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[April 2009]
Helge Aasen Appointed New Managing Director of Elkem
Helge Aasen will take over as Managing Director of Elkem in conjunction with Ole Enger's appointment as President and CEO of the Renewable Energy Corporation (REC) and Bjørn Wiggen's appointment as Enger's successor at Sapa. Wiggen is currently MD of Elkem.
Helge Aasen has an MSc in Engineering from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and has participated in the executive leadership development programme at IMD in Switzerland. In the course of his 19 years at Elkem, he has acquired very broad industrial experience of most of the company's different functions, from sales through operations to logistics and purchasing.
Mr Aasen has worked both at plants and in corporate functions internationally and in Norway. In the past few years, he has held the posts of Division Director for Elkem Carbon (2000-2007), after which he was appointed Managing Director of Elkem Solar AS, a role he will continue to fill in addition to that of Managing Director of the parent company Elkem AS.
"Elkem has many strong, competent employees. In the short term, our most important tasks will be to ensure that Elkem Solar is phased in as planned, and to adapt our business operations to today's very challenging market situation," declared Mr Aasen.
"I see a number of development opportunities when the markets improve. We have good market positions and are strong in terms of technological development and operations. These strengths, combined with an active focus on sales and product development, mean that Elkem is well positioned to emerge from the global recession with enhanced positions. I am very motivated to tackle this challenge, and am looking forward to getting started."
Bjørn Wiggen has concurrently been appointed new Chairman of Elkem's Board of Directors and will continue as member of Orkla's Group Executive Board with responsibility for Sapa and Elkem.
"I wish Helge Aasen and Bjørn Wiggen every success in their new roles. They are eminently qualified to contribute to further value creation at Elkem," said Dag Opedal, President and CEO of Orkla.
ENDS