Executive team

Thomas Bækø

Chief Operating Officer
Thomas joined Sydvaranger in January 2009, contributing to the construction, commissioning and operations teams. He was born and raised in the Kirkenes region. After the commission phase, Thomas held the position of production superintendent. From 2011 until 2013, he became production manager at a large iron ore project in West Africa. In that role his responsibilities were operational readiness, commissioning, maintenance and operations. From 2014 and up to November 2015, Thomas returned as the processing manager at Sydvaranger before re-joining the project in April 2016 as a project manager and later moved to the role of COO. During ownership by Tacora ResourcesInk., Thomas held the role as VP Operations. Since 2021 Thomas has also been amember in Sydvarangers’ Board of Directors.

Eirin Hansen

Health, Safety, Environment and Quality Manager
Eirin is Sydvarangers’ HSEQ Manager, howeverstarted her journey in Sydvaranger already in 2020 as a Senior EnvironmentalEngineer. She is also born and raised in Sør-Varanger, and hold a bachelor’sdegree as a Biomedical Laboratory Scientists, in addition to a TechnicalEngineer degree. Eirin has previously worked as a Quality Coordinator andQuality supervisor within the salmon farming and harvesting industry. She has awide experience within “Best Practice standards” certifications and internal-and supplier revisions that has significant focus on HSE and sustainability, inaddition to the development and analysis of HSE-control systems to comply withgovernment requirements.  

Marius Aaen Svendsen

Maintenance Manager
Marius is Sydvaranger’s Maintenance Managerand first started in the company in 2013. He holds a BSc degree in Mechanicalengineering, specializing in maintenance- and operational techniques from theNorwegian Technical University. He initially joined the Sydvaranger projectfrom 2013 to 2015, as maintenance planning superintendent. He then joinedSibelco, where he for the period 2015 – 2016 was their technical manager whilstsimultaneously holding the role of roll-out champion for Lean-maintenance inNorway. Marius returned to Sydvaranger in 2017 as the Maintenance Manager.

Anita Kurthi

Human Resources Manager
Anita is the HR- & Admin Manager inSydvaranger, a position she has held since August 2019. She is born and raisedin Sør-Varanger. Anita has a master degree in Business & Administrationfrom the Arctic University of Norway, and more than 20 years of experience as amanager with responsibility for finance, administration and human resources. Previouswork experience includes project management of development- and operationalprojects as well as numerous implementation processes. Anita also has anextensive experience with strategic HR work and union collaborations. She hasbeen a part of Sydvarangers’ Board of Directors since 2021.

Jan Erik Nilssen

Purchasing Manager
Jan Erik is originally from Telemark, butcurrently residing in the mining town of Bjørnevatn. He has been Sydvaranger’sPurchasing Manager since June 2019. He became part of the Sydvaranger projectduring in 2009, where he for the period 2009 – 2016 had positions such asproduction plant coordinator, superintendent mechanical maintenance and testproduction mechanic. For the period 2017 – 2019 his work focused ondiscontinued spare parts mapping and sales, prior to being promoted andresponsible for establishing and developing the Company’s purchasingdepartment. Previous work experience includes being a team-leader for Becromal SPAand a process technician for EKA-Nobel and Union Bruk.
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