Hermod Skånland (15 June 1925 – 16 April 2011) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

economist and civil servant, who served as the

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

of the Central Bank of Norway from 1985 to 1993.

Biography

Skånland was born in

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

as a son of school director Peder Skånland (1885–1958) and teacher Margit Maurstad (1893–1977). He finished his secondary education in 1944 and graduated with the cand.oecon. degree in 1951. He started working as a researcher in Statistics Norway, but already after one year he was hired in the

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the finance. Lists of current ministries of finance Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Finance (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Finance and Ec ...

as a consultant. This was not uncontroversial, as he was arguably the least experienced of the applicants. Already in 1953 he had a tenure as acting assistant secretary. He remained in the Ministry of Finance for several years, except for studies in the United States in the mid-1950s. He was promoted to assistant secretary in 1959, and in 1960 he was promoted to deputy under-secretary of state. This happened as another deputy under-secretary,

Sigurd Lorentzen Sigurd Juell Lorentzen (5 August 1916 – 25 January 1979) was a Norwegian judge and civil servant. He was born in Sunndal, and was a brother of professor Gustav Fredrik Lorentzen. He married judge Lelia Marie Loe in 1957. They resided in Bærum. ...

, left the ministry,

Truls Glesne Truls Glesne (8 April 1916 – 28 August 1971) was a Norwegian economist and civil servant. He graduated from the University of Oslo with the cand.oecon. degree in 1940. He worked as a secretary in the Ministry of Provisioning from 1941 to 1942, ...

succeeded Lorentzen and Skånland succeeded Glesne. Historian Einar Lie has noted that this shuffle "gave room for Hermod Skånland, the ' wonderboy' of the economists". Skånland served as the

of the Central Bank of Norway from 1985 to 1993, having served since 1971 as the Deputy Governor. Already as Deputy Governor he held a strong position, particularly when Governor Knut Getz Wold became ill. Skånland was also a member of several public boards in this period, as well as chairman of Statistics Norway from 1981 to 1993, and board member of

NTNF The Royal Norwegian Council for Scientific and Industrial Research ( no, Norges Teknisk-Naturvitenskapelige Forskningsråd) or NTNF was the first of five research councils established in Norway. It existed from 1946 until the end of 1992, when the f ...

from 1979 to 1985 and the

Nordic Investment Bank The Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) is an international financial institution founded in 1975 by the five Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden). In 2005, the three Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) also beca ...

from 1976 to 1988. From 1994 to 2003 he was an assisting professor at the BI School of Management. He has also been vice president of the Norwegian branch of

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to ...

. He is a member of the Norwegian Labour Party. He was decorated as a Commander of the

Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a ci ...

(1987), and held foreign orders of knighthood. He received the

Fritt Ord Honorary Award Fritt Ord Award consists of two prizes awarded by the Fritt Ord Foundation (''Stiftelsen Fritt Ord''). Two prizes are awarded in support of freedom of speech and freedom of expression; the Fritt Ord Award ( no, Fritt Ords pris) and the Fritt O ...

in 1980, and a

festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

to him was issued in 1994. In 1998 he was appointed as a Commander with Star of Finland's Order of the Lion and as a Commander with Star of the Icelandic

Order of the Falcon The Order of the Falcon ( is, Hin íslenska fálkaorða) is the only order of chivalry in Iceland, founded by King Christian X of Denmark and Iceland on 3 July 1921. The award is awarded for merit for Iceland and humanity and has five degrees. N ...

. He received the Luxembourg Order of Merit (Commander) and in 1990 he was awarded the 1998

Economist Award An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

. Skånland died at Fagertun nursing home in Gran, at the age of 85. He was survived by one daughter.

References

External links

Family genealogy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skanland, Hermod 1925 births 2011 deaths Norwegian social democrats Norwegian economists Norwegian civil servants Governors of the Central Bank of Norway Academic staff of BI Norwegian Business School Commanders of the Order of the Lion of Finland Recipients of the Order of the Falcon People from Tromsø