Marit Lieng Appointed as New CEO of Helse Bergen: Described as a Clear and Inclusive Leader

Summer may have come and gone, but there’s been little downtime at Helse Bergen’s offices. Now, the most important hire of the autumn is official. Marit Lieng takes over as the new CEO – and she’s no ordinary pick. She’s one of the country’s top specialists in her clinical field, and word about the new boss has been making the rounds at Haukeland for a while.

Let’s get one thing straight from the start: Marit Christine Lieng is no bureaucrat brought in from a consulting firm. She’s a surgeon. She’s a researcher. And perhaps most importantly – she knows the hospital’s heart and soul. I’ve spoken with people who work closely with her, and the same words keep coming up: “Clear, but never loud. Inclusive, yet with a decisiveness that leaves an impression.”

From the operating room to the executive office

It’s a long way from holding a scalpel to running one of the country’s largest health trusts. But that’s exactly the heart of why the board chose Marit Lieng. She holds a doctorate in research on women’s diseases, and her CV is packed with peer-reviewed articles in respected medical journals.

She has deep experience in issues like pelvic floor injuries, complications from C‑sections, and the development of minimally invasive surgical techniques. In other words: she knows what it takes for staff to succeed, because she’s been in their shoes.

Now she’s trading the operating theatre for the negotiation room. It’ll be a fascinating transition to follow – especially because Helse Bergen faces some very tough challenges ahead.

Here are the biggest challenges waiting for her

Taking the helm at Helse Bergen is no walk in the park. Budget pressure is real, recruitment challenges are global, and demands for faster treatment aren’t going away. I’d bet Marit Lieng has these three items at the top of her to-do list:

• Balancing the budget in a storm: Like every other hospital, Bergen is struggling to make the books balance without compromising patient safety.
• Recruiting specialists: The fight for the best doctors and nurses is tougher than ever.
• The waiting lists: Those pandemic backlogs need to be cleared, and political expectations are sky-high.

But this is exactly where her background comes into play. Marit Lieng has led complex research projects in Gaza and Palestine – a collaboration with a major university and local health authorities. If you can navigate humanitarian crises and war zones to improve maternal care, then a tough budget round in Bergen should be manageable.

A new era for Haukeland?

Employees I’ve spoken with describe her as incredibly skilled professionally, but also as someone who creates a “no‑blame culture.” That might sound like a cliché, but in an industry where burnout is widespread, it’s crucial. She’s known for listening to staff – truly listening – before making decisions.

It will be incredibly exciting to see how Marit Christine Lieng shapes Helse Bergen moving forward. Will she double down on research and education, as she’s done before? Will she use the surgeons’ perspective to cut unnecessary red tape? One thing is certain: Marit Lieng is the leader Bergen needed right now – not a theorist, but someone who has seen patients up close and knows what actually works in practice.