Terje Riis-Johansen Explained

Terje Riis-Johansen
Office:County Mayor of Vestfold og Telemark
Term Start:1 January 2020
Term End:23 October 2023
Predecessor:Office established
Rune Hogsnes (Vestfold)
Sven Tore Løkslid (Telemark)
Successor:Office disestablished
Anne Strømøy (Vestfold)
Sven Tore Løkslid (Telemark)
Office1:County Mayor of Telemark
Term Start1:5 October 2011
Term End1:13 October 2015
Predecessor1:Gunn Marit Helgesen
Successor1:Sven Tore Løkslid
Office2:Minister of Petroleum and Energy
Primeminister2:Jens Stoltenberg
Term Start2:20 June 2008
Term End2:4 March 2011
Predecessor2:Åslaug Haga
Successor2:Ola Borten Moe
Office3:Minister of Agriculture and Food
Primeminister3:Jens Stoltenberg
Term Start3:17 October 2005
Term End3:20 June 2008
Predecessor3:Lars Sponheim
Successor3:Lars Peder Brekk
Office4:Member of the Norwegian Parliament
Term Start4:1 October 1993
Term End4:30 September 1997
Constituency4:Telemark
Birth Date:15 March 1968
Birth Place:Skien, Norway
Party:Centre Party

Terje Riis-Johansen (born 15 March 1968) is a Norwegian politician for the Centre Party.

Riis-Johansen was born in Skien. He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Telemark in 1993, but was not re-elected in 1997. From 1997 to 1999, during the first cabinet Bondevik, he was appointed political advisor in the Ministry of Finance. In 2005, during the second cabinet Stoltenberg, he was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Food, but changed department in 2008 and served as Minister of Petroleum and Energy. On 4 March 2011 he was succeeded by fellow Centre Party politician Ola Borten Moe.

On the local level he was a member of Skien municipality council from 1991 to 1995. During the same term he was also a member of Telemark county council.

After the 2011 Norwegian local elections the local centre-right alliance was dissolved, and Riis-Johansen became Telemark's county mayor of a new centre-left coalition.[1]

Riis-Johansen was a member of the board of Nei til EU from 1995 to 1997, of Telemark University College from 2000 to 2003 and of the Norwegian Farmers' Union from 2000 to 2005.

Riis-Johansen served as both the first and last county mayor of Vestfold og Telemark between 2020 and 2023, when the county was split into the new and re-established counties of Telemark and Vestfold. He was succeeded by Anne Strømøy in Vestfold on 18 October 2023, followed by Sven Tore Løkslid in Telemark on 23 October 2023.

Notes and References

  1. News: Høyre vinner fylkesduellen. Kommunal Rapport. 22 September 2011. 10. Norwegian. Holmquist, Tone.