The Orkla Group had 29,785 employees (30,233)2 at year end. Of these, 4,394 (4,543)2 were located in Norway, 6,147 (6,400)2 were located elsewhere in the Nordic region, and 19,244 (19,290)2 were located in countries outside the Nordic region.
Cooperation between management and the employees’ organisations through the established cooperative and representational systems functions well, and makes a valuable contribution to finding constructive solutions to the challenges faced by the Group and the individual companies. The cooperative systems are being adapted to the structural changes in the Group. Following the sale of Elkem, Bjørn Rune Henriksen stepped down from the Board of Directors and Sidsel Kjeldaas Salte took over as representative of the salaried employees, as a regularly attending deputy Board member. Aage Andersen remains the representative of members of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions, along with Gunn Liabø. New representatives will be elected to the Board of Directors and the Corporate Assembly in the spring of 2012.
Numbers of employees 29,785
At the meeting of the Corporate Assembly on 26 May 2011, Stein Erik Hagen was re-elected as Board Chair. Svein S. Jacobsen stepped down from the Board and Åge Korsvold was elected as new member of the Board for a term of one year, and as new Deputy Board Chair. Kristin Skogen Lund also withdrew from the Board. Barbara M. Thoralfsson was elected as new member of the Board for a term of one year. The other shareholder-elected Board members, Peter A. Ruzicka, Åse Aulie Michelet, Jesper Ovesen and Bjørg Ven were re-elected for a term of one year. Three out of a total of seven shareholder-elected members of Orkla’s Board of Directors are women, while two of the three employee-elected Board members are women. Orkla ASA therefore fulfils the requirement under section 6-11a of the Public Limited Liability Companies Act regarding representation of both sexes on the Board of Directors. In the Corporate Assembly, four out of a total of 14 shareholder-elected members are women. One of the six employee-elected members is a woman.
Roar Engeland resigned from the Group Executive Board in 2011 and Timothy R. J. Stubbs resigned his position as Sapa CEO. Svein-Tore Holsether is the new CEO of Sapa and a member of the Group Executive Board. Furthermore, Karl Otto Tveter has been appointed Executive Vice President, Legal Affairs, with effect from 9 February 2012. The other members of the Group Executive Board are Group President and CEO Bjørn M. Wiggen, Executive Vice President Torkild Nordberg, Executive Vice President, Strategic HR and Communication Karin Aslaksen and CFO Terje Andersen.
The Board of Directors would like to thank all employees for their efforts and for the results achieved in 2011.
2 Figures in parentheses are for the corresponding period the previous year.