New board of Museum Nord

09 July 2024

The Museum Nord Foundation is responsible for the operation and development of most of the museums in Lofoten, Vesterålen and Ofoten. Among our 21 arenas, there are large facilities that receive a large number of visitors each year. At the same time, we also run many smaller places which are often of great importance locally. Among the museums are the Lofotr Viking Museum, the Hurtigruten Museum and the Narvik Museum. In 2023, about 290,000 people visited the museums in Museum Nord. Museum Nord also has several, very extensive projects.

Museum Nord’s highest body is the board. The board consists of 9 people representing the three different regions; the academic environment, Nordland County Council and Museum Nord’s employees. The board members are elected for 2 years. The chairman and deputy chairman of the board are elected by the board itself, for 1 year.

The following board was elected in May 2024

Theme Museums
Søren Fredrik Voie, Vestvågøy
Deputy member: Lars Stenvik, Trondheim
Hill-Marta Solberg, Sortland
Deputy member: Kjersti Elise Tønnesen Busch, Vågan

Region Lofoten
Børge Larsen, Vågan
Deputy member: Lena A. Hamnes, Vågan

Region Vesterålen
Hilde J. Hansen, Øksnes
Deputy member: Daniel Sowe, Hadsel

Region Ofoten
Lena Hope, Narvik
Deputy member: Ann-Hege Lund, Narvik  

Nordland County Council
Sonja A. Steen, Sortland
Deputy member: Marthe Hov Jacobsen, Sortland

Employee representatives
Julie Sæther, Bø
Deputy member: Terje Storslett, Moskenes
Terje Bøe, Vestvågøy
Deputy member: Julie Beck Gjellesvik, Sortland

Academic sector
Årstein Svihus, Head of the Museum Vest Foundation
Deputy member: Geir Davidsen, Bodø Municipality

The Board has elected a Chairman and Deputy Chairman:
Søren Fredrik Voie, Chairman of the Board
Deputy Member: Lars Stenvik
Sonja A. Steen, Deputy Chair
Deputy Member: Marthe Hov Jacobsen

The board constitutes itself and elects the chairman and deputy chair. Søren Fredrik Voie takes over as chairman of the board starting May 2024, after previous chairman ms Randi Melgaard. Melgaard has been chairman of the board for several periods. Voie describes Melgaard as a skilled and committed chairman of the board.

Board work in Museum North – a big task

The board of Museum Nord has a large and diverse museum to deal with. The tasks are many and in some cases extensive and demanding. Chairman of the board Søren Fredrik Voie has been on Museum Nord’s board for a number of years and knows the organization well. Voie has also been chairman of the board of Lofotr AS for a number of years and thus heavily involved in the development of Lofotr Viking Museum. He states that he is very pleased with the newly elected board of Museum Nord. The board members represent a wide range of disciplines, and they are also skilled in their fields. Voie says that he looks forward to a good and committed collaboration in the coming years. Among the major projects for Museum Nord in the current period are the development of SKREI (Vågan), the environmental project GAIA Vesterålen and a feasibility study for renewed museum activities in Ofoten.

A quick introduction to Museum Nord’s organisation

More about Museum Nord
Museum Nord works with natural, cultural and art history. Our museums, collections and historic buildings are located in Lofoten, Vesterålen and Ofoten. We convey knowledge and perspectives on history and the present. Based on our local affiliation, we embrace local, national and international perspectives.

Administration, research & devekopment, projects
The administration and r&d are distrubuted on various places. Projects are lead by project managers.

Museum Nord is organized in 4 regional departements
Vest-Lofoten, Vågan, Vesterålen og Ofoten. Operations and work within the museums is coordinated by R&D. Each department is lead by a departement director. The overall director of Museum Nord is Geir Are Johansen

Commercial activities
Museum Nord has spun off its business activities into the subsidiary Lofotr Næringsdrift AS. The company operates the commercial operations in all facilities with sales offers and seasonal employees. This activity is of great importance in order to provide guests with good experiences and to develop the museums further.

We welcome the new board of Museum Nord.