Helge Lund
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Helge Lund (born 16 October 1962) is a Norwegian businessman who has been chairman of BP since January 2019 and chairman of the Danish healthcare company Novo Nordisk since 2018.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He is the former chief executive of BG Group, Statoil and Aker Kværner, and was a director of Schlumberger from June 2016 to April 2018.<ref>Helge Lund in Store norske leksikon Template:In lang</ref>
Early life
Lund was born in Oslo, Norway, in 1962. He graduated with a Master of Arts in business management at the Norwegian School of Economics in Bergen in 1987. He has a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the INSEAD business school in France.<ref name=ft2012>Template:Cite web</ref>
Career
He started his career as a management consultant for McKinsey & Company and as political adviser for the Conservative Party in the Norwegian parliament Stortinget, before starting work for Hafslund Nycomed in 1993. In 1997-8 he was vice president in Nycomed Pharma before starting work in Aker RGI in 1999 as vice president before becoming CEO for Aker Kværner in 2002. After Olav Fjell withdrew as CEO of Statoil in 2004, Lund took over and was retained after Statoil merged with the oil & gas division of Norsk Hydro in 2007 to create StatoilHydro.
On 15 October 2014, Lund resigned as CEO for Statoil with immediate effect,<ref name=dn_lund>Template:Cite web</ref> to join the management team of the UK's BG Group as CEO from 9 February 2015.<ref name=bg>Template:Cite web</ref>
On 1 December 2014, in response to pressure from shareholders, BG Group reduced a £12 million share award golden hello for Lund to between £4.7 million to £10.6 million, depending on the company's future performance. His basic salary will be £1.5 million, but with bonuses, total compensation could reach £14 million per annum.<ref name=WSJ>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=Guardian>Template:Cite news</ref>
Following the takeover of BG Group by Royal Dutch Shell, Lund was out of a job, but did receive a total of £5.5 million for his 11 months work, and £9.7 million in shares in February 2016, as a result of the takeover.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In June 2016, Lund was appointed to the board of directors of Schlumberger.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On 26 April 2018, it was announced by BP<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> that he would join their board on the 1 September 2018 and succeed Carl-Henric Svanberg as chairman with effect from 1 January 2019.
Analysts and share holders have become critical of Helge Lund’s oversight. Many believe that the board’s mismanagement of Looney's appointment and its failure to anticipate challenges to its net-zero strategy have damaged BP's credibility.<ref name="ShahTimesNov23">Template:Cite web</ref>
In September 2023, Lund participated in a celebration in Azerbaijan related to the centenary of the birth of Heydar Aliyev, a former KGB officer who established an authoritarian regime in Azerbaijan after its independence from the Soviet Union.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref> A press release from BP said that Lund was there to "pay tribute" to Aliyev's "exceptional contributions to the development of Azerbaijan and the entire region."<ref name=":0" /> BP is the largest foreign investor in Azerbaijan.<ref name=":0" />
Personal life
He is married to Else-Cathrine Lund.<ref name=Aftenbladet>Template:Cite news</ref> They have a daughter and a son.<ref name=ft2012 />