First House is a Norwegian strategic advisory, corporate communications, governmental affairs and crisis management/issue management agency. First House, with 27 senior advisers and 9 associate partners, started its operation Monday 4 January 2010. It was founded by former head of global corporate communication in

Glitnir Forseti (Old Norse "the presiding one", "president" in modern Icelandic and Faroese) is the god of justice and reconciliation in Norse mythology. He is generally identified with Fosite, a god of the Frisians. Name Grimm took ''Forseti'', "''pr ...

, Islandsbanki, and communications adviser in

Sparebank1 SpareBank 1 is a Norwegian alliance and brand name for a group of savings banks. The alliance is organised through the holding company ''SpareBank 1 Gruppen AS'' owned by the participating banks. In total the alliance is Norway's second largest ...

Bjørn Richard Johansen. The firm is located with office in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. Managing partner is Per Høiby, brother of Crown Princess Mette-Marit. Partner Leif Monsen is Chair of the board in First House. Key partners and cofounders include, minister of three different ministries including the Ministry of Health and Care Services,

Bjarne Håkon Hanssen Bjarne Håkon Hanssen (born 1 November 1962) is a Norwegian politician of the Labour Party who served Minister of Health and Social Care Services from 2008 to 2009, Minister of Labour and Social Inclusion from 2005 to 2008 and Minister of Agricu ...

and state secretary Ketil Lindseth. Several of the firms advisers, including Bjarne Håkon Hanssen had 6 months quarantine before they could join the firm. The founder Bjørn Richard Johansen recruited politicians as partners and co-founders of the firm, something which has been sharply criticized. This led to a debate about the PR-industry and its growing importance in Norway. Notable former politicians and political advisers that work for the company include Morten Andreas Meyer, (Høyre, The Conservative party),

Tor Mikkel Wara Tor Mikkel Wara (born 27 December 1964) is a Norwegian politician from the Progress Party, who has served as Justice and Immigration Minister from 2018 to 2019 after the resignation of Sylvi Listhaug. Biography Early career Wara was born in Kar ...

(Fremskrittspartiet/The Progressive party),

Morten Wetland Morten Wetland (born 12 May 1951) is a Norwegian lobbyist, jurist, diplomat and politician for the Labour Party. He is a former State Secretary, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Norway to the United Nations in New York. Career 1976–1 ...

(Arbeiderpartiet/Labour) and Erlend Fuglum (Senterpartiet/The Centre party). Former notable journalists include news editor in VG (VG, Schibsted) for several years Hans-Christian Vadseth, NRK reporter for more than 40 years Geir Helljesen and

Einar Lunde Einar Lunde (born 13 March 1943) is a Norway, Norwegian news anchor. He began in 1968 as a summer temp at NRK ''Dagsrevyen'', and from 1970 to 2010 he was a regular news anchor. For several years, he worked a part-time job arranging travels to Af ...

br>People

joined the firm in 2013 from the position as Norway´s UN ambassador. Wetland also served as the Norwegian ambassador to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. A similar group of senior advisers with background from industry and finance are working at the firm: Geir Arne Drangeid worked with Aker for 22 years, including many years as a key member of the leadership team of the successful Norwegian tycoon

Kjell Inge Røkke Kjell Inge Røkke (born 25 October 1958) is a Norwegian billionaire businessman. Røkke launched his business career with the purchase of a trawler in the United States in 1982, and gradually built a leading worldwide fisheries business. In 1 ...

. He leads the firms focus on the finance sector and private equity including M&A, IPOs and legislation advisory. Key members in this unit include Leif Monsen, Kari Holm Hejna and Andreas Nyheim. Nyheim joined First House from Norway´s business daily

Dagens Næringsliv ''Dagens Næringsliv'' (Norwegian for "Today's Business"), commonly known as ''DN'', is a Norwegian newspaper specializing in business news. , it is the third-largest newspaper in Norway. Editor-in-chief is Janne Johannessen, who was appointed i ...

in 2013. The firm won the award as Consultancy of the year 2014 in Norway by Konsulentguiden. First House also received the award as

SABRE A sabre ( French: �sabʁ or saber in American English) is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry of the early modern and Napoleonic periods. Originally associated with Central European cavalry such as th ...

Newcomer of the year by Holmes Report in May 2012 and was nominated as SABRE Financial consultancy of the year in May 2013. Minister of Migration and Integration, former Minister of Agriculture and Food in the current Conservative/Progressive

Erna Solberg Erna Solberg (; born 24 February 1961) is a Norwegian politician and the current Leader of the Opposition. She served as the 35th prime minister of Norway from 2013 to 2021, and has been Leader of the Conservative Party since May 2004. Solberg w ...

government in Norway,

Sylvi Listhaug Sylvi Listhaug (born 25 December 1977) is a Norwegian politician serving as the leader of the Progress Party since 2021. She previously served as Minister for the Elderly and Public Health of Norway under Prime Minister Erna Solberg from May to ...

, worked with First House until she stepped down to join the ministerial position in October 2013. During her time in government she had contacts with several clients of First House including, controversially, one of her last clients, supermarket chain Rema 1000 Dean of the Marketing college (Markedshøyskolen) Trond Blindheim has referred to First House as the company with "the most expansive and clever lobbyists".Nina Berglund (6 August 2013)
Election campaign heads to Arendal
News in English, retrieved 9 August 2013 On 19 June 2013

Dagbladet ''Dagbladet'' (lit.: ''The Daily Magazine'') is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally ''Dagbladet'' is considered the main liberal newsp ...

said that the company commenting on the Norwegian parliamentary election 2013 for TV2, is a conflict of interest.

Clients

In 2013

Norsk Telegrambyrå The Norwegian News Agency ( no, Norsk Telegrambyrå; abbreviated NTB) is a Norwegian press agency and wire service that serves most of the largest Norwegian media outlets. The agency is located in Oslo and has bureaus in Brussels in Belgium and T ...

said that the list of the company's clients is public information within the European Union—and that the information is listed on a web page. Their clients that are known to the public include

Olympiatoppen Olympiatoppen is an organisation that is part of Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports with responsibility for training Norwegian elite sport. Olympiatoppen is based at the Toppidrettssenteret between Norwegian Scho ...

. Former clients include

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery (Uber Eats and Postmates), package ...

n Norway N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...

https://www.dagsavisen.no/debatt/kommentar/2021/05/06/nar-liberalismen-trumfer-alt/. "Det var Sylvi Listhaugs daværende arbeidsgiver, First House, som ble hyret inn for å «skape litt ytringsrom» for Uber, som de så elegant formulerte det" First House's list of clients are kept secret.

References

{{Authority control Business services companies established in 2010 Business services companies of Norway Norwegian companies established in 2010