Jon Fredrik Baksaas (born 1954) is the Chairman of the

GSMA The GSM Association (commonly referred to as 'the GSMA' or ''Global System for Mobile Communications'', originally ''Groupe Spécial Mobile'') is an industry organisation that represents the interests of mobile network operators worldwide. More ...

and until August 2015 the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Telenor Telenor ASA ( or ) is a Norwegian majority state-owned multinational telecommunications company headquartered at Fornebu in Bærum, close to Oslo. It is one of the world's largest mobile telecommunications companies with operations worldwide, ...

. He now serves as a special adviser to the telecommunications company's Group Executive Management team. Among the longest-serving top executives in international telecoms and in Norwegian business life, Baksaas served as President and CEO of Telenor for 13 years, from June 2002 to August 2015. His resignation came under a cloud, as he had acted as one of the primary actors in a bribery and corruption scandal at

VimpelCom VEON Ltd. (formerly VimpelCom Ltd.) is a Dutch-domiciled multinational telecommunication services company. It predominantly operates services in the regions of Asia, Africa and Europe. It is the 13th largest mobile network operator in the world ...

(where he was a director), in connection with the purchase of wireless licenses in Uzbekistan. Before taking the top position at Telenor, he had served as Telenor’s deputy CEO, CFO, and executive vice president. He joined Telenor in 1989.

Career

Before joining Telenor, Baksaas served as CFO in both

Aker ASA Aker ASA is a Norwegian industrial investment company with ownership interests concentrated in oil and gas, renewable energy and green technologies, maritime assets, marine biotechnology, and industrial software. The company is listed on Oslo St ...

, Stolt-Nielsen Seaway and also

Det Norske Veritas DNV (formerly DNV GL) is an international accredited registrar and classification society headquartered in Høvik, Norway. The company currently has about 12,000 employees and 350 offices operating in more than 100 countries, and provides ser ...

. In addition to his chairmanship at the

GSM Association The GSM Association (commonly referred to as 'the GSMA' or ''Global System for Mobile Communications'', originally ''Groupe Spécial Mobile'') is an industry organisation that represents the interests of mobile network operators worldwide. More ...

, he is also a member of the board of Svenska Handelsbanken, VimpelCom and the Advisory Council of Det Norske Veritas. Baksaas received a Masters of Science degree from the

Norwegian School of Economics The Norwegian School of Economics ( no, Norges Handelshøyskole) or NHH is a business school situated in Bergen, Norway. It was founded in 1936 as Norway's first business school and is a leading teaching and research institution in the fields of ...

, and additional executive education qualifications from IMD Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland.

References

Businesspeople in telecommunications Norwegian chief executives Norwegian School of Economics alumni 1954 births Living people Date of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) International Institute for Management Development alumni {{norway-business-bio-stub