About

For around 14 years, Christian Karde has held his position of vice president, general counsel for Kongsberg Gruppen, an international technology corporation that develops advanced systems and technologies for the maritime, offshore, defence and aerospace industries. The company earns over $3bn annually and operates through four business divisions Kongsberg Maritime, Kongsberg Defence Systems, Kongsberg Protech Systems and Kongsberg Digital. In 2016, Karde helped the company avoid indictment for alleged corruption offences by both the parent company and its Defence & Aerospace division. Since then he has dedicated more of his time and wealth of expertise on overseeing important agreements. In March 2017 the establishment of a new joint venture was announced between Kongsberg Gruppen and ThyssenKrupp to become an exclusive sole supplier to ThyssenKrupp submarines in a deal that could be worth over NOK 15bn for Kongsberg and Norwegian industry in years to come. Two months later the company announced it had entered into partnership to build world’s first autonomous and zero emissions ship with Yara, the Norwegian chemical company. With the company joining forces with Raytheon in June 2017 to bid for the US Navy’s Over-The-Horizon weapon programme, Karde is set to continue playing an important role in company’s growth. Before joining Kongsberg, Karde enjoyed two successful private practise spells at law firm Advokatfirmaet Selmer between 1995 and 2003, with a brief spell as a legal counsel for Oslo Børs, the Oslo Stock Exchange, in between. He obtained an executive education from Havard Law School in 2011.