The Bellona foundation has now established the management team that will work with the employees to reach new milestones for the foundation.

Frederic Hauge: General Manager
Erle Kristin Wagle: Strategy and Organizational Development
Pierre Herben: Research, Technology and Innovation
Pål Brun: Business Development and Finance

– We now have a broad, solid and complementary set of competencies in place. Everyone has international business experience at a high level, with an impressive merit list. This is necessary in order to strengthen the professional work and to build Bellona as an organization, says general manager Frederic Hauge.

The management team, together with the general manager, will maintain Bellona’s daily operations in the coming months. Normal financial and administrative functions are taken care of by employees with long experience in Bellona.

With the new management team in place, Bellona’s professional staff will be supported by highly skilled individuals who will recommend Bellona’s future structure and priorities.

– This work will be done in cooperation with the employees. The goal is to develop a modern workplace that will bring out the best in our climate and environmental work, and clear goals and guidelines will be developed, says Hauge.

In Oslo there are 25 employees. The Bellona department in Brussels now consists of eight people, and our work in Russia engages eleven people.

– Bellona has a strong and competent staff. With our solid professional platform, both in Norway and internationally, emphasis has been placed on leveraging international leadership experience at the management level, says Hauge.

The management will also develop the Bellona Foundation’s ownership in Bellona Holding, which manages the commercial ventures. In particular, they will establish strategies for ownership in the companies Ocean Forest and BEBA, as well as for our partnership with the Sahara Forest Project Foundation.

– Together, we will develop Bellona into an innovative and future-oriented workplace, says Hauge.

Erle Kristin Wagle

Erle Kristin Wagle Credit: Bellona

Erle has over 20 years of experience from large international companies such as Bona Shipping, Teekay Shipping, Bergesen d.y and BW Gas. Her international management experience from these companies is extensive.

Until recently, she has been Head of Fleet Performance in the BW Group, where she had overall responsibility for environmental management and energy efficiency of 150 ships involved in global shipping. Together with her interdisciplinary global team, she achieved not only impressive emissions and waste reductions, but also significant cost savings that strengthened the company’s competitiveness.

Erle is a specialist in strategy, project and change management. She has a Bachelor from BI Norwegian Business School and an Executive MBA from Copenhagen Business School.

Pierre Herben

Pierre Herben Credit: Bellona

Pierre has 30 years of experience from companies such as Shell, Montell and Lyondell Basell Industries, before becoming CTO at Yara International. At Yara he later continued as “Executive Vice President Corporate Innovation”.

He has long experience from the management of major international companies in research, innovation and business development. Pierre has been at the forefront of strategy development for both decarbonization and circular economics in the petrochemical industry.

Pierre holds a “Master of Bio-Engineering – Université Catholique de Louvain – LLN” from Belgium. He lives in Brussels and will work from both Oslo and Brussels.

Pål Brun

Pål Brun Credit: Bellona

Pål has extensive experience from the consulting industry. Through 12 years in PwC and EY he has led work on climate and sustainability. Pål has worked as an advisor for several global private equity and investment funds focusing on sustainability and renewable energy.

Pål is engaged by Bellona through the advisory and investment company Nordic Sustainable Ventures, which he owns. He has been a board member of the solar power company Otovo since being founded in 2016, and is a board member at the battery company BEBA and the technology company Buddy Mobility.

During the period 1993-2003, Pål was politically active through various roles in the Young Conservatives and The Conservative Party, and from 2000 to 2003 he was city council secretary in Oslo municipality. He holds a Master of Law from the University of Oslo.