Olav Fjell (born 28 June 1951) is a Norwegian businessperson. He was the

chief executive officer 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 ...

(CEO) of

Statoil Equinor ASA (formerly Statoil and StatoilHydro) is a Norwegian state owned enterprise, state-owned multinational energy company headquartered in Stavanger. It is primarily a petroleum company, petroleum company, operating in 36 countries with ad ...

from 1999 to 2003, and of

Hurtigruten ''Hurtigruten'' (), formally Kystruten Bergen-Kirkenes ("coastal route Bergen- Kirkenes"), is a Norwegian public coastal route transporting passengers that travel locally, regionally and between the ports of call, and also cargo between ports no ...

from 2007 to 2012.

Career

Fjell has a siv.øk. 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 ...

in 1975 as well as education from the

Royal Norwegian Army The Norwegian Army ( no, Hæren) is the land warfare service branch of the Norwegian Armed Forces. The Army is the oldest of the Norwegian service branches, established as a modern military organization under the command of the King of Norway i ...

. His career started as an accountant at Kongsberg Vaabenfabrik in 1975 where he stayed until 1987, by which time he had become vice president. He had a continual employment in

Bergen Bank Bergen Bank was a Norwegian commercial bank in existence between 1975 and 1990. It was created as a merger between Bergens Privatbank (founded in 1855) and Bergens Kreditbank (founded in 1928) while the bank Kvam Privatbank was acquired in 1979. ...

Den norske Bank Den norske Bank or DnB was a Norwegian bank that existed between 1990 and 2003 when it merged with Gjensidige NOR to form DnB NOR (now DNB ASA). The bank's headquarters were in Bergen, Norway. DnB was created as a merger between Bergen Bank and ...

and finally as CEO of

Postbanken Postbanken (lit. The Postal Bank) was a Norwegian postal savings bank. The bank offered its services through the Norwegian post office. It was first merged into DNB ASA as a subsidiary, and then dissolved in 2011. History Postbanken was founded ...

until he was hired as CEO of Statoil in 1999. After quitting in Statoil in 2004 he worked as a strategic and financial adviser for First Securities. He was later chief executive of Lindorff from 2006 to 2007 and

from 2007 to 2012. He has also had a number of board positions, including chairman of NSB (Norwegian State Railways) from 2000 to 2003, in

Eastern Drilling Eastern Drilling was an offshore drilling contractor headquartered in Grimstad, Norway. In May 2007, Seadrill acquired the company. History The company was founded in 2004. In 2005, Smedvig acquired a 10% stake in the company. In November 2006, ...

and Lindorff. He currently chairs of the boards of

Statkraft Statkraft AS is a hydropower company, fully owned by the Norwegian state. The Statkraft Group is a generator of renewable energy, as well as Norway’s largest and the Nordic region's third largest energy producer. Statkraft develops and generates ...

and

Deep Sea Supply Deep Sea Supply is an international operator of offshore supply vessels. It operates nine anchor handling tug supply vessels (AHTS) and two platform supply vessels (PSV). 17 ships are under construction. The main office is located in Arendal, No ...

. He is a fellow of the

Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences The Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences ( no, Norges Tekniske Vitenskapsakademi, NTVA) is a learned society based in Trondheim, Norway. Founded in 1955, the academy has about 500 members. It is a member of the International Council of Aca ...

Controversy

As a controversial businessperson, Fjell has had a strained relationship with the

press Press may refer to: Media * Print media or news media, commonly called "the press" * Printing press, commonly called "the press" * Press (newspaper), a list of newspapers * Press TV, an Iranian television network People * Press (surname), a famil ...

. In his last period as

CFO The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and financi ...

in Kongsberg, he had massive problems internally because of the company's economic fall and felt that the press was excessive and critical. As in 2003 with the Statoil corruption case in Iran it was

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 ...

that led the critical journalism. It ended with him being decommissioned from his position with Kongsberg. Fjell was central in the corruption scandal that Statoil experienced in 2003. After pressure both internally and from the media the board had to remove Fjell on the evening of 22 September 2003. Statoil was fined for corruption from the

Norwegian National Authority for the Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime The National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime ( no, Økokrim) is Norway's central unit for fighting economic and environmental crimes. The unit, created in 1989, has its main office in Oslo. Økokr ...

. Despite the seriousness of the case and the weakening of the name of Statoil, Fjell was according to the media given a compensation between NOK 7.5 and 10 million. In addition he sued Statoil with demands for early pension from 60 years equal to 66% of his wage. Statoil denied this agreement, though it was mentioned in the press release at the time of Fjells departure. In December 2005 Fjell won the court case, and he can expect payments from Statoil up to about NOK 40 million.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fjell, Olav 1951 births Living people Norwegian businesspeople in the oil industry Equinor people Norwegian State Railways people Norwegian School of Economics alumni Members of the Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences