Hi,
Today is my first day as CEO of Media City Bergen, and I wanted to reach out to all of you and present myself.
I'm Helge O. Svela, 43 years old and born and raised in Stavanger. Sixteen years ago, I fell in love with Bergen, its narrow streets, and the many scenic hiking trails in the mountains surrounding the city. Today, I consider myself an assimilated Bergenite.
My background is in journalism. It has been 20 years since I completed my journalistic education this summer. After some years in Rogalands Avis in Stavanger, Bergens Tidende employed me. I have been lucky enough to do many different things there – including various leadership roles for the past 11 years. Before starting at Media City Bergen today, my most recent position was head of the New Digital Formats and Bord4 (data journalism) departments.
I once said that I'm a journalist who has always been eager to work in a tech startup, and I believe the combination of media- and tech companies make our media cluster unique. Still, I think it's more to be gained from the collaboration between the editorial and technology communities, and I hope I can contribute to this.
But first I will spend some time getting to know the more than 100 member companies of the media cluster! If you see me in the building, I hope you will stop for a chat or invite me for a coffee. I will also be delighted if you e-mail me at [email protected].
Whether you are a journalist, developer, student, middle manager, entrepreneur, or anything else here in the cluster, I want to hear how you think we can do even better. Hope to hear from you!
Kind regards,
Helge
