John Gordon Bernander (born 22 September 1957) is a Norwegian politician for the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

and former

director-general A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'' ) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a government ...

of the

Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the largest ...

(NRK) and the

Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise The Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise ( no, Næringslivets Hovedorganisasjon, NHO) is an employers' organisation in Norway with more than 30,000 members. It was founded in 1989 as a merger of the Federation of Norwegian Industries, the Norwegi ...

Early life and career

He was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, grew up in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

and

Kristiansand Kristiansand is a seaside resort city and municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 112,000 as of January 2020, following the incorporation ...

. He was educated at the

Norwegian Naval Academy The Royal Norwegian Naval Academy (RNoNA, ''Sjøkrigsskolen'' in Norwegian) is located at Laksevåg in Bergen. It was formally established 27 October 1817 in Frederiksvern. The institution educates officers for the Royal Norwegian Navy. History ...

in Bergen from 1976 to 1977 and graduated from the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

with the

cand.jur. Candidate of Law (Latin: ''candidatus/candidata juris/iuris'') is both a graduate law degree awarded to law students in the Nordic region as well as an academic status designation for advanced Law School students in German-speaking countries. ...

degree in 1982.

Politics

In 1989 he was elected to the

Parliament of Norway The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years bas ...

from

Vest-Agder Vest-Agder (; "West Agder") was one of 18 counties (''fylker'') in Norway up until 1 January 2020, when it was merged with Aust-Agder to form Agder county. In 2016, there were 182,701 inhabitants, around 3.5% of the total population of Norway. I ...

, but he did not stand for re-election in 1993. From March to November 1990 he was appointed State Secretary in the

Ministry of Trade A Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry or variations is a ministry that is concerned with a nation's trade, industry and commerce. Notable examples are: List *Algeria: Ministry of Industry and Mi ...

. During this period his seat in Parliament was taken by Kirsten Huser Leschbrandt. Bernander had been a personal secretary (today known as political advisor) in the

Ministry of Industry A Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry or variations is a ministry that is concerned with a nation's trade, industry and commerce. Notable examples are: List *Algeria: Ministry of Industry and ...

from 1985 to 1986. On the local level he was a member of

city council from 1979 to 1985 and 1987 to 1989, the first period in the executive committee. He chaired the county party chapter from 1988 to 1989. From 1991 to 1994 Bernander was vice-chairman of the nationwide party. He was a member of the nationwide central board from 1988 to 1997.

Business

Before entering politics Bernander worked as a businessman and lawyer. From 1993 to 2001 he was CEO of the Gard P&I Club and later Gard Services in

Arendal Arendal () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder counties of Norway, county in southeastern Norway. Arendal belongs to the Districts of Norway, region of Southern Norway, Sørlandet. The administrative centre of the munici ...

. From 15 June 2001 to 19 March 2007, Bernander was the director-general (''kringkastingssjef'') of the

, the Norwegian state-owned broadcasting company. He succeeded

Einar Førde Einar Førde (20 January 1943 – 26 September 2004) was a Norwegian journalist and politician of the Labour Party. He served as Minister of Education and Church Affairs from 1979 to 1981, and director-general of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corpo ...

, and was succeeded by

Hans-Tore Bjerkaas Hans-Tore Bjerkaas (born 7 June 1951 in Tromsø) is a former Director-General of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK). He began his broadcasting career in 1977, joining NRK's Troms region, where he was deputy editor. Later, he was appoin ...

. From 2006 to 2007 Bernander was vice president of the

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who ar ...

. From May 2007 Bernander is associated with The Mosvold Shipping Group in Kristiansand. From September 2009 to September 2012 he was the director-general of the

. He then moved on to the managing director position in Viking Heat Engines.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bernander, John Gordon 1957 births Living people Members of the Storting Conservative Party (Norway) politicians Vest-Agder politicians Norwegian state secretaries Politicians from Kristiansand Politicians from Brooklyn Royal Norwegian Naval Academy alumni University of Oslo alumni Norwegian jurists NRK people Norwegian television executives 20th-century Norwegian politicians