Top-level management shift at Optimarin sees ex-naval officer take sales helm

A career in the Royal Norwegian Navy has given former naval officer Tonje Olafsen valuable experience in leadership and team-building. And she is now applying this expertise to her new role as VP Sales & Project heading up the sales team at Norwegian ballast water treatment system (BWTS) supplier Optimarin.

She has taken over the sales baton from marketing veteran Tore Andersen, who is a popular and well-recognised figure on the industry conference circuit. He has masterminded the company’s BWTS sales success during a globetrotting tenure spanning over a decade in which he has served both as EVP Sales & Marketing and previously as CEO.

Olafsen comes from the role of Operations Manager at Optimarin, which has given her a broad network, extensive experience in solving customers’ inquiries and close interaction with all company departments. Her understanding of both internal and external processes, as well as technical insights, equips her with leverage to empower the sales team.

“I will be taking over sales responsibility, as well as sitting on the management board that will be a new role for me. But I relish a challenge and feel ready, able and confident in taking on these responsibilities,” says Olafsen, who will retain operations and project management duties in her new position.

Learning from sales master

After six years with the company, Olafsen says she has been fortunate to have benefited from the experience of her predecessor who she describes as “a great mentor with a positive attitude and constructive ideas whose door is always open”.

“I have really learned a lot from Tore with his deep industry insight and experience, sales expertise and extensive network, giving me a strong springboard from which to embark on this new role.”

But Olafsen herself can also draw upon well-honed leadership skills developed during a 15-year stint in the Royal Norwegian Navy in which she served on many different ships, including frigates and coastguard vessels, while also performing a range of duties onboard from handling weaponry to working as helipad crew and launch craft operator.

She switched to navigation after graduating as an officer from the Royal Norwegian Naval Academy with a bachelor’s degree in military and strategic leadership in 2013. Her naval service has taken her across the Atlantic four times and she has also participated in several Nato assignments.

Collaborative approach

“I had originally intended to serve in the Navy for only one year but it turned into a much longer career with a rich diversity of experience. It has also given me a lot of team-building competence through interactions with many people working in different positions, learning how to co-ordinate and mobilise the necessary resources to focus on solving the mission at hand,” Olafsen explains.

“I consider that one of my strengths as a leader is being able to make difficult decisions in challenging situations and then empowering others to perform their respective roles in the most effective manner by making the right decisions themselves.”

In bringing these strengths to bear on her new role at Optimarin, her goal is to practise “intention-based leadership” by establishing a clear strategic framework for the sales team and then providing support as required every step of the way to implement the overall game plan.

Olafsen’s immediate focus is to consolidate Optimarin’s leading position in the BWTS market by boosting newbuild orders, while capitalising on more ‘retrofit-of-retrofit’ work where third-party systems must be replaced. Longer-term, she is looking to further expand the core business as well as the company’s product offering.

Olafsen plans to take a collaborative approach by encouraging everyone to contribute with their ideas, which she believes is foundational to successful teamwork, while more closely integrating the sales and project teams to co-ordinate more effectively.

“It is important to be open to inputs from others in the field to gain situational awareness that provides enhanced insight for better decision-making, which can be difficult when sitting in the office in isolation,” she explains.

Promoting female recruitment in shipping

Olafsen, aged 40, who enjoys spending time at her cabin by the sea, boating, fishing, hiking in the mountains and cooking together with her husband-to-be in her spare time, aspires to be a role model for women in the maritime world through empowering leadership and a spirit of collaboration.

She believes that, in a global perspective, Norway is ahead in terms of diversity and inclusion in the industry, with a number of women occupying senior management and board positions at shipping companies, and is keen to see an acceleration of this trend.

She is therefore taking a proactive role in this regard both through her professional position and participation in Wista Norway comprising some 450 business and thought leaders - both male and female - that is part of the Women’s International Shipping & Trade Association (Wista), a global organisation promoting the advancement of women in leadership roles.

Olafsen sees her promotion at Optimarin as a step forward in empowering women in shipping and believes the company is “investing in the future” by appointing a younger woman to a senior role, which she says is a “bold and far-sighted move designed to foster long-term success”.

And she concludes: “I am excited about being able to contribute to the future development of the company and building on our strong position in the BWTS market.”