Telenor Shakes Up Executive Team, With New CEOs For Norway And Sweden

Telenor Norway has shaken up its executive board, announcing a new CEO to succeed Berit Svendsen, who will be stepping down after seven years. Svendsen will be followed by Petter Furberg. In her position as head of the Scandinavia Cluster, she will be succeeded by Morten Karlsen Sorby. Bjorn Ivar Moen, currently the head of Telenor Norway’s Mobile division, will be acting CEO of Telenor Norway with immediate effect until Furberg starts. He will remain in Telenor Norway’s management team after that. And finally, Telenet Sweden will also get a new CEO with Kaaren Hilsen.

Telenor explained it wants a wider range of leaders with more extensive assignments, including potential successors to the group CEO. Shaking up executive roles will help individuals benefit from exposure either to the Norwegian or international market, as needed. The board and group CEO Sigve Brekke worked with Svendsen about further career development and potential new areas of responsibility with these goals in mind but they were not able to reach consensus.

Furberg joined Telenor in 1998 and has held a number of senior management positions, including CEO positions in Myanmar and Bangladesh, CFO and chief marketing officer at Dtac in Thailand and head of financial services for Telenor Group based at Fornebu. He is currently EVP, Cluster Head for Emerging Asia and part of Telenor’s Group executive management.

Hilsen was CFO at Telenor Sweden until 2017 and has worked for Telenor’s operations in Montenegro and Thailand. She now returns to Telenor from the position of CFO for Betsson. Her appointment as CEO of Sweden follows the announcement in June that Patrik Hofbauer is leaving the company in December for a new job.

Following the changes, Telenor’s executive management board will have Brekke as CEO, Jorgen Arentz Rostrup as CFO, Cecilie Blydt Heuch as chief people officer, Anne Kvam as chief corporate affairs officer from 1 October, Ruza Sabanovic as head of Technologies and Services, Svein Henning Kirkeng as head of Products and Marketing, Karlsen Sorby as Cluster Head Scandinavia (for one year), Furberg as Cluster Head, Emerging Asia (until he starts as CEO, Telenor Norway) and Albern Murty as Developed Asia Cluster and CEO of Digi. – Telecom Paper