Leadership

Kristin Skogen Lund (Born in 1966) was most recently the CEO of the Norwegian media group, Schibstedt ASA. Before this, she was the Director General and President of NHO, the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise, Executive Vice President of Telenor, and the CEO of the Norwegian daily, Aftenposten. She has served on boards and as board chair in a number of Norwegian and international companies. She is currently a board member of Mozilla, Chair of the Board of Directors of INSEAD, Chair of Delivery Hero, and the Chair of the board of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. Ms. Skogen Lund is a Norwegian citizen with a Master's in Business Administration from INSEAD and a BA with honors in International Studies & Business Administration from the University of Oregon. Ms Skogen Lund has been elected as the NRC Board Chair as of December 2024. Board member (Incoming Board Chair, December 2024)- Kristin Skogen Lund (Born in 1966) was most recently the CEO of the Norwegian media group, Schibstedt ASA. Before this, she was the Director General and President of NHO, the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise, Executive Vice President of Telenor, and the CEO of the Norwegian daily, Aftenposten. She has served on boards and as board chair in a number of Norwegian and international companies. She is currently a board member of Mozilla, Chair of the Board of Directors of INSEAD, Chair of Delivery Hero, and the Chair of the board of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. Ms. Skogen Lund is a Norwegian citizen with a Master's in Business Administration from INSEAD and a BA with honors in International Studies & Business Administration from the University of Oregon. Ms Skogen Lund has been elected as the NRC Board Chair as of December 2024.

Amira Malik Miller (born in 1978) is a Swedish-Sudanese humanitarian assistance and development professional who currently serves as Policy Advisor with Act Church of 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.

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.

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.

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.

Ole Jacob Sending (born in 1972) is Research Professor and leads the Center for Geopolitics at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI). He served as Director of Research at NUPI from 2012 until 2023. His research focuses on the geopolitical dimensions of global governance arrangements. He has been Senior Advisor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, visiting scholar at Stanford University and at UC Berkeley. In 2022-2023, he chaired the Norwegian Government´s Independent Expert Group on Development Assistance. Sending is a Norwegian citizen and holds a PhD from the University of Bergen. 

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.

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.

Elisabeth Ånes Rydland (born in 1981) is a Board member elected by Head Office and Representation Office staff. Ms. Rydland first joined NRC in 2013 and has since held various positions in Global ICT Support and Knowledge Management & Internal Communication at NRC Head Office. She is currently the Senior adviser for Knowledge Management and is leading the development and implementation of the Governing documents policy and library. Ms. Rydland has 20 years of experience in communication and dissemination, both as a stage performer and producer, as well as an Information Officer in nonprofit organisations like the Norwegian Dancer's Union (NoDa). She holds a degree in Performing Arts from the Danish National School of Performing Arts and a BA in Art Management from BI Norwegian Business School. Ms. Rydland is a Norwegian citizen.