Norsk Hydro Appoints New VP

Hilde Merete Aasheim has been appointed to executive vice president, aluminum metals, at Norwegian aluminum company Norsk Hydro ASA. Aasheim also replaces Torstein Dale Sjøtveit on Hydro's corporate management board.

Aasheim most recently served as executive vice president and a member of the corporate management board of energy group StatoilHydro ASA, where she was in charge of corporate staff and services.

Previously, she held a number of senior management positions in Norwegian metals maker Elkem ASA from 1986 to 2005. In 2005 Aasheim joined Norsk Hydro as executive vice president of leadership and culture, including human resources, health, safety and environment and corporate social responsibility. She headed the comprehensive integration process related to the merger of Hydro's oil and gas activities with Statoil and started working for StatoilHydro Oct. 1, 2007, following the merger.

Aasheim holds a master’s degree in business economics from the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration and is a state-authorized public accountant. In her new job, she will report directly to Norsk Hydro President and CEO Eivind Reiten.

A date for Aasheim's departure from StatoilHydro has yet to be decided.

Sjøtveit will leave Norsk Hydro Sept. 1. In the interim period before Aasheim takes on her new position, Jan Arve Haugan, Norsk Hydro's head of technology and part-owned smelters, will act as head of the business area.

As of Aug.15, head of Corporate Strategy and Business Development Arvid Moss will become a member of Norsk Hydro's corporate management board. Moss has held several senior management positions in the company and was project leader for the merger process that ended up in the merger agreement with Statoil in December 2006.

The company has also announced that Executive Vice President Tom Røtjer has purchased 3,000 shares of the company at NOK 57.10 per share, for a total holding of 11,532 shares.