Eivind Kristofer Reiten (born 2 April 1953) is a Norwegian economist,

corporate officer A corporation or body corporate is an individual or a group of people, such as an association or company, that has been authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law as "born out of st ...

and

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

for the Centre Party. He served as Minister of Fisheries from 1985-1986 and Minister of Petroleum and Energy from 1989-1990, before entering a career in business. Reiten served as the Director General (CEO) of

Norsk Hydro Norsk Hydro ASA (often referred to as just ''Hydro'') is a Norway, Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company, headquartered in Oslo. It is one of the largest aluminium companies worldwide. It has operations in some 50 countries around th ...

between 2001 and 2009, after which he took up the chairmanship of Norske Skog. Eivind Reiten was also Chairman of StatoilHydro for four days until he resigned from his position after

had been accused of corruption.

Political career

Reiten was born in

Midsund Municipality Midsund is a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1965 until its dissolution in 2020. The area is now part of Molde Municipality in the traditional district of Romsdal. The administrative centre ...

as the son of Kristofer Reiten, a farmer and fisher, and housewife Kjellaug Opstad. He enrolled as a student in 1972, and graduated from the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

in 1978 with a degree in economics. He worked as a civil servant from 1979 to 1982, and as a secretary for the Centre Party from 1982 to 1983. He was then brought into the government as state secretary to the

Minister of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfolio ...

from 1983 to 1985. He then became Minister of Fisheries from 1985 to 1986 as part of the Second cabinet Willoch, and Minister of Petroleum and Energy from 1989 to 1990 as part of Cabinet Syse.. Retrieved on 6 December 2008. In his last political position, he was responsible for the deregulation of the electricity market in Norway. Having chaired the

Centre Youth The Centre Youth (''Senterungdommen'' or SUL) is the youth organization of the Norwegian Centre Party. Hence, they advocate decentralisation and stress their opposition of the European Union. Since 2022, the organization has been led by Andrine Ha ...

, the youth wing of the Centre Party, from 1979 to 1981, he served as a deputy representative to the

Norwegian Parliament The Storting ( ; ) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years based on party-list proportional represe ...

from 1985 to 1989.

Business career

Reiten started working for

in 1988, heading the energy division from that year, and becoming senior vice president of special projects in 1991. From 1992 he led the refining and marketing division, and from 1998 the aluminum division. He was appointed executive vice president for light metals in 1999. He succeeded Egil Myklebust as chief executive officer in 2001. He was a member of the board of the Bank of Norway from 1991 to 1994 and Norske Skogindustrier from 1997 to 2000, and has chaired the board of Norway Post (1996–1999) and

Telenor Telenor ASA ( or ) is a Norwegian majority state-owned multinational telecommunications company headquartered at Fornebu in Bærum, close to Oslo. It is one of the world's largest mobile telecommunications companies with operations worldwi ...

(2000–2001). He has attended the Bilderberg meetings. He is a fellow of the Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences.

Libya corruption case

As part of the merger between

Statoil Equinor ASA (formerly Statoil and StatoilHydro) is a Norwegian multinational energy company headquartered in Stavanger, Norway. It is primarily a petroleum company operating in 36 countries with additional investments in renewable energy. In th ...

and the oil and gas division of Norsk Hydro, Reiten was appointed

chair A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. It may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vario ...

of the merged StatoilHydro that merged on 1 October 2007. Four days later Reiten withdrew from the seat. The reason was that it was uncertain whether or not he knew about a corruption case Hydro had been accused of, where a

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

n consulting company and the consultant Abdurrazag Gammudi had been paid , used to make bribes, after the Hydro take-over of Saga Petroleum in 1999. Stated Reiten, it was in no-one's interest that he retain a conflict of interest by retaining the seat of chair in the company that would investigate himself. The case had arisen on 26 September, after a Hydro employee had leaked information about the matter; it had not been identified as part of the

due diligence Due diligence is the investigation or exercise of care that a reasonable business or person is normally expected to take before entering into an agreement or contract with another party or an act with a certain standard of care. Due diligence ...

performed by Statoil prior to the merger. He was replaced by his deputy, Marit Arnstad, who is also a former Minister of Petroleum and Energy from the Centre Party. The investigation from StatoilHydro concluded that Reiten was informed about this during 2000 and 2001, while the investigation in Norsk Hydro concluded that Reiten did not know about the corruption. Since the Norsk Hydro investigation—that included checking 1.5 million documents—could not show that Reiten knew about the corruption, Hydro Chairman Terje Vareberg confirmed that Reiten would not be removed from his position. However, two executives of StatoilHydro were required to leave immediately.

Leaving Norsk Hydro

In January 2009 Reiten announced that he was stepping down as Chief Executive of Norsk Hydro from 30 March 2009, with executive vice president Svein Richard Brandtzæg taking over. Reiten has since been nominated to replace Kim Wahl as Chairman of Norske Skog at the company's

annual general meeting An annual general meeting (AGM, also known as the annual meeting) is a meeting of the general membership of an organization. These organizations include membership associations and companies with shareholders. These meetings may be required ...

in April 2009.

Personal life

Reiten is married and has two children. He resides in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) 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 of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reiten, Eivind Kristofer 1953 births Living people University of Oslo alumni Norwegian businesspeople Norsk Hydro people People in the petroleum industry Norske Skog people Norwegian state secretaries Government ministers of Norway Ministers of energy of Norway Centre Party (Norway) politicians Deputy members of the Storting Møre og Romsdal politicians Members of the Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences