Strategy, board work and interim leadership in the ocean industries and the Arctic
Kristiansen & Co is the advisory firm of Merete N. Kristiansen – built on a working life as a leader in the seafood and ocean industries, international market experience and broad board experience.
From decision to delivery
I step in where companies need commercial weight: a new market push, an investment to be assessed, a project to be taken from idea to delivery, a leadership gap to be filled, or a strategy that is not moving the organisation.
Assignments come in all sizes – from a full engagement to a focused assessment ahead of a decision.
I have been there myself – as chief executive, as commercial director and as a board member. That is the experience I bring, not a methodology.
Services
What I deliver
Strategic advisory
Strategy, business development and market development for companies in the ocean industries. I work closely with management and owners on direction, internationalisation, product and market development.
Interim leadership
A leadership role for a defined period – as managing director, commercial lead, or with responsibility for the organisation or communications – when the company is missing a person or a capability and has no one to step in. I join the management team with responsibility for the area, for as long as it takes to get the right person in place.
Board work and governance
Board positions, and board support to owners and management outside formal appointments. I have board experience across research, innovation, education, banking and the seafood industry, and know both the owner's perspective and what a board needs from management.
Organisational and leadership development
Developing management teams, organisational design, executive recruitment and leadership support in periods of growth and change. Built on leadership responsibility for knowledge organisations.
For executive recruitment and leadership development, I have joined forces with Kjell Strøm and Fair Assess. Kjell has long experience in executive search and executive recruitment. I know the roles from the inside, as a leader and board member. We focus where we can contribute most — senior executives, management teams and boards — with Northern Norway as our starting point and the whole country as our market. You will work with me, with Kjell and the Fair Assess team behind me.
https://www.fairassess.no/ (Norwegian only)
Not sure which form fits? We settle that in a first conversation. Get in touch
How I work
A small core, a large network
Kristiansen & Co is built to stay close to the client. You deal with me – I take the assignment, I deliver it, and I am accountable for the result.
When an assignment calls for capacity or specialist expertise I should not hold alone, I bring in a network of specialist firms. That gives access to the breadth of a larger professional environment without having to buy a large consultancy – and without responsibility being diluted along the way.
About
Merete N. Kristiansen
I have spent my working life in the seafood and ocean industries – in recent years as chief executive of Akvaplan-niva, a research and advisory company with around 120 employees and a portfolio spanning ocean environment and aquaculture to digitalisation, autonomous vehicles and artificial intelligence.
Before that I was commercial director at Nordlaks, and for a number of years I held international director roles at the Norwegian Seafood Council – responsible for the markets in Asia, Italy, Central and Eastern Europe and South-East Asia. My career began at SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge and Nestlé.
Alongside these roles I have built broad board experience – across research, innovation, education, banking and the seafood industry, in national bodies as well as in companies in the north.
What I have worked on throughout is the same: building markets, products and organisations in industries that matter to Norway – and doing it internationally, from a base in the north.
As a leader I combine strategic perspective with an inclusive, relationship-oriented way of working. I listen before I conclude, and I build teams that deliver. And I step into situations that are demanding – a restructuring, a market to be built from scratch, an organisation that needs a new direction – and I stay until they are resolved. I am also committed to knowledge-based and sustainable development of the ocean industries, and to the role of research in the development of the north.
Insights
From Insights
Contact
Get in touch
Is your company facing a change of direction, a leadership transition or an international move – or are you considering strengthening the board with commercial and international experience? Get in touch for an informal conversation.
- merete@kristiansenco.no
- Merete N. Kristiansen
- Location
- Tromsø