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testimonials
Åshild Hanne Larsen has had an exceptional career journey at Statoil and Equinor over the past 30 years and is now a Vice President in the company – with multiple international awards and recognitions to her name.
Åshild Hanne Larsen has had an exceptional career journey at Statoil and Equinor over the past 30 years and is now a Vice President in the company – with several international awards and recognitions to her name. However, board positions are now also taking up more of her time, and she is soon stepping into a board role in an international publicly listed company.
For more than 20 years, she has served on the board of the International School of Stavanger, the past ten years as chair. In addition, she has held several board positions within Equinor. She is now joining the board of the technology company Itera, which in 2022 had around 700 employees and a turnover of NOK 736 million – which is also one of several reasons why she recently took part in the Executive Board Programme, a board education consisting of one module in Norway and one module at INSEAD in France.
– This is the first time I am joining the board of a publicly listed international company, and in that context, I wanted to formalise my board competence. At the same time, I was aware that INSEAD represents world-class teaching,” says Åshild Hanne Larsen.
Impressed with the academic quality
She highlights the learning from the programme as highly valuable and, as she herself puts it, has “40 pages of good notes that she will enjoy going through over the summer.”
– I was very impressed with the academic quality of the programme, and not least the expertise and communication skills of the professors at INSEAD. The topics were exceptionally interesting, and the instructors were incredibly skilled at involving us participants in exercises and making complex material accessible in a good way. On the final day at INSEAD, we conducted a ‘board meeting,’ which was also a very positive experience. Overall, I am truly impressed with the organisation and execution,” she says before concluding:
– One of the most important things I take away is the learning around decision theory and how we are all biased in our decision-making. It was very fascinating and academically enriching, and a topic that the professor guided us through in an exemplary and engaging way. In addition, I gained a number of concrete lessons related to being a good board member and an effective board chair. One example involves conducting several shorter board evaluations after meetings – something I have already implemented. Equally valuable was the knowledge of how to navigate a world of great uncertainty while still being able to identify risks and make sound decisions. Finally, the new network of competent board professionals, who willingly shared their knowledge and experiences, made the programme a unique experience that I will benefit from for many years to come.
