Bjarne Berg-Sæther

Bjarne Berg-Sæther (born April 14, 1919) is a Norwegian politician from Harstad in the Norwegian province of Troms.

He was born in Sandtorg in Northern Norway as the son of costal pilot Magnar Berg-Sæther (1876-1948) and wife Magna Toresen (1881-1952) and educated in England (1939) in languages and economics. He married in 1943 with Gudrun Jackobsen (1907-94) and had one son Tor Arne Berg-Sæther (1946-06) and one daughter, Bente Ramsvik (1948-)

Major awards

Second World War medal from King Olav the 5th of Norway (1945), the city of Harstad's honor medal (1969), the Norwegian government's county honor medal by Prime Minister Gro H. Bruntland (1989), the King's Service Medal in Gold by King Harald the 5th of Norway (2001).

Political offices

Bjarne Berg-Sæther was first elected mayor of Sandtorg in 1948 and held this office until, as part of the merging of the cities of Harstad, Trondernes and Sandtorg, he also became the mayor of the new city of Harstad (1964-68). He was also a member of the Troms province government (1947-63) and became the political leader of the Troms province, fylkesordfører (1963-67). He was an elected member of the Harstad city government (1947-1975) and the Chairman of Sandtorg labor party (1945-52). In addition to regional and local public offices, Bjarne Berg-Sæther was a member of the Norwegian parliament (1965-1973) where he served as a member of the industrial committee on behalf of a sick member of the labor party (met for 347 working days). He also served as the Chairman of Troms Labor party (1953-68).

Appointed offices

Bjarne Berg-Sæther was the Chairman of several public boards, including Chairman of the Board of Vågsfjord Kraftselskap (1956-1975), Chairman of the Evenes Airport building committee (1964-1967), Chairman of the Board of Harstad hospital (1969-1976), Chairman of the Board of the pulic transportation company Harstad Oppland Rutebil (1964-1986), Chairman of the board of Fiskernes Bank and later Kreditkassen Bank in Harstad (1975-1986), Member of the National Postal advisory board (1978-1986), and Vice-Chairman of the board of Niingen Kraftlag (1980-1990).

Positions

First secretary of the Finnmark's Office for the labor department where he was in charge of integrating refugees from the Finnmark province after the World War II (1946-52). He held the CFO office at the Trondenes Kraftverk and Sør-Troms Elforsyning A/S power companies for 32 years (1954-86).