Ólöf Nordal (3 December 1966 – 8 February 2017) was an Icelandic politician who was the Minister of the Interior of Iceland from 4 December 2014 to 11 January 2017. She died on 8 February 2017. She was a member of the Independence Party.

Early life

Ólöf graduated from Reykjavík Upper Secondary School in 1986. She received a law degree from the

University of Iceland The University of Iceland ( is, Háskóli Íslands ) is a public research university in Reykjavík, Iceland and the country's oldest and largest institution of higher education. Founded in 1911, it has grown steadily from a small civil servants' s ...

in 1994 and an MBA from Reykjavík University in 2002.

Career

Ólöf worked as a teacher, lawyer, and in the administration prior to entering politics. She served as a department head in the Ministry of Transport and Communications from 1996 through 1999. Thereafter, she worked as a lawyer for the Iceland Stock Exchange from 1999 until 2001, and as an instructor of law at

Bifröst University Bifröst University () is located in the valley of Norðurárdalur, approximately 30 kilometers north of Borgarnes, Iceland. Originally a business school, it also offers degrees in law and social sciences, at both bachelor's and master's level, ...

from 1999 until 2002, where she chaired the Business Law Department. Between 2002 and 2004, she served as head of wholesale business at

Landsvirkjun Landsvirkjun, () the National Power Company of Iceland, is Iceland's largest electricity generator. Landsvirkjun operates 18 power plants in Iceland concentrated on five main areas of operation. History Landsvirkjun was founded on 1 July 1965 ...

and director of sales at

RARIK RARIK is the official energy corporation of Iceland. It began operations on January 1 1947. In the early years RARIK built several power plants and in 1954 enacted a 10-year electrification plan to provide remote rural areas with electricity. RARIK ...

– Iceland State Electricity. During her tenure at

, electricity sales were transferred to a separate company, Orkusalan, where Ólöf served as managing director until 2006. Ólöf was elected to the Parliament of Iceland in 2007. She was a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

for the Northeast Constituency from 2007 to 2009 and for the

Reykjavík Constituency South Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a pop ...

from 2009 to 2013.

Panama Papers

Ólöf appeared in the leaked

Panama Papers The Panama Papers ( es, Papeles de Panamá) are 11.5 million leaked documents (or 2.6 terabytes of data) that were published beginning on April 3, 2016. The papers detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 ...

in connection with offshore holdings. She was quoted as saying that she was "utterly surprised our names are on that list."

Personal life

She was married to Tómas Már Sigurðsson and had four children. She died of cancer on 8 February 2017, aged 50.

References

External links

Althing biography
2017 deaths 1966 births Olof Nordal Olof Nordal Olof Nordal People named in the Panama Papers Olof Nordal Olof Nordal Female interior ministers 21st-century Icelandic women politicians {{Iceland-politician-stub