Speed and agility

Tell us about your background within oil and gas

My background is in mechanical and production engineering, which took me offshore in the North Sea for the first time in 1978. Working as a service and commissioning engineer was my introduction to the upstream oil and gas market and operations. This experience got me interested in the downhole drilling environment and moved my career into the well construction environment. I have been in sales management in the North Sea, in operations and general management for global oil and gas service companies and senior vice president at a publicly traded oil service corporation. I led the management buy-in at Varel in 1998.

How do you look upon Sandvik's focus on growing in the energy segment?

Energy, including oil and gas, is forecast long-term to be a business segment that will deliver higher-than-average growth opportunities. With the focus on energy and energy efficiency within Sandvik Materials Technology and a platform in oil and gas services within Sandvik Venture, complemented by offerings from the other business areas, Sandvik now has what we need to become a very significant player in this attractive market segment.

How does your entrepreneurial spirit fit with Sandvik Venture's focus on accelerating growth?

I see Sandvik Venture as a very entrepreneurial business area. We are in competitive markets that require speed and agility to be best at delivering solutions to customer needs. In line with Sandvik Venture's mission, I believe that smaller, faster-growing product areas need to be managed somewhat differently than the larger, more-established businesses, which we can do in our setup.