About

As general counsel of NSB AS, Otto Sivertsen Roheim has contributed to the company’s evolution from ‘an enterprise with low economic results, delivering transportation services with occasionally poor predictability, into a well-managed transportation business’. Amongst other things, Roheim has been central to the establishment of licenses for NSB, CargoNet and NSB AS to run railway services within the EU and the European Economic Area. As further testament of his stellar negotiation skills, Roheim led the legal quality assurance of the agreement between NSB and the Norwegian State for the delivery of the railway passenger transport for the five year period between 2012 and 2017, amounting to over €2bn. Some of his other significant career highlights include the establishment of the rolling stock company, Norske Tog, and the ticket sales and service company, Entur, which stands out as a project he was comprehensively involved in its successful execution. As part of the reform of the Norwegian railway sector, the rolling stock and the ticket sales and services owned by NSB has been transferred to a new entity. Norske Tog and Entur will make the rolling stock and the ticket sales and services available to the train operators that win the tenders for the traffic packages for the various lines in Norway. Roheim had to overcome the challenge of a more complex regulatory landscape in the Norwegian railway sector, seeking solutions which combine NSB’s social role as a provider of transportation service with the requirements of a commercially run operation. ‘Working with the reform of the Norwegian railway sector has made me more aware of the importance of following political and economic developments, anticipate which developments could have an operational or financial impact on our business, and to take preparatory steps’. By working closely with the CEO and the executive management group on a day to day basis Roheim is able to fully appreciate the history of the company, its goals and strategic objectives to provide the quality the legal services the company needs to earn the necessary trust of the executive management group. He says ‘As a general counsel I have to figure out how I balance the advisor role, the police role and the ethics role. To be able to do that, I have to maintain my independence, and because of that the general counsel is not part of the executive management group’.