Knut Brundtland is a Norwegian lawyer, businessman and art collector. He was a partner at the Oslo law firm Bugge, Arentz-Hansen & Rasmussen before leaving legal practice in 2005 for investment and corporate board work. He is the son of former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland.
Background
Knut Brundtland was born on 17 July 1961 and is the son of Gro Harlem Brundtland and Arne Olav Brundtland. His mother later served as Prime Minister of Norway, a position she held for several periods during the 1980s and 1990s, and in 1998 she was appointed Director-General of the World Health Organization.
He grew up in Norway during decades when the Norwegian Labour Party was a dominant force in national politics. His family background thus connected him with the country's postwar political institutions, although his own early life is documented only in terms of his schooling and later education.
Education
Brundtland attended Oslo Handelsgymnasium from 1977 to 1980. The school was founded in 1875 as Christiania Handelsgymnasium, offering a commercial education modeled on German commercial schools at a time when Norway had no comparable tradition in this field. From 1950 the economic upper secondary track was placed on the same footing as the traditional academic courses, and by 1977 the school had become part of Norway's general upper secondary system.
He then studied law at the University of Oslo, where he was enrolled from 1983 to 1988 and received the Candidate in Jurisprudence degree in 1988. The university was founded in 1811 as the Royal Frederick University and was renamed the University of Oslo in 1939. Its Faculty of Law, established in 1811, was the only law faculty in Norway until 1980 and educated most of the country's lawyers, and the Norwegian degree known as cand.jur. was the standard qualification for legal practice.
Brundtland's legal career was centered on Bugge, Arentz-Hansen & Rasmussen, known as BA-HR, an Oslo law firm established in 1966 by Lars Arentz-Hansen, Knut Rasmussen and Frederik Moltke Bugge. The firm became one of Norway's most prestigious law practices, and it was later known as BAHR. Brundtland worked there as a partner, and during his years at the firm he advised clients including Fokus Bank and Tiger on matters concerning shares in Storebrand, a Norwegian insurance and financial group.
In 2005 he gave up his license to practise law in order to become an investor and professional board member. He subsequently served as chief executive of Voss of Norway ASA. From 2010 he was associated with ABG Sundal Collier, an Oslo-based investment bank and securities firm, where he was chairman, and he also held a board position at Seram Coatings, a Norwegian coatings company.
Interests
He is described as an art collector. He speaks the Scandinavian languages and English.
Connections
Brundtland is the son of Gro Harlem Brundtland, who led the Norwegian government as prime minister and later directed the World Health Organization. He is also the son of Arne Olav Brundtland. These family ties form the principal documented personal connections in his biography.
Father:
Arne Olav Brundtland
Mother:
Gro Harlem Brundtland
Norwegian politician who served as Prime Minister of Norway and was appointed Director-General of the World Health Organization in 1998.
References
Knut Brundtland (Norwegian Wikipedia)
Norwegian encyclopedia article describing him as a Norwegian lawyer, businessman and art collector, with his birth year, education at Oslo Handelsgymnasium and the University of Oslo Faculty of Law, and his years at the law firm BA-HR.
Knut Brundtland investment portfolio (PitchBook)
Investor profile describing his fifteen years as a lawyer and partner at BAHR in Oslo, his University of Oslo law degree, and his roles at ABG Sundal Collier and Voss of Norway ASA.
