The Board of Directors has appointed Øyvind Rideng as President and CEO of Kongsberg Intellifield - effective from 1 July 2008. He will succeed Børge Kolstad, who will continue his employment full time until the end of the year. During this time, Børge will focus on the handover process with Øyvind and also assist in sales processes with key clients.
Øyvind Rideng lives in Bærum, outside Oslo. He is married and has three children. Øyvind has a Master of Computer Science from the University of Trondheim, specializing in management of IT companies. He served as an Army officer in the Norwegian Army for 9 years, starting as a squad leader in an armored battalion. He graduated from the Army War Academy, was instructor in IT and military disciplines at an officer school, and was responsible for several national IT systems.
He has most recently been holding the position as Managing Director of Kongsberg SIM, a wholly owned subsidiary of Kongsberg Intellifield. He was one of the original founders of SIM in 1994. Kongsberg SIM became part of Kongsberg Intellifield from October 2005. Since that time, Øyvind has led SIM through a growth of more than 300% in revenue. Øyvind has served as an associate member of the Kongsberg Intellifield Board of Directors since 2007, and has been actively involved in the strategic planning and development of both Kongsberg Intellifield and SIM.
"Øyvind Rideng has a very strong combination of technical knowledge, entrepreneur spirit, management experience, and a proven ability to produce growth in combination with a strong bottom line. I am confident that he will provide new ideas on how to develop Kongsberg Intellifield further, and the ability to implement them into excellent business results", says Børge Kolstad.
"I am proud to take over the position as President & CEO of Kongsberg Intellifield", says Øyvind Rideng. "Kongsberg Intellifield is one of the leading providers of solutions for integrated operations to the global oil and gas industry, and is positioned well for the future. I will continue to promote growth and to reach for new goals for the company. My top 3 focus areas are:
- Building long term and mutually beneficial relationships with our clients
- Integrating our business consulting, real-time data management, and 3D visualization software with the delivery of integrated collaboration environments to provide the best possible value to our clients. We will also integrate the Intellifield solutions with other products within the Kongsberg Oil & Gas Division
- Taking good care of our excellent employees to ensure continuity and to develop their competence and skills even further
I am looking forward to meeting many of our customers in the time ahead, and to learn how we can develop our relationships even further in the future". Øyvind Rideng will be based out of the new Kongsberg Intellifield office in Sandvika/Oslo, Norway.