Halvor Stenstadvold

Halvor Stenstadvold (born ) is a Norwegian businessperson and politician for the Conservative Party. A political scientist by education, he spent most of his career in the Federation of Norwegian Industries and Orkla Group. He has also been the chair of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, the Research Council of Norway and the Oslo Stock Exchange. As a politician he has been acting mayor of Bærum municipality as well as State Secretary.

Personal life He was born in Sarpsborg as a son of painter Håkon Stenstadvold (1912–1977) and his wife Ingeborg Anvik. He was a nephew of Karl Stenstadvold. He grew up in Bærum, and lives at Stabekk. He married Siri Moursund (born 1945) in December 1971. as a member of the Conservative Party. He was elected to serve in Bærum municipal council in 1975, served as deputy mayor from 1975 to 1978, and acting mayor from 1978 to 1979. and was replaced by Gunnar Gravdahl after the 1979 elections. From 1979 to 1981 he was a member of Akershus county council. In 1981, when the Willoch's First Cabinet assumed office, Stenstadvold was appointed State Secretary in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and Administration. He retreated in 1984 to concentrate on his business career. In the media field Stenstadvold also served as a member of the Broadcasting Council, chair of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation from 1986 to 1991 and TVNorge from 1991 to 1994. He notably advocated abolishing the Norwegian press support, which in Stenstadvold's opinion "hinders product development". but he withdrew in 2007 following a technical misunderstanding. He was first admonished by the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway for belatedly reporting a stock sale in Orkla Group, but after he withdrew it surfaced that the sale had been reported in the right time, automatically. This episode was considered to be among the "biggest mistakes of 2007" by online newspaper E24 Næringsliv. In 2008 he became chair of the Henie-Onstad Art Centre.