Norwegian energy company Equinor has appointed Ulrica Fearn as its chief financial officer (CFO) and executive vice president. Fearn's appointment will take effect on June 16, 2021.
She will succeed acting CFO Svein Skeie, who will become senior vice president CFO Performance Management and Risk. Fearn is currently Director of Group Finance at BT Plc, a British multinational telecommunications holding company.
Anders Opedal, president and CEO of Equinor said: "I am pleased to welcome Ulrica to Equinor and our leadership team. Her deep and extensive experience in leading financial operations, as well as driving operational, control and shared services results, will make a strong contribution to the leadership of Equinor. She also brings renewal and increased diversity to the Corporate Executive Committee. She is guided by her strong values and I am confident Ulrica will provide good leadership as we position Equinor for the future."
According to Equinor's statement on Wednesday, at BT, Fearn with a focus on profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow performance, led the development and implementation of a finance transformation program. This has involved a new group-wide information model, control frameworks, and enhanced reporting.
Prior to BT, Fearn built an international career at alcohol beverage maker Diageo, where she first joined in 1998. In Diageo she took leadership roles covering treasury, internal audit, and finance business partnering. Her career at Diageo culminated in general management responsibility for global shared services, where she led the expansion of the service offering while upgrading performance to position the operation as a premier global shared services operation.
“I am thrilled to join Equinor and return to my native Scandinavia. Equinor has a strong business, a strong position, a proud history, and an exciting change journey ahead. I look forward to working with the team to further strengthen the company,” said Ulrica Fearn.
As CFO, Fearn will lead Equinor’s global finance organization and be responsible for treasury and tax, investor relations, performance management and risk, accounting and financial compliance, business development and corporate mergers and acquisitions, corporate strategy and global business services.