Aasheim to Head Aluminium Metal in Hydro

Hilde Merete Aasheim will take on the position as executive vice president for Aluminium Metal in Norwegian aluminium company Norsk Hydro ASA. Aasheim, 49, will replace Torstein Dale Sjøtveit on Hydro's corporate management board.

Aasheim has extensive industrial experience and comes from the position as executive vice president and member of the corporate management board of energy group StatoilHydro ASA, in charge of Corporate Staffs and Services.

She held a number of senior management positions in Norwegian metals maker Elkem ASA in the period 1986-2005 and joined Hydro in 2005 as executive vice president for Leadership & Culture, including Human Resources, Health, Safety and Environment and Corporate Social Responsibility. She headed the comprehensive integration process related to the merger of Hydro's oil and gas activities with Statoil and started working for StatoilHydro on October 1st, 2007, following the merger.

Aasheim holds an MA in business economics from the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration (NHH) and is a state-authorised public accountant. In her new job, she will report directly to Hydro President and CEO Eivind Reiten.

A date for Aasheim's departure from StatoilHydro has yet to be decided.

Dale Sjøtveit will leave Hydro on September 1st. In the interim period before Aasheim takes on her new position, Jan Arve Haugan, Hydro's head of Technology and Part-owned Smelters, will act as head of the business area.

As of August 15th, head of Corporate Strategy and Business Development Arvid Moss will become a member of Hydro's corporate management board. Moss has held several senior management positions in Hydro and was project leader for the merger process that ended up in the merger agreement with Statoil in December 2006.

Web: http://www.hydro.com