Birgitte Ringstad Vartdal Awarded the WISTA LeaderShip Award 2017

Birgitte Ringstad Vartdal, CEO of Golden Ocean, has been awarded the WISTA LeaderShip Award 2017 by WISTA Norway as recognition of her contribution to the maritime industry, her competency and leadership skills within the traditionally male dominated role of CEO. The award will be presented at Nor-Shipping’s Waves of Change Conference on 30 May.

“Birgitte Ringstad Vartdal has lived up to WISTA’s core values, and contributed to the development of the maritime industry through her capacity as CEO in an extremely challenging market. She is professional, open-minded and dedicated, and an important role model for younger women in the maritime industry”, says Bjørg Ekornrud, President of WISTA Norway.

Birgitte is down to earth and humble on her own behalf, but she has over the years built a combination of technical and financial expertise that is crucial when positioning for top executive positions - and she has emphasized this to other women in the industry.

“It is an honor to receive this award and being recognized for the hard work and results achieved by all my colleagues in Golden Ocean”, says Birgitte Ringstad Vartdal.

The nomination committee says the following in its argument:

Birgitte Ringstad Vartdal is the first female CEO in the shipping companies in the Fredriksen Group. She has demonstrated an impressive turnaround of the company in a very tough market after she took over the top management job in Golden Ocean, implementing a successful refinancing and offensive investment when acquiring a significant number of new vessels.

She stands for openness through sharing of experience and has for many years acted as mentor and a great source of inspiration for younger female leaders.

Birgitte Ringstad Vartdal was elected unanimously as the WISTA Leadership Award 2017 recipient at WISTA Norway’s Annual General Meeting.