Joakim Theodor Haagaas Lystad (born 17 April 1953) is a Norwegian civil servant. He served as the first

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 governmen ...

of the

Norwegian Food Safety Authority Norwegian Food Safety Authority ( no, Mattilsynet) is a Norwegian government agency responsible for safe food and drinking water, and works within the fields of human, plant, fish and animal health as well as environmentally friendly production a ...

from 2003 to 2010, building the organization. From 2010 to 2015, he was the

Labour and Welfare Director The Labour and Welfare Director (Norwegian: ''Arbeids- og velferdsdirektør'') is an office (''embete'') in Norway, created in 2006. The Labour and Welfare Director is the head of the Labour and Welfare Service The Labour and Welfare Service (Norwe ...

of Norway, i.e. the head of the

Labour and Welfare Service The Labour and Welfare Service (Norwegian: ''Arbeids- og velferdsetaten'') is a government agency of Norway. Together with municipal welfare agencies, it makes up the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV). The Labour and Welfare Servic ...

and the Labour and Welfare Administration and responsible for a third of the state budget of Norway. He is now a special adviser in the

Ministry of Health and Care Services The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services (''Helse- og omsorgsdepartementet'') is a Norwegian government ministry in charge of health policy, public health, health care services, and health legislation in Norway. It is led by the Mini ...

Background and education

Born 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 ...

, he is a grandson of the physician Harald Lystad. He received his cand.agric. ( MSc) degree in

environmental resource management Environmental resource management is the management of the interaction and impact of human societies on the environment. It is not, as the phrase might suggest, the management of the environment itself. Environmental resources management aim ...

from the

Norwegian College of Agriculture The Norwegian University of Life Sciences ( no, Norges miljø- og biovitenskapelige universitet, NMBU) is a public university located in Ås, Norway. It is located at Ås in Viken, near Oslo, and at Adamstuen in Oslo and has around 5,200 stud ...

in 1978 with a thesis on vegetation mapping in Oaldsbygda at Sunnmøre.

Career

He worked as a researcher at the

and then at the

Norwegian Institute for Water Research The Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) is an environmental research organisation which researches, monitors, assesses and studies freshwater, coastal and marine environments and environmental technology. Services and research NIVA's a ...

. From 1991 to 1995 he was Assistant Director General and head of the industry department at the Ministry of the Environment, and from 1995 to 2002 he was director of planning and control at the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority. In 2002, he was appointed by the King-in-Council as the first

of the

, that was established the following year by the merger of 4 state agencies and 89 municipal agencies. In 2010, he was appointed by the Norwegian government as head of the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration. He did not originally apply for the office, but was asked to take the post by minister of labour Hanne Bjurstrøm. He left the office on 10 April 2015, and was appointed as a special adviser in the

Ministry of Labour The Ministry of Labour ('' UK''), or Labor ('' US''), also known as the Department of Labour, or Labor, is a government department responsible for setting labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, training, a ...

. In the autumn of 2015, he was appointed as a special adviser in the

. In 2017 he was appointed by the

Ministry of Justice and Public Security The Royal Ministry of Justice and Public Security ( no, Det kongelige justis- og beredskapsdepartement) is a Norwegian government ministry that oversees justice, the police, and domestic intelligence. The main purpose of the ministry is to provide ...

as chairman of the working group on police reform that made recommendations on the future structure of the police force and its recruitment.https://www.politilederen.no/nyheter/justispolitikk/1824-parat-politiet-onsker-kompetanseloft-velkommen

References

1953 births Living people Civil servants from Oslo Norwegian College of Agriculture alumni Directors of government agencies of Norway Rønneberg family {{Norway-gov-bio-stub