Governance
Management & Board
Ole B. Hjertaker serves as Chief Executive Officer, and served as Chief Financial Officer of the Company from 2006 to 2009. Mr. Hjertaker holds a Master of Science degree from the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration. Prior to joining SFL, Mr. Hjertaker was employed in the Corporate Finance division of DNB Markets, a leading shipping and offshore bank. Mr. Hjertaker has extensive corporate and investment banking experience, mainly within the Maritime and Transportation industries. Mr. Hjertaker also serves as a chairman of NorAm Drilling.
Aksel C. Olesen serves as Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Olesen holds a Law Degree from the University of Bergen. Prior to joining SFL, he spent 12 years at Pareto Securities where he worked in various positions in the firm’s investment banking division, including as Head of Investment Banking Asia in Singapore from 2011 to 2014 and most recent as Head of Shipping and Offshore Project Finance. Mr. Olesen started his career working for the shipping company Kristian Jebsens Rederi as part of the legal, business development and finance team.
Trym Otto Sjølie serves as Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Sjølie has a background spanning 25 years in the shipping industry in diverse capacities, ranging from asset management, technical and operational management, chartering and engineering. Prior to joining SFL, Mr. Sjølie served as the MD of a shipping fund with a fleet of vessels across multiple asset classes. He previously worked for Höegh Autoliners, a leading car carrier operator, from 1998 to 2010. Mr Sjølie also has experience in vessel design and operations of shuttle tankers, FSOs and FPSOs. Mr. Sjølie holds a MSc degree in Marine engineering and Naval Architecture from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and a MMa Degree from BI Norwegian Business School.
André Reppen serves as Chief Treasurer and Senior Vice President. Mr. Reppen holds an MBA in Finance in addition to the Authorised Financial Analyst title from the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration. Prior to joining SFL in 2008, Mr. Reppen worked for PwC in the Shipping and Financial Services department as a transaction and corporate structuring advisor. Mr. Reppen is also a CEFA charterholder.
Thecla Panagides serves as Chief Accounting Officer. Mrs. Panagides holds an Honour's degree in Accounting and Finance from the University of Birmingham and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. Prior to joining SFL Mrs. Panagides served as Chief Accountant in Frontline Corporate Services for four years and has held positions at Coca-Cola Hellenic and Ernst & Young.
Jannicke Eilertsen serves as Compliance Officer. Ms. Eilertsen holds a Master of Laws from the University of Oslo and studied maritime laws at the University of Southampton. Ms. Eilertsen worked at Advokatfirmaet Wiersholm as a Senior Associate in the Compliance and Investigations department. At Wiersholm, Ms. Eilertsen worked with several privately and publicly owned companies on cross-border matters concerning anti-bribery and corruption, anti-money laundering and sanctions. Also, Ms. Eilertsen has experience from the FD&D department at Gard (UK) Ltd in London and from Rolls-Royce Marine AS as legal counsel.
Mikkel Storm Weum serves as Senior Vice President, Business Development. Mr. Weum holds a Master’s degree in Naval Architecture from Newcastle University and a Master of Science in Shipping Trade and Finance from Cass Business School, City University in London. Prior to joining SFL, Mr. Weum worked as Vice President, Head of Commercial in Teekay Offshore with focus on Shuttle Tankers and Floating Offshore storage (FSO) activities. Mr. Weum has work experience in vessel design, new build project management in addition to business development and chartering.
Kathrine Astrup Fredriksen has been a Director of the Company since February 2020, and is a member of the Nomination and Corporate Governance Committee and the ESG Comittee. Ms. Fredriksen serves as President of Seatankers UK and is a board member of Norwegian Property, Mowi and Avance Gas. She has previously been on the boards of Seadrill, Golar LNG, Frontline and Deep Sea Supply. Through her role as President of Seatankers UK, she provides advice on all group Investments and is intrinsically involved in the administration of the organization. Kathrine is educated at European Business School in London. She is a passionate collector of modern and contemporary art.
Gary Vogel has been a Director of the Company since December 2016, and is a member of the Compensation Committee and the Nomination and Corporate Governance Comittee. From 2015 to 2024 he served as Chief Executive Officer and Director of Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc., a U.S listed owner and operator of geared dry bulk vessels. From 2000 to 2015, Mr Vogel held various positions in Clipper Group Ltd., last as Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Vogel graduated from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in 1988 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Transportation as well as a U.S. Coast Guard Unlimited Tonnage 3rd Officers License. Subsequently, he served as an officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve. Mr. Vogel is currently on the Lloyd’s Register North America Advisory Committee.
Keesjan Cordia has been a Director of the Company since September 2018, and is a member of the ESG Comittee. Mr. Cordia is a private investor with a background in Economics and Business Administration. Mr. Cordia holds several board and advisory board positions in the Oil & Gas Industry, among which: board member of Workships group B.V (2006), board member of Combifloat B.V (2013). and board member of Kerrco Inc (2017). He recently became Chairman of the board of Oceanteam ASA (April 2018). From 2006-2014 he was CEO at Seafox (Offshore Services). Mr. Cordia is founder and Managing Partner of Invaco Management B.V., an investment firm based in Amsterdam. He is also a member of the investor committee of Connected Capital, a private equity firm.
Will Homan-Russell has been a Director of the Company since July 2022, and is a member of the Audit Committee, the Compensation Committee and the ESG Comittee. Mr. Homan-Russell is an experienced professional investor in the maritime sector, currently serving as Chief Investment Officer of UK based WMC Capital Ltd., where he cofounded Albemarle Shipping Fund. From 2003 to 2018 he worked for Tufton Oceanic Limited, a fund management company specializing on investments in the maritime and energy sectors. Mr. Homan-Russell holds an MA in Mathematics from Oxford University and an MSc. in Finance from London Business School. Mr Homan-Russell also serves as a director of Avance Gas.
Ole B. Hjertaker has been a Director of the Company since October 2019. Mr. Hjertaker has served as Chief Executive Officer of SFL Management AS since July 2009, prior to which he served as Chief Financial Officer from September 2006. Prior to joining SFL, Mr. Hjertaker was employed in the Corporate Finance division of DNB Markets, a leading shipping and offshore bank. Mr. Hjertaker has extensive corporate and investment banking experience, mainly within the maritime/transportation industries, and holds a Master of Science degree from the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration. Mr. Hjertaker also serves as a chairman of NorAm Drilling and director of Frontline.
Jan Erik Klepsland is an Investment Director in Seatankers Management Norway AS, an entity related to Hemen Holding Limited, SFL’s largest shareholder, where he oversees and manages various public and private investments predominantly within shipping and oil services. Prior to joining Seatankers in August 2020, he held the position as Partner at ABG Sundal Collier. Mr. Klepsland holds a MSc in Finance from Norwegian School of Economics (NHH). He also serves as a director of Archer Ltd, Noram Drilling AS, Fortis Operations AS and Northern Ocean Ltd.
Corporate Governance
Statement of Significant Differences Between SFL’s Corporate Governance Practices and the New York Stock Exchange, Inc. (the “NYSE”) Corporate Governance Standards.
The Annual General Meeting (AGM) is Nekkar’s supreme governing body. The Board of Directors (“the Board”) is responsible for ensuring that the company is organised, managed, and controlled in an appropriate and satisfactory manner in full compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Corporate Executive Management bears the ultimate responsibility for the company’s strategy, development, and day-to-day work.
Pursuant to an exception under the NYSE listing standards available to foreign private issuers, SFL Corporation Ltd., a Bermuda company (the “Company”), is not required to comply with all of the corporate governance practices followed by U.S. companies under the NYSE listing standards. However, pursuant to Section 303.A.11 of the NYSE Listed Company Manual, we are required to state any significant differences between our corporate governance practices and the practices required by the NYSE. We believe that our established practices in the area of corporate governance are in line with the spirit of the NYSE standards and provide adequate protection to our shareholders. The significant differences between our corporate governance practices and the NYSE standards applicable to listed U.S. companies are set forth below.
The NYSE requires that non-management directors meet regularly in executive sessions without management. The NYSE also requires that all independent directors meet in an executive session at least once a year. While Bermuda law and our byelaws do not require our non-management directors to regularly hold executive sessions without management, out non-management directors regularly hold such sessions without management from time to time.
The NYSE requires that a listed U.S. company have a nominating/corporate governance committee of independent directors and a committee charter specifying the purpose, duties and evaluation procedures of the committee. As permitted under Bermuda law and our byelaws, our nominating or corporate governance committee consists of three members of our Board of Directors, of which two are independent.
The NYSE requires, among other things, that a listed U.S. company have an audit committee with a minimum of three members, all of whom are independent, including as set forth under Rule 10A-3 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. As permitted under Bermuda law and our byelaws, our audit committee consists only of two independent members of our Board of Directors.
The NYSE requires U.S. companies to adopt and disclose corporate governance guidelines. The guidelines must address, among other things: director qualification standards, director responsibilities, director access to management and independent advisers, director compensation, director orientation and continuing education, management succession and an annual performance evaluation. We are not required to adopt such guidelines under Bermuda law and we have not adopted such guidelines. We do encourage our shareholders that wish to learn more about our governance practices, including how they differ from U.S. domestic companies, to review our Annual Report on Form 20-F which has been publicly filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and is available on our website, www.sflcorp.com.