Kari Gjesteby

Kari Gjesteby (born 16 May 1947) is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. She has never been a member of the Norwegian Parliament, but has been State Secretary for three tenures, as well as Minister of Trade and Shipping from February to October 1981 and Minister of Justice and the Police from 1990 to 1992. After her political career she has been a director in the Bank of Norway, director of the National Library of Norway and the Norwegian Library of Talking Books and Braille and, from 2009 to 2013, the first female State Conciliator of Norway.

Career

Early career She was born in Oslo as a daughter of politician Omar Gjesteby and Ingrid Elisabeth Thoresen. Odd Gjesteby (deceased) and Arne Gjesteby (deceased) are her brothers. She enrolled in primary school in Bjølsen in 1953, and finished secondary school at Oslo Commerce School in 1965. From 1967 to 1970 she studied economics at the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration. She also worked in Landsbanken from 1966 to 1967 and Universitetsforlaget from 1967 to 1972. She had become involved in the Workers' Youth League in her teens, chaired the secondary school branch from 1964 and was a secretary from 1966. She was a board member of the local Labour Party chapter from 1964 to 1966 and 1974 to 1975.

She was a board member of the Bank of Norway (1983–1989) and the Nordic Investment Bank (1988–1990, 1992–1996), the last four years as deputy chair. She was a board member of Oslo arbeidersamfunn (1973–1975, 1983–1984), Horten Verft (1974–1983, 1974–1983), Elcon Leasing (1978–1979), Statens driftssentral for administrative databehandling (1978–1979), Oslo Lysverker (1988–1990), Norsk Hydro (1990) SAS Norway (1997–2001), Mint of Norway (2001–2003), HAV Eiendom (2003–present), Statskonsult (2003–present), Norwegian Academy of Music, Veidekke (2004–present), White Buses Foundation (2007–present). She was the deputy chair of the Guarantee Institute for Export Credits (1993–1995), and chaired the board of directors of the Cancer Registry of Norway (1988–1990), Kommunenes filmsentral (1994–1995), Asplan Viak (1997–2006), Kings Bay (2000–2002), Bjørnøen (2000–2002), Of the Nordic Arts Centre in Suomenlinna she was chair (1978–1982) and board member (1982–1983). In Dyno Industrier she was a board member (1985–1995) and chair (1996–2000). Of Oslo Bolig- og Sparelag (OBOS) she was a board member (1985–1987), deputy chair (1987–1990) and chair (1990), and of OBOS Forretningsbygg she was a board member (1988–1990) and chair (1990). From 1985 to 1990 she was a board member of Norwegian Federation of Co-operative Housing Associations.

She lives in Enerhaugen.