Eirik Wærness
Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, Equinor

Eirik Wærness is senior vice president and chief economist at Equinor, group responsible for macroeconomics, energy and commodity market analyses. He is also head of strategy in mid- and downstream. He leads a group of ~65 analysts in four locations.

Wærness has broad experience, from government, academics and private sector companies, to an advisor in different leadership positions. In addition to his current role at Equinor, he is the leader of corporate strategy, corporate planning and analysis, economic analysis in upstream Norway, and energy market analysis.

His previous work experience includes the Centre for Applied Research at the Norwegian School of Economics, Norwegian Ministry of Finance, Total E&P Norway, and Pöyry Management Consulting/Econ Centre for economic analysis, as well as research experience from University of California, San Diego.

He is currently a non-executive member of the Board of Innovation, Norway, and a member of the Global Commission to examine Geopolitics of Energy Transformation, set up by the International Renewable Energy Agency, as well as non-executive member of the Board of Centre for applied research at the Norwegian School of Economics. From July 2016 until February 2018, he served as a non-executive member of the Board of the Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority (Finanstilsynet).

He has served in different energy initiatives under the World Economic Forum, including special advisor for their work on energy architecture and member of the global council on the future of energy. From 2010-2013, he was a member of the executive board of the Central Bank of Norway.

He holds a master degree (cand.polit.) in economics from the University of Bergen, with a major in comparative politics. He has additional education from Concordia College in Minnesota, as well as executive management training from IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland, and Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts.