Jørgen Ole Haslestad begins as Yara President and CEO

(2008-10-01) On October 1 Jørgen Ole Haslestad assumes the post of President and CEO of Yara International. Haslestad comes to Yara from Siemens, and replaces Thorleif Enger who stepped down after reaching his chosen retirement age of 65.

Haslestad's background offers a remarkable fit with Yara as an expansive, global Norwegian enterprise. His success abroad was viewed as being powered by a Norwegian style commitment to open and egalitarian communications, while his combined knowledge of farming and developing industrial applications perfectly matches the Yara product and service portfolio.

"He has the necessary international experience, a successful track record running global multi-billion dollar businesses and a strong knowledge of Yara as a long-term board member,” says Yara Board Chairman Øivind Lund.

"I am convinced that it is extremely important to have a broad international experience and this is something I bring to Yara. Taking advantage of the international diversity that we have within the company can be a huge opportunity and strength for Yara," says Jørgen Ole Haslestad.

"We have to continue our growth strategy. The company has many exciting opportunities to pursue, for instance when it comes to the environment.  Here we both contribute to better balance in agricultural development and we deliver some interesting industrial solutions to environmental problems," Haslestad says.

Haslestad, 57, is a native Norwegian, trained as a Mechanical Engineer and comes from farming family - born and raised on the family homestead, which has been in constant use for agriculture since 1570.

"Being a farmer I have deep respect for our natural heritage and a strong personal commitment to creating sustainable solutions," says Jørgen Ole Haslestad. "It is exciting to be back in Norway after 14 years in different countries around the world”.  “But I am no foreigner to Yara, I have followed the company closely as a member of the board for the past four years.” 

After studying at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, he began his career as a corrosion engineer for A/S Protectors. He then gained extensive experience in Norway's offshore oil and gas industry in “Kongsberg  våpenfabrikk” oil division and in 1989 became managing director of Kongsberg Offshore.

Haslestad has a total of 14 years with Siemens, where he held a range of senior executive positions in Asia, Europe and the USA. In 2001 he became Group President Siemens' Industry Solutions & Services, a group with annual turnover of about USD 12 billion, 38 000 employees working in more than 60 countries. He became CEO of Siemens Industry Solution division in January 2008 after the reorganization of Siemens.