Creating The Premier Energy Data Company

PGS and TGS have merged to form a pioneering data and services company in the energy sector, serving customers across the energy value chain and positioning itself as a strategic partner for energy companies. Explore our vision. 

Board of Directors Biographies

The Board of Directors is responsible for the administration, development, and supervision
of PGS business activities.

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(Left to right) Eivind Vesterås, Ebrahim Attarzadeh, Shona Grant,  Anne Grethe Dalane, Anette Valbø, Carine Roalkvam, Trond Brandsrud, Emeliana Rice-Oxley, Walter Qvam, Richard Herbert.

Walter Qvam

Chairperson since 2016 | Board Member since 2013 | Remuneration and Corporate Governance Committee Chairperson 

Walter Qvam has held leading positions in various prominent Norwegian and international businesses in a variety of fields, including as the president and chief executive officer of Kongsberg Group ASA, oil and gas and shipping (Det Norske Veritas), IT (Capgemini), transportation (the Norwegian state railway) and consultancy (Gemini Consulting). Mr. Qvam chairs the boards of the cybersecurity company mnemonic, the robotics company wheel.me, and the innovation hub DigitalNorway. He is also a board member of the energy and infrastructure company CapeOmega. Mr. Qvam graduated Master of Science from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). He is a Norwegian citizen residing in Norway.

Anne Grethe Dalane

Vice Chairperson since 2018 | Board Member since 2013 | Audit Committee Chairperson

Anne Grethe Dalane is VP of Finance Data & Development at Yara International and has held a number of senior positions at Norsk Hydro. Her previous experience covers a range of fields, including human resources as well as oil and gas. She has been the chief financial officer for Crop Nutrition, region director for Latin America, and country manager of Argentina at Yara. She serves as a director of BW LPG and Arendal Fossekompani ASA. Ms. Dalane’s background is in economics, and she holds a business degree from the Norwegian School of Economics NHH. She is a Norwegian citizen residing in Norway.

Richard Herbert

Board Member since 2017 | Remuneration and Corporate Governance Committee Member

Richard Herbert is a petroleum geologist with 40 years of experience in the global upstream industry. His career started with Phillips Petroleum, followed by 19 years at BP in senior exploration and development positions spanning southeast Asia, Latin America, the USA, Angola, and the UK North Sea. From 2003 to 2008, for TNK-BP in Russia, he was exploration vice president and subsequently executive vice president of technology. From 2009 to 2013, for Talisman Energy in Canada, he was exploration vice president. From 2013 until late 2016, he was BP's chief operating officer for exploration. In 2017, he joined the board of Frontera Energy Corporation and was their chief executive officer, in Bogota, Colombia, from 2018 until 2021. Richard Herbert holds a BSc in Geology from the University of Bristol in the UK. 

Trond Brandsrud

Board Member since 2019 | Audit Committee Member

Trond Brandsrud is an advisor, a board member, and a non-executive director of several listed and private-equity companies, including Aker Horizons, Aker BP, where he chairs the audit and risk committee, and Lowell, where he chairs both the audit the risk committees and serves as a member of the remuneration committee. Brandsrud has 30 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, serving as group chief financial officer at Aker and Seadrill and in a range of senior financial positions at Royal Dutch Shell. He is the chairperson of Lowell Finans AS and a non-executive director of Lowell Group and Waterise AS. Brandsrud is a Norwegian citizen with a master’s degree from the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH). Mr. Brandsrud is a Norwegian citizen residing in Norway.

Ebrahim Attarzadeh

Board member since 2022 | Audit Committee Member

Ebrahim Attarzadeh was, until recently, CEO of Stifel Europe Bank AG (formerly Mainfirst) and is currently in the process of setting up an advisory company. He has held several roles in Deutsche Bank and various leadership roles within Mainfirst, both in Frankfurt, London, Zurich, and New York. In addition to PGS, he has a supervisory board position at MusicBird AG and at ONTEX. Mr. Attarzadeh holds a master's in economic science from Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg. He is a German citizen residing in Switzerland.

Shona Grant

Board member since 2022 | Remuneration and Corporate Governance Committee Member 

Shona Grant is the chairperson at qWave AS and at Saferock AS, and a non-executive director at Hydrawell AS. She has previously served as a non-executive director at Gulf Marine Services Plc and for various pioneering technology companies, including Bluware Corporation. Dr. Grant has enjoyed a long career in leadership roles at BP, including as a Performance Unit leader in Norway, following which she served as CEO of 2TD Drilling AS (now part of Nabors Industries). Dr. Grant is a geologist by training with a Ph.D. from the University of Leicester. She is a UK citizen residing in Norway.

Emeliana Rice-Oxley

Board Member since 2023 | Audit Committee Member

Emi Rice-Oxley has more than 35 years of experience in the energy industry. She recently retired from the position of Vice President of Exploration in Petronas and has previously held senior and executive roles within Shell. Currently, she is a board member of Hibiscus Petroleum Berhad and an advisory board member of Heriot-Watt University, Malaysia. Ms. Rice-Oxley holds a B.Sc. in Geology from the University of South Carolina, USA, and is also a graduate of the Advanced Management Program (AMP) from Harvard Business School and the Strategic Decision and Risk Management program at Stanford University, USA. She is a Malaysian citizen residing in Kuala Lumpur. 

Employee Elected Ordinary Board Members  

Anette Valbø

Employee Elected Ordinary Board Member since 2015 | Audit Committee Member 

Anette Valbø joined PGS in 2002. Her current position is Bid Manager. She has previously held various business controller positions within Marine Contract and Operations business area. Prior to joining the Company, Ms. Valbø served in various positions within auditing and accounting at Frontline Ltd. and DNB. Ms. Valbø holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and auditing from Molde University College, Norway. She is a Norwegian citizen residing in Norway.

Carine Roalkvam

Employee Elected Ordinary Board Member since 2023 | Remuneration and Corporate Governance Committee Member

Carine Roalkvam joined PGS in 2013 and is Regional Geophysical Advisor and Geophysical Support Manager in our Sales & Services business area. Her breadth of seismic industry experience, which spans survey design, operational geophysics including project delivery responsibility, and seismic imaging, is matched by a profound technical understanding. She has served in a variety of roles within PGS and in Fugro, where she began her seismic career offshore, processing field data. Carine holds an M.Sc. in Geophysics from the School and Observatory of Earth Sciences in Strasbourg.

Eivind Versterås

Employee Elected Ordinary Board Member since 2021 | Remuneration and Audit Committee Member 

Eivind Versterås joined PGS in 2008 as a geophysicist, first offshore and then based in Oslo, analyzing both seismic and electromagnetic data. He is currently a Special Projects Manager in our Operations division. He has worked in research, operations, and sales support roles, with experience that spans from the development of technical solutions to their introduction to the market. Since 2018, he has been the chief union representative of Tekna in our Oslo office. Eivind holds an M.Sc. in Applied Physics from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. He is a Norwegian citizen residing in Norway.