Torstein Dale Sjotveit has been appointed new president and CEO for Aker Yards ASA. Sjotveit comes from the global industrial company Norsk Hydro, and brings a strong international top management experience. He will start in his new position with Aker Yards at the latest 1 September 2008.
Torstein Dale Sjotveit has held a number of key management positions in Hydro since 1981, both within oil and gas activities, within polymers and petrochemicals, industrial maintenance and other parts of the company's international business, among others he has worked in West Africa for six years. He has lately held the position as president for Hydro Aluminium Metals, Hydro's upstream aluminium business with operations in 13 countries, 5 000 employees and revenues of NOK 60 billion. 
Torstein Dale Sjotveit has in addition held the position as executive vice president and been part of Hydro's corporate management. He has a strong experience in leadership from large and complex organisational structures, restructuring, and divestment processes, negotiations and relationship building in a number of different cultural environments as well as from broad commercial settings. His formal training includes education as a construction engineer from 1979.  
In March 2008, Aker Yards announced the start of a recruitment process for a new CEO. In the intermediate period, the chairman of the board of directors, Svein Sivertsen, has acted as CEO. 
"We are very pleased that we get Torstein Dale Sjotveit in as the new CEO for Aker Yards. He brings with him an understanding of hands on management combined with a strong industrial experience and a strategic approach to further developing the business and the organisation", says Sivertsen.