Gro Brækken to head OLF from 2010

Gro Brækken handing out food. Photo: Redd Barna. Photo: Redd Barna.

The board of the Norwegian Oil Industry Association (OLF) has appointed Gro Brækken to succeed Per Terje Vold as chief executive with effect from 1 January 2010. She is currently secretary-general of Save the Children Norway.

“We are very pleased that Ms Brækken has accepted the offer of this post,” says Steinar Våge, chair of the OLF board. “She has had a distinguished career with both voluntary organisations and the business sector in Norway, and we look forward to benefiting from her broad experience.”

The oil and gas sector is Norway’s most important industry, and accounts for well over a third of its national income. As an interest and employer organisation for oil and supplier companies, the OLF is dedicated to promoting this industry’s conditions and development opportunities on the Norwegian continental shelf.

Ms Brækken holds an MSc in engineering and began her career with 13 years of service in Norske Shell and Statoil. She has also been chief executive of Ulstein International. At Den norske Bank, she held corporate responsibility for organisational and management development and was subsequently regional vice president for Oslo and Akershus. She was in charge of industrial, environmental and international policy at the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise from 1994-1999. Ms Brækken has spent the past decade as leader for Save the Children Norway (Redd Barna), with operations in 15 countries including domestic activities.

“I’m looking forward to working with the oil and gas industry again,” she says. “We face a crucial year in 2010, since Norway’s future as an oil and gas nation depends on making new discoveries and boosting production.

“To achieve that, we need promising new acreage to explore. Opening the Nordland VI and VII areas as well as Troms II to exploration will be very important in that context.”

Source: Olf.no