NHH appoints a Deputy Rector for Innovation
Therese E. Sverdrup will be Deputy Rector for Innovation and Development in Rector Øystein Thøgersen’s new team. Linda Nøstbakken will be the new Deputy Rector for Education.
Helge Thorbjørnsen and Gunnar Christensen from the rector’s current team will also be part of the new team, which will start work on 1 August. The recommendations were approved at a board meeting today.
‘I’m very happy to be able to present an enthusiastic and dynamic team. We share the same high ambitions for NHH’s development going forward, and I’m optimistic about what we can achieve,’ Thøgersen says.
Passionate about innovation
Thøgersen’s latest initiative is to create a new position as Deputy Rector for Innovation and Development.
‘We are in a period where the competition is getting tougher and tougher, which makes our ability to engage in innovative development work extremely important. One answer to this challenge is to appoint a deputy rector with special responsibility for innovation,’ Thøgersen says.
Therese E Sverdrup (42) is a graduate of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) where she took a master’s degree (hovedfag) in organisational psychology. She took her doctorate at NHH in 2012 and currently works as an associate professor at the Department of Strategy and Management at NHH. She also has experience from Hedmark University College and the University of Bergen. At NHH, she has played a central role in the FOCUS research programme, which is based on extensive collaboration with the business community.
‘I am passionate about getting NHH to think innovatively about its educational work. We also want to be a frontrunner in terms of developing the subjects that will be important in the economics education of the future. The goal is not just to be Norway’s best business school, but also to stand out internationally. In my job, I aim to maintain a close dialogue with students and the business community with a view to shaping the NHH of the future,’ Sverdrup says.
Should be students’ first choice
Linda Nøstbakken (39) will be Deputy Rector for Education and the rector’s deputy. She is currently a professor at NHH’s Department of Economics, where she is engaged in research on environmental and resource economics. She is also Programme Director for the NHH Executives International master’s programme Sustainable Innovation in Global Seafood. Nøstbakken has previously worked at both SNF (the Centre for Applied Research at NHH) and Alberta School of Business in Canada.
‘I both studied and took my doctorate at NHH, and it is a great privilege for me to be part of the leadership team at an institution that I am so committed to. NHH has some of the most capable students in Norway, which is a good starting point now that we are going to further develop the already very sound education the school offers. The goal is to continue to be the first choice for Norwegian students, and at the same time succeed in becoming more attractive for students from abroad,’ Nøstbakken says.
Ensuring continuity
Two members of the current rector’s team will also be part of the new team. Professor Helge Thorbjørnsen (41) will be Deputy Rector for Research until the new year, and Associate Professor Gunnar Christensen (66) will be Deputy Rector for Faculty Affairs. They are both attached to the Department of Strategy and Management and have had corresponding roles in the current rector’s team, which was elected in 2013.
Thorbjørnsen has a doctorate from NHH from 2003 and has been a professor at NHH since 2008. Christensen took his doctorate at the University of California in 1987. During the period 2005–2013, he was Deputy Rector with special responsibility for internationalisation.
‘Having Thorbjørnsen and Christensen on board ensures continuity and will enable us to get off to a flying start,’ Thøgersen says.
The Deputy Rector for Education will be a full-time position, while the other deputy rectors will be 60% of full-time.
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