Leadership

 

Jan Egeland
Secretary General
Read biography
sg-office@nrc.no

 

Geir Olav Lisle
Director of Org. Development / Deputy SG
geir.lisle@nrc.no

 

Magnhild Vasset
Director of Field Operations
magnhild.vasset@nrc.no

 

Sean Nicholson
Director of External Relations
sean.nicholson@nrc.no

 

Benedicte Giæver
Director of Expert Deployment / NORCAP
benedicte.giaever@nrc.no

 

Marianne Irion
Director of Risk Management
marianne.irion@nrc.no

 

Camilla Waszink
Director of Partnerships and Policy
camilla.waszink@nrc.no

 

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Senior Management Group member's official positions / memberships outside NRC

Jan Egeland
Adjunct Professor (Professor II) University of Stavanger
Member of the Board of Global Executive Leadership Initiative (GELI)

Geir Olav Lisle
Co-Chair of the IASC Operational Policy and Advocacy Group (OPAG)
Member of the Board of ADRA International (Adventist Development and Relief Agency)
Chair of the Board, Skogli Helse og Rehabiliteringssenter, Lillehammer, Norway

Magnhild Vasset
Nothing to report

Benedicte Giæver
Nothing to report

Sean Nicholson
Member of the Board of Sustainable Electronics Recycling International (SERI)

Marianne Irion
Nothing to report

Camilla Waszink
Nothing to report

The Norwegian Refugee Council is a Norwegian foundation and must follow Norwegian law for foundations. 

For inquiries concerning the board, please contact sg-office@nrc.no.

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Chairman - Harald Norvik (born in 1946) was the President and CEO of the Statoil Group from 1988 to 1999. Before this he was a Member of Aker's Executive Board as CFO and CEO of Astrup Høyer. He has been the Personal Secretary to the Prime Minister and the State Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. Mr. Norvik has served on Boards and as Chairman in a number of international and Norwegian companies. He is currently the Chairman of Imatis, Rock Energy and Kraft Bank, and member of the Board of ConocoPhillips, Arundo, and Umoe. Mr. Norvik is a Norwegian citizen and holds a M.Sc. in Business and a BA from the Norwegian School of Economics.  

Deputy Chair - Amira Malik Miller (born in 1978) is a Swedish-Sudanese humanitarian assistance and development professional who currently serves as Head of Policy and Advocacy at Fair Trade Sweden. She has extensive experience of programme management, policy development and strategy design, and has held several senior positions at Sida (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency), including heading the humanitarian assistance programme in the MENA region and lead humanitarian and resilience adviser within the Africa department. Ms. Malik Miller has also worked for the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, UNICEF, international NGOs, as well as the City of Stockholm. Ms. Malik Miller is a Swedish citizen and holds a master's degree in Development Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London.

Walter Kälin (born in 1951) is the present Envoy of the Chair of the Platform on Disaster Displacement and the former Envoy of the Nansen Initiative on disaster-induced cross-border displacement (2012 – 2015). He has also served as Representative of the UN Secretary-General on the Human Rights of internally displaced persons, as a member of the UN Human Rights Committee and as Special Rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Commission on the situation of human rights in Iraqi occupied Kuwait. Mr. Kälin is a Swiss citizen and Professor emeritus for international and Swiss constitutional law from the University of Bern.

Kiran Aziz (born in 1986) is a lawyer specialist in tax, human rights and corporate social responsibility, graduated from the University of Oslo in 2012. She is currently with responsible investments at KLP Asset Management. Prior to this she worked as a lecturer and researcher at BI Norwegian Business School and at Ernst & Young for 5 years on international tax issues with mainly multinational companies in her client portfolio. Ms. Aziz currently serves on the Board of Directors for the International Commission of Jurists Norway (ICJ) and So Central and is a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Shaper community. She has previously served as a member of the international legal aid committee at the Norwegian Bar Association and a Board member for Oslo Red Cross for 7 years. Ms. Aziz is born in Pakistan and holds Norwegian citizenship.

Sturla J. Stålsett (born in 1964) is a Professor of Religion, Society and Diaconal Studies at the Norwegian School of Theology in Oslo, Norway. Prior to this position he served as the General Secretary of the Oslo Church City Mission, Associate Professor and Head of Research Program at the University of Oslo and as a Consultant and Regional Representative for Latin America in the Norwegian Church Aid. He is also an ordained Minister of the Church of Norway. He has published a number of academic books and articles on subjects related to social work, development and the role of religion and theology in society and global politics. Dr. Stålsett served as Chair of the Norwegian Association of NGOs and Leader of a Government-appointed Commission on the policy of faith and life stances ("Stålsett-utvalget"). He is a Norwegian citizen and holds a Doctoral degree in Theology from the University of Oslo.  

Claus Sørensen (born in 1951) is a Special Representative at the Danish Representation to the EU. Between 1999 and 2015, Mr. Sørensen held top management positions within the European Commission, including as Director General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection in the European Commission (ECHO) and Director General of Communication. Mr. Sørensen joined the Commission in 1990 and worked on the shaping of the EURO, the Enlargement with Sweden, Austria and Finland as well as with social and environmental issues. He is a career diplomat in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. His first posting from 1981 was at the Danish Delegation to the OECD in Paris. In 1988-89 he was the trade and finance councillor at the Danish Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels. Mr. Sørensen is a Danish citizen and holds a master’s degree in Economic Science from Aarhus University.

Pauline Ballaman (born in 1954) is a Board member elected by international staff at NRC and is currently working as a Global Roving Country Director (start-up) in NRC’s Emergency Response Section. Ms Ballaman has been working with NRC since 2017, initially as Area Manager, Baghdad until 2018, since when she took up her current role. Ms Ballaman has over 20 years’ experience as a humanitarian programme manager and country director working in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, prior to which she worked in the voluntary sector in the UK. She holds a degree in French with Sociology from the University of London, an M.A. in African Literature and Politics (Area Studies) from SOAS and an M.A. in Global Diplomacy and MENA Studies, also from SOAS (2021). Ms Ballaman has dual UK and Swiss Citizenship.

Anthony Nichols (born in 1968) is a Board member elected by Head Office staff. Since 2019, he has worked at NRC as Head of the Global ICT Operations & Support Unit. Prior to joining NRC, Anthony was Vice President in IT at Opera Software, a Norwegian browser company. Before moving to Oslo, he was a software QA Manager at a number of Austin start-ups and worked as a QA Consultant on state and local government contracts for BearingPoint. He studied Humanities at the University of Texas and at St. Edward’s University before dropping out to work on computer games. Anthony was born in Mexico and is an American citizen.

Randi Marjamaa (born in 1976) is the Country Senior Executive and Head of Personal Banking at Nordea in Norway. Prior to this she served as CEO of the Norwegian life & pensions company, Nordea Liv. Marjamaa has held various management positions within Nordea since 2006, including deputy for retail banking, manager of business development corporate, regional head of personal banking and HR director. Further, she has experience from PA Consulting Group. Ms. Marjamaa is a Norwegian citizen and has a master's degree in Economics and Business Administration from the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration (NHH), and a bachelor’s degree in psychology.

Jemilah Mahmood (born in 1959) is Professor and Executive Director of the Sunway Centre for Planetary Health at Sunway University in Malaysia. Dr. Jemilah Mahmood is a medical professional with more than two decades experience managing crises in health, disasters and conflict settings. She was the Special Advisor to the Prime Minister of Malaysia on Public Health and member of the Government of Malaysia’s Economic Action Council from April 2020-September 2021. Previous appointments include the Under Secretary General for Partnerships at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Chief of the World Humanitarian Summit secretariat at the United Nations, and Chief of the Humanitarian Response Branch at UNFPA. In 2023, she was appointed to the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council. Dr. Mahmood is a Malaysian citizen and is a doctor of medicine (MD) with a master’s degree in Obstetrics and Gynaecology from Univetsity Kebangsaan Malaysia.