Executive leadership team

Mari Sundli Tveit

Chief Executive

Sundli Tveit has extensive leadership experience and expertise in research and research policy. Her previous position as policy director at the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO) has also given her substantial insight into the research and innovation needs of business and industry.

She has previously been rector of the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) and Chair of the Board of the Norwegian University and College Council. Sundli Tveit studied nature management (Cand. Agric.) at the universities of Tromsø, Trondheim and Bergen, and has a PhD in landscape architecture from UMB (now NMBU).

Sundli Tveit has held a number of positions in the R&D sector, including on the boards of the European University Association and of Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg.

Anne Kjersti Fahlvik

Executive Director - Innovation in Industry and the Public Sector

Fahlvik has broad R&D and innovation system experience through the research she has conducted in Norway and Sweden, her researcher and management roles in the pharmaceutical industry in Norway and the USA, as well as experience from an investor-financed start-up company in the field of medtech. She has been with the Research Council since 2006, has a PhD in pharmacology from the University of Oslo and is an active lecturer, evaluator, mentor and jury member in Norwegian and foreign innovation and business arenas.

Tove Karin Stølen

Executive Director (COO) – Organisational Development and Operations

Stølen has been with the Research Council since 2013, and is responsible for contributing to the overall coordination, management and development of the Research Council as an organisation. She has previously held positions as Director of the Norwegian Agriculture Agency, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, and Department Director at the National Library of Norway, where she also formed part of the executive management team.

Jesper Simonsen

Executive Director – Investments, Strategic Advice and Dialogue

Simonsen is an agricultural economist, and has previously held the positions of State Secretary for the Department of Environment for the Norwegian Liberal Party, Research Director at the Norwegian Agricultural Economics Research Institute (now part of the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research – NIBIO) and researcher at the Norwegian College of Agriculture (now the Norwegian University of Life Sciences – NMBU). He joined the Research Council in 2000, where he has also previously been responsible for health research, global development and social science environmental research.

Christian Haug-Moberg

Press Manager

Christian Haug-Moberg is responsible for media and dialogue and strategic communication advice at the Research Council. He has worked for the Research Council since 2016, and has, among other things, been department director with responsibility for media and social dialogue and served in the role as Executive director for communication and user travel. Haug-Moberg is also deputy chairman of the board of Forskning.no. Previously, he has leaded the analysis department at the Armed Forces Media Center.