Daniel Andreas Skjeldam (born 2 September 1975 in

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

) is a Norwegian business leader and the current chief executive officer of Hurtigruten.

Education

Skjeldam holds an MBA from the Norwegian School of Economics in

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

in 2001, his final paper entitled "Success factors for low-cost airlines."

Career

After graduation he was part of the start-up team of Norwegian Air Shuttle where he started out on short-term contracts, then became head of airport operations, chief of the route network and revenue management, before he finished with five years as its commercial director.

Hurtigruten

Trygve Hegnar Trygve Hegnar (born 6 October 1943) is a Norway, Norwegian businessperson, investor and chief editor of the business magazines ''Kapital (magazine), Kapital'' and ''Finansavisen'', founded by Hegnar himself in 1971 and 1992 respectively. He is a bi ...

, the largest shareholder in Hurtigruten, personally headhunted Skjeldam to the position of CEO of the company in the autumn of 2012. That made him the youngest leader of a listed Norwegian company. After accepting the position Skjeldam stated that "Hurtigruten remain the real thing in a world that is increasingly dominated by big white cruise ships", and that "Hurtigruten will regain

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

, as well as extend the season for British tourists chasing the Northern Lights". He immediately made major changes to the company: Hurtigruten's headquarters were moved to

Tromsø Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Tromsø (city), city of Tromsø. Tromsø lies ...

and several properties and non-strategic assets were sold off. The land organization in the Nordic countries were trimmed by 25-30 percent and a separate crew company was established. The goal was to enable annual saving of more than 60 million NOK (approximately US$10 million) and increase the focus on commercial operations, especially hotel and restaurant operations of vessels. On 15 May 2013 Skjeldam announced Hurtigruten's first positive earnings in nine years. In June 2013 the local newspaper Fremover reported Hurtigruten had decided against major objections of the mayor of

Narvik ( se, Áhkanjárga) is the third-largest municipality in Nordland county, Norway, by population. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Narvik. Some of the notable villages in the municipality include Ankenesstranda, Ball ...

to move the staffing office for maritime employees from Narvik to

Kirkenes Kirkenes (; ; Skolt Sami: ''Ǩeârkknjargg;'' fi, Kirkkoniemi; ; russian: Киркенес) is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Sør-Varanger Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, in the far northeastern part of Norway. The town ...

triggering a supposed saving of 40 million NOK (approximately US$7 million) per year. As of 2020, Skjeldam is CEO of Hurtigruten Group AS and he is chairman of the board for

Hurtigruten AS Hurtigruten AS is a Norwegian coastal ferry service and cruise line headquartered in Oslo, Norway. It operates ''Hurtigruten'', the coastal ferry service along the Norwegian coast from which it takes its name. In 2020, 81% of the company was o ...

https://www.proff.no/roller/hurtigruten-as/troms%C3%B8/transport/IF4PKXL08ND/ "Hurtigruten AS ..Styrets leder Daniel Andreas Skjeldam (f 1975)"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skjeldam, Daniel 1975 births Living people Norwegian businesspeople Norwegian School of Economics alumni