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

Director-General A director general, general director or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''general directors'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'') is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer ...

of the

Norwegian Food Safety Authority Norwegian Food Safety Authority () 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 and ethically a ...

from 2003 to 2010, building the organization. From 2010 to 2015, he was the Labour and Welfare Director of Norway, i.e. the head of the Labour and Welfare Service and the Labour and Welfare Administration and responsible for a third of the

state budget of Norway The State budget of Norway () is a government budget passed by the Norwegian legislature, Stortinget, each year. It accumulates all income and expenses for the Government of Norway. The document defines the taxes to be collected, and what expense ...

. He is now a

special adviser Special adviser may refer to: *Special adviser (Norway), a high-ranking civil servant *Special adviser (UK) A Special Adviser, also known as a SpAd, is a temporary civil servant who advises and assists UK government ministers or ministers in th ...

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 M ...

Background and education

Born 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 ...

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

environmental resource management Environmental resource management or environmental 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. Environment ...

from the

Norwegian College of Agriculture The Norwegian University of Life Sciences (, NMBU) is a public university located in Ås, Norway. It is located in Akershus county and has around 7,700 students. History The institution was established in 1859 as the Higher Agricultural Coll ...

in 1978 with a thesis on vegetation mapping in Oaldsbygda at

Sunnmøre Sunnmøre (, ) is the southernmost traditional district of the western Norwegian county of Møre og Romsdal. Its main city is Ålesund. The region comprises the municipalities () of Fjord, Giske, Hareid, Herøy, Sande, Haram, Stranda Mu ...

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 ar ...

. 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 The Norwegian Climate and Pollution Agency (, ''Klif''), named Norwegian Pollution Control Authority (, ''SFT'') until 2010, was a Norwegian government agency from 1974 to 2013 when it was merged into the Norwegian Environment Agency. The agency ...

. In 2002, he was appointed by the

King-in-Council The King-in-Council or the Queen-in-Council, depending on the gender of the reigning monarch, is a constitutional term in a number of states. In a general sense, it refers to the monarch exercising executive authority, usually in the form of app ...

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

in the

Ministry of Labour A ministry of labour ('' UK''), or labor ('' US''), also known as a department of labour, or labor, is a government department responsible for setting labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, training, and s ...

. 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 () is a Norwegian government ministry that oversees justice, the police, and domestic intelligence. The main purpose of the ministry is to provide for the maintenance and development of the basic ...

as chairman of the working group on police reform that made recommendations on the future structure of the police force and its recruitment.

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