Havyard names EVP for Ship Technology arm

Kenneth Pettersen  has been appointed as Executive Vice President of the Ship Technology business area in Havyard Group ASA.

Havyard Ship Technology AS is responsible for developing and delivering ship technology, whether as newbuilds from our its yard or in the form of support for the building of Havyard designTM vessels at external shipyards.

Effective today, Kenneth Pettersen will be Executive Vice President of Havyard Ship Technology AS, thereby becoming head of the business area and general manager of the company. Pettersen will also continue as COO of the Havyard Group as well as being deputy for CEO Geir Johan Bakke of Havyard Group.
In addition to his role as CEO of Havyard Group, Geir Johan Bakke has also been head of the business area Havyard Ship Technology. In connection with the stock exchange launch of the company and plans for further growth, Bakke feels it is natural to delegate responsibility for the management of Havyard Ship Technology to someone else.

“Today, Havyard Ship Technology is responsible for the lion’s share of Havyard Group ASA’s activity and turnover,’ Bakke says. ‘At the same time,’ he continues ‘our strategy is to develop the business and achieve growth in Havyard’s other business areas. These are areas that I want to devote more time to in future. Moreover, in his role as COO of the Havyard Group, Kenneth Pettersen has also been responsible for operations in Havyard Ship Technology, and it is therefore natural that he now takes over this role in full,” says CEO Geir Johan Bakke.
For most of his career, Kenneth Pettersen has worked on planning and managing advanced shipbuilding projects, and he is very aware of what is required if Havyard Ship Technology is to succeed.
“Our main competitive advantage is our ability to deliver advanced ships with top delivery precision and quality,” Pettersen says.

“Given that we operate in a high-cost country like Norway, rationalisation and cost control are also extremely important. Project management is therefore Havyard Ship Technology’s key expertise. We must deliver the right quality at the right time and on budget, and we have a strong focus on continuing to develop Havyard’s project management expertise in order to ensure that we have control of these elements. Havyard aims to be a world leader in project implementation, a goal we have already come a long way towards achieving. Through our continuous competence-development programme, we will continue to be among the very best. Our organisation must be run by people with the necessary will, ability and daring,” concludes the new head of Havyard Ship Technology.
Kenneth Pettersen, 48, is a mechanical engineer with additional qualifications in project management and business management. He worked at Ulstein shipyard for 17 years as a planner, project manager, project director and production director before joining Havyard in 2007, where he was assigned responsibility for hull production and overall planning. Pettersen has been COO of Havyard Group from 2009.