Bård Martin Mikkelsen (born 31 May 1948) is 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 ...

businessperson. He has been the chief executive officer of

Widerøe Widerøes Flyveselskap AS, trading as Widerøe, is a Norwegian airline, and is the largest regional airline operating in the Nordic countries. The airline's fleet of 40 Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft, and 3 Embraer E190-E2 aircraft, serves over 40 ...

(1988–1997), the

Ulstein Group Ulstein Group is a group of companies that focus on various marine-related industries, but is mainly known for its shipbuilding and ship design activities. The largest unit is ''Ulstein Verft AS''. The company's head office and primary operations ...

(1997–1999), Oslo Energi Holding (1999–2001) and Statkraft (2001–2010).

Biography

He was 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 ...

, but grew up in

Sarpsborg Sarpsborg ( or ), historically Borg, is a city and municipality in Viken county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Sarpsborg. Sarpsborg is part of the fifth largest urban area in Norway when paired with neigh ...

, in the neighborhood Hafslund. His father spent his career in the company Hafslund. Bård Mikkelsen took his education at the Befalsskolen for Kavaleriet and

Norwegian Military Academy The Norwegian Military Academy (), in Oslo, educates officers of the Norwegian Army and serves as the King's Royal Guard. The academy was established in 1750, and is the oldest institution for higher education in Norway. History The Commander- ...

, and worked in the

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 ...

, among others in Hærens Fallskjermjegerskole. As a continuation of this he has been an active

skydiver Parachuting, including also skydiving, is a method of transiting from a high point in the atmosphere to the surface of Earth with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachute or parachutes. For ...

, and in 1986 he became an instructor in

tandem skydiving Tandem skydiving or tandem parachuting refers to a type of skydiving where a student skydiver is connected to an instructor via a harness. The instructor guides the student through the whole jump from exit through freefall, piloting the canopy ...

. His last dive was in 1994 over

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

. He left the military in 1977, and became a sales engineer in

Raufoss Ammunisjonsfabrikk Raufoss Ammunisjonsfabrikker was a Norwegian company based at Raufoss, established in 1896 as ''Rødfoss Patronfabrik''. Initially the company manufactured ammunition, and later also other products, such as aluminium parts to the automotive industr ...

er. The next year he became "personal director" in Norzink in Odda. He was later promoted to assisting director. In 1984 he became director of DnC's department in Gjøvik. In line with his new civil career, he took education at the

Norwegian School of Management BI Norwegian Business School () is the largest business school in Norway and the second largest in all of Europe. BI has in total four campuses with the main one located in Oslo. The university has 845 employees consisting of an academic staff of ...

, and also went through the executive programme at

INSEAD INSEAD, a contraction of "Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires" () is a non-profit business school that maintains campuses in Europe (Fontainebleau, France), Asia (Singapore), the Middle East (Abu Dhabi, UAE), and North America (San ...

in 1986. In 1988 he became the CEO of

. One of the first things to occur in Mikkelsen's period in Widerøe was the disastrous

Widerøe Flight 710 Widerøe Flight 710, commonly known as the Torghatten Accident ( no, Torghatten-ulykken), was a controlled flight into terrain into the mountain of Torghatten in Brønnøy, Norway. The Widerøe-operated de Havilland Canada Dash 7 crashed on 6 M ...

crash. The Widerøe Flight 839 crash occurred in 1990, and the

Widerøe Flight 744 Widerøe Flight 744, also known as the Namsos Accident ( no, Namsos-ulykken), was a controlled flight into terrain of a de Havilland Canada DHC-6-300 Twin Otter during approach to Namsos Airport, Høknesøra in Norway. The incident occurred o ...

crash occurred in 1993. He remained in Widerøe for almost a decade, but in November 1996 it was announced that he would take over as the CEO of the

in February 1997. He also succeeded

Idar Ulstein Idar Lars Ulstein (2 April 1934 – 29 April 2012) was a Norwegian businessperson. He was educated as a naval architect at the Norwegian Institute of Technology in Trondheim, Norway. After completion of his education in 1962, he entered the fami ...

as chairman of the board in Ulstein Verft, Ulstein Propeller, Ulstein Bergen and Ulstein Brattvaag. He remained in Ultsein until 1999, and from 1999 to 2001 he was the CEO of Oslo Energi Holding. In September 2001 he succeeded Lars Uno Thulin as CEO of Statkraft. He has also been chairman of Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani and a board member of E.ON and

Cermaq Cermaq is a company which farms salmon and trout in Norway, Canada and Chile. In 2017 the farming business had sales of around USD 1,1 billion, and a total sales volume of 157,800 tonnes. Cermaq is a fully owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporati ...

. In November 2009 Mikkelsen announced his intention to leave Statkraft in the summer of 2010. He will be replaced by Christian Rynning-Tønnesen. Rynning-Tønnesen will get an annual salary of , 0.4 million more than the salary of Mikkelsen. Mikkelsen's salary was already the highest salary for a leader in a state-owned company in Norway. As late as 2004 his salary was much lower; 2.2 million.

Personal life

He resides in Hosle. He is married and has four children. In addition to parachuting, Mikkelsen has been practising mountain climbing, diving, kiting, snowboarding, helicopter flying and motocross. He practiced speed skating, ski jumping and cycling in his young days.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mikkelsen, Baard 1948 births Living people Norwegian Military Academy alumni Norwegian Army personnel Widerøe people Norwegian airline chief executives Ulstein Group people Statkraft people People from Sarpsborg