Irene Heng Lauvsnes (born 17 April 1968) is a Norwegian engineer specialising in aqua culture, and politician for the Conservative Party. She has served as mayor of

Strand Strand or The Strand may refer to: Topography *The flat area of land bordering a body of water, a: ** Beach ** Shoreline * Strand swamp, a type of swamp habitat in Florida Places Africa * Strand, Western Cape, a seaside town in South Africa * ...

since 2015 and a deputy member of parliament for

Rogaland Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. As of 1 January 2024, it had a population of 49 ...

since 2021.

Political career

Local politics

She has been a member of the Strand municipal council since 2011 and was elected as the first female mayor of

in 2015. She was re-elected in 2019 and 2023. The Conservatives with her at the helm, held the mayoralty since she became mayor, while the

Christian Democrats Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well a ...

held the deputy mayoralty. However, this changed when her second deputy mayor, Bjørn Aril Veland, changed his party allegiance to the Conservatives in 2022 prior to becoming acting mayor in a brief absence for Lauvsnes. Despite his change of parties, Veland stayed on as deputy mayor until the end of the term.

Parliament

Lauvsnes was elected as a deputy representative to the

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

from

for the term 2021–2025. She briefly deputised for Tina Bru who was an outgoing member of Solberg's Cabinet between 1 and 14 October 2021.

Civic career

Prior to becoming mayor, she was a sales director in the

fish feed Manufactured feeds are an important part of modern commercial aquaculture. They provide the balanced nutrition needed by farmed fish. The feeds, in the form of granules or pellets, give nutrition in a stable and concentrated form, enabling the ...

company Skretting. She has also been deputy leader of the Norwegian Seafood Research Fund. She is an aqua culture engineer by education.

References

1968 births Living people People from Strand, Norway Norwegian businesspeople Conservative Party (Norway) politicians Members of the Storting Mayors of places in Rogaland Women mayors of places in Norway {{Norway-politician-1960s-stub