In early September the management team will have the first meeting in Doha.
The main objective for the management team going forward will be to follow up on the facility project to build the plant, to recruit and train the organization and prepare for start up and continuous operation.
Steve Davison (43) is appointed Power Plant Manager. Davison is English and holds a Diploma in Marine Engineering. Davison worked offshore in the North Sea for 10 years before starting in the Power Plant business in 1992 with Alstom Power. In 1997 he took over the position as Production Manager, Operations & Maintenance for an 800 MW Combined Cycle Power Plant in Malaysia. The last two years he has worked as Station Manager for CS Energy in Australia, responsible for a 325 MW Combined Cycle Power Plant in Queensland.
Pål Vigeland (52) is appointed Casthouse Manager. Vigeland is Norwegian and graduated from the Technical University in Trondheim, NTNU, in 1979. Vigeland joined Hydro in 1982 in Projects/Engineering. He has previously worked in Qatar, Qafco in Maintenance Management from 1984 to 1986. Since then he has a wide experience from different leadership positions within the Aluminium Industry. He was the Managing Director of Holmestrand Rolling Mill, incl. casthouse, for 7 years and also a part of the Rolled Products Management team responsible for R&D and Recycling. From 2004 until 2006 he was in the Business Unit High Purity also as the Business Unit Manager in Germany.
Roald Holten (47) is appointed Reduction Manager. Holten is Norwegian and holds a BSc in Chemical Engineering from University of Wyoming and an Master of Business and Administration from Golden Gate University. He joined Hydro in 1987 as a Potline Superintendent at the Karmøy Plant in Norway. The last 10 years he has worked in Operational Management positions at Karmøy, and is currently Production Manager for the Prebake and Søderberg potlines.
Andrew Robbins (43) is appointed Carbon Manager. Robbins is Australian and holds a technical degree within electronics and Masters degree in Business and Administration. He joined Hydro in 1992 as a Shift Maintenance coordinator at the Kurri Kurri plant in Australia. He has experience from different positions within Maintenance and operations. The last 6 years he has worked as Carbon Plant Operations Manager.
Olaf Meissner (45) is appointed CFO. Meissner is German and graduated from the University of Cologne in 1992 and holds a Masters degree in Business and Administration. He joined Hydro in 1992 as a Plant Controller. He has experience from different positions within controlling and finance and took over the position as Head for High Purity business in 2002. The last 2 years he has worked as Head of Accounting and Reporting in Hydro Aluminium Metal.
Kurt Jan Nilsson (50) is appointed Technical Manager. Nilsson is Norwegian and graduated from NTNU in 1982 as Civil Engineer within Metallurgy. Nilsson joined Hydro in 1982 as Project engineer within R&D Electrolysis. Nilsson has a wide experience within the Aluminium business in Hydro and worked as General Manager at Høyanger Metal plant from 1993. In 1999 he joined the Oil & Energy division in Hydro as Platform Manager in the North Sea. The last 2 years he has worked as Head of Centre for training and leadership & work processes in Bergen, Norway.
Ahmed Salem Ahmed Al-Kuwari (49) is appointed HR & Administration Manager. Al-Kuwari is Qatari and has a BSc degree in Political Science. He started his career in Qatar Petroleum in 1988, working with Human Resources. He took over the position as Ass. HR Manager Manpower Planning & Recruitment in 1996. In 2002 he joined QAFAC, and has worked as Administration Manager the last five years for the company.
The Deputy CEO position for Qatalum is appointed, but will be announced in due time.
All positions in the Management team will report to CEO of Qatalum – Mr. Truls Gautesen. The Management team will start in their respective positions immediately and will be fully complete by end of September 2007. The team will be partly based in Qatar, Norway and with the Aluminium Plant suppliers for the next 12 months, but will be fully mobilized in Qatar before summer 2008.
