs Hospital, serves as Deputy Chair of Avinor's Board of Directors and chairs the boards of several smaller private logistics and transport companies. He has chaired our Board of Directors since 2024.

CEO of the Bergen Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Monica Mæland (born 1968) has extensive experience as a Conservative Party politician. She has served as Chief Commissioner of Bergen, Minister of Trade and Industry, Minister of Local Government and Modernisation, and Minister of Justice and Public Security. She is a qualified lawyer and has held several board positions. Mæland has solid experience of political processes and an in-depth understanding of our public mandate and role.

CEO of Sparebanken Norge

Jan Erik Kjerpeseth (born 1971) is from Førde and lives in Bergen. He has extensive leadership experience in banking, including as CEO of Sparebanken Vest and in his current role as Group CEO of Sparebanken Norge. Kjerpeseth is Chair of the Board of NRK and has served on several boards, including those of companies in the banking and finance sector. He has considerable expertise in credit assessment and bank lending.

Various board positions

Merete Nygaard Kristiansen (born 1967) holds a Master of Science in Business from Nord University (Bodø Graduate School of Business). She has served as CEO of Akvaplan-niva AS, a research and advisory institute specialising in aquaculture and aquatic environments. Kristiansen has extensive experience in international trade and in developing new products and markets for the seafood industry. Her previous roles at the Norwegian Seafood Council include Global Marketing Director, Director for Southeast Asia and Director for Italy. She has also served as Commercial Director at Nordlaks. Kristiansen has extensive board experience across several industries. She currently chairs the board of the Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics at UiT The Arctic University of Norway and serves on the Research Council of Norway's Portfolio Board for Food and Bioresources and the board of SpareBank 1 Factoring. She has served on our board since 2018.

CEO of Global Ocean Technology AS

Heine Østby (born 1972) graduated from the Norwegian Military Academy 1 & 2 and the US Army Infantry School. He has also taken part in a number of leadership development programmes in Norway and abroad, as well as several competence-building programmes in operations management, finance, supply chain and related fields. Østby has worked in industry since 2008, including as CEO of 3B Fibreglass Norway AS and Kitron AS. In addition to serving on our board, he is also a board member of Siva, the Industrial Development Corporation of Norway. Østby has served on our board since 2021.

CEO of the UNIFOR Foundation

Kristine Falkgård (born 1967) studied at the London School of Economics and the University of Salford and holds an MBA from the Norwegian School of Management (formerly Oslo Business School). She is currently EVP of the UNIFOR Foundation. Her previous roles include Director of Sustainability at Fremtind Forsikring AS, Director of Market Operations at Norges Bank, CEO of Kommunalbanken AS and General Manager of Cultura Bank AS. Falkgård chairs our newly established Audit and Risk Committee and Bionova's Portfolio Board. In addition to serving on our Board of Directors, Falkgård is a member of Finance Norway's Professional Committee for Sustainable Finance and chairs the advisory board of a tech start-up specialising in sustainability modelling. She has served on our Board of Directors since 2021.

Chief Municipal Executive of Kristiansund Municipality

Arne Ingebrigtsen (born 1972) studied at Sør-Trøndelag University College. He has founded several Norwegian and international companies, the best known of which is QuestBack. He spent more than 10 years leading businesses in the US before becoming Chief Municipal Executive of Kristiansund Municipality in 2015. In addition to serving on our Board of Directors, he is currently a member of the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities’ KommIT Council and leads the UN’s social sustainability group. As a member of the Minister of Digitalisation’s expert group, he also recently helped deliver its guide to artificial intelligence. He chairs the boards of several private and public organisations. Ingebrigtsen has served on our Board of Directors since 2022.

CEO of Digital Norway

Liv Dingsør (born 1978) holds an MSc in Economics and Business Administration from the Norwegian School of Economics. She is currently CEO of Digital Norway. Dingsør has held senior management positions at DNB and Aker ASA and has led several companies through major transformations. In recent years, she has served on several public councils and committees focusing on digitalisation and the data economy. In addition to serving on our board, she is currently Chair of the Board at Inventas and a board member at Simula. She has served on our board since 2024.

Lawyer and business economist with his own legal practice

Arvid Gusland (born 1966) holds a Master of Science in Economics and Business Administration from the Norwegian School of Economics and a law degree from the University of Oslo. Gusland runs his own legal practice specialising in corporate transactions and chairs the boards of several companies in industry, property and asset management. He has previously served as CEO of Treschow-Fritzøe, as a partner at Ernst & Young and other consulting and law firms, as a director at the Norwegian Shipowners' Association and as a deputy director general at the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. He has been a member of our board since 2024.

Senior Adviser, Bergen

Tim Genge (born 1989) is a renewable energy engineer from Germany and holds a master's degree in innovation and entrepreneurship from the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences. He works with us as a Senior EU Adviser and National Contact Point (NCP) for climate, energy and mobility. Tim has extensive experience in internationalisation, growth and business transformation, and spent several years working at our Hamburg office. He has also led several business transformation initiatives in Vestland. In addition to helping Norwegian companies gain a foothold in international markets, he has been involved in several bilateral cooperation projects and activities related to investments in Norwegian industry. Tim has served on our Board of Directors as an employee representative since 2023.

Special Adviser, Oslo

Camilla Albertsen Groth (born 1983) holds an MSc in Economics and Business Administration, specialising in Finance and Strategic Management, from Copenhagen Business School and is from Tromsø. She has extensive experience in banking and finance, including at Nordea, where she worked on financing for large corporate clients in the shipping industry. She joined us in 2022 and works to develop and strengthen our lending activities nationally, as well as on complex financing cases in partnership with our regional offices, particularly in industry and services. She previously worked on financing for innovative growth companies in our Eastern Norway region.
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The Nomination Committee consists of representatives of our owners and is chaired by Ingelise Arntsen.