Oddny Aleksandersen, born , is a Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 politician for the Labour Party

Norwegian Labour Party

The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in Norway. It is the senior partner in the current Norwegian government as part of the Red-Green Coalition, and its leader, Jens Stoltenberg, is the current Prime Minister of Norway....

.

Born in Vadsø

Vadsø

is a city and municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality and the county of Finnmark....

, she chaired the local party chapter in Vadsø from 1979 to 1982 and was a member of the executive committee of Vadsø municipal council from 1979 to 1983. Elected to the county council

County council (Norway)

A County Council is the highest governing body of the county municipalities in Norway. The county council sets the scope of the county municipal activity. The council is led by a chairman or county mayor...

 in 1983, she served as deputy county mayor for one term, and acting county mayor from May 1986 to April 1987, during the illness of county mayor Helmer Mikkelsen

Helmer Mikkelsen

Helmer Mikkelsen was a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party.He was born in Børselv, and was the mayor of Porsanger from 1967 to 1975. He was a member of Finnmark county council from 1975 to 1987. During the last term, he served as county mayor...

.

On the national level, she served briefly as personal secretary (today known as political advisor) in the Ministry of Justice and the Police

Norwegian Ministry of Justice and the Police

The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Justice and the Police is a Norwegian government ministry in charge of justice, police and domestic intelligence. The main purpose of the Ministry is to provide for the maintenance and development of the basic guarantees of the rule of law...

 in 1981. She was later Minister of Government Administration and Labour from September 1992 to October 1993, in the third cabinet Brundtland

Third cabinet Brundtland

Brundtland's Third Cabinet was a minority, Labour Government of Norway. It succeeded the Conservative/Centre/Christian Democrat Cabinet Syse, and sat between 3 November 1990 and 24 October 1996. It was replaced by the Labour Cabinet Jagland. The cabinet was active during two parliaments, both...

. She was the third woman in a row to hold this position; the first man to be Minister of Government Administration was Nils Olav Totland, who succeeded Aleksandersen in 1993.

Outside of politics, she took her education here and there, in Nesna

Nesna University College

Nesna University College is a høgskole, a Norwegian state institution of higher education, in the municipality of Nesna, Norway. It was established August 1, 1994, and has approximately 1200 students and 130 employees....

, Trondheim and Tromsø

University of Tromsø

The University of Tromsø is the world's northernmost university. Located in the city of Tromsø, Norway, it was established in 1968, and opened in 1972. It is one of eight universities in Norway. The University of Tromsø is the largest research and educational institution in northern Norway...

, finally taking the cand.mag.

Cand.mag.

Candidatus magisterii , Candidata magisterii , i.e. Latin Candidate of Arts, abbreviated cand.mag., is an academic degree used in Denmark, and formerly in Norway and Iceland, roughly corresponding to an American Master of Arts and officially translated as such...

 degree in 1996. She has worked as a school teacher in Sør-Varanger

Sør-Varanger

Sør-Varanger is a municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Kirkenes. Sør-Varanger was separated from the municipality of Vadsø on 1 July 1858.-Name:...

 and Vadsø from 1968 to 1972 and 1982 to 1984, as a secretary in the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation from 1972 to 1979, as a consultant in Finnmark county municipality

Finnmark County Municipality

Finnmark County Municipality is the regional governing administration of Finnmark, Norway. It has its administration in Vadsø and is led by a county council with 35 members....

 from 1980 to 1982 and in the administrative department of the University of Tromsø from 1990 to 2007.

She has been a member of the board of the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities

Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities

The Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities is an employers' organisation in Norway.It was founded in 1972 as a merger between the Union of Norwegian Cities and the Norwegian Association of Rural Municipalities...

 from 1983 to 1987, the Norwegian Meteorological Institute

Norwegian Meteorological Institute

Norwegian Meteorological Institute is the Norwegian national institute for weather forecasts.The three main offices are located in Oslo, Bergen and Tromsø. The Institute has around 500 employees and keeps around 650 paid observers of various kinds around the country...

 from 1986 to 1990, Det Norske Luftfartselskap

Det Norske Luftfartselskap

Det Norske Luftfartselskap A/S or DNL, trading internationally as Norwegian Air Lines, was an airline and flag carrier of Norway. Founded in 1927, it operated domestic and international routes from 1935 to 1941 and from 1946 to 1951...

 from 1987 to 1988, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate

Norwegian Petroleum Directorate

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate or OD is a Norwegian government agency responsible for the regulation of the petroleum resources on the Norwegian continental shelf. Based in Stavanger it is to ensure that the petroleum resources are allocated in an optimal at the same time as they incur...

 from 1989 to 1992, the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation in 1992 and the Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research

Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research

The Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research is a social science research institute based in Oslo, Norway.It is a part of the Oslo Centre for Interdisiplinary Environmental and Social Research cooperative umbrella organization. Its purpose is to conduct "studies which promote society's...

from 1996 to 2000.