In 1998, Mr. Kjaer became founding Chief Executive Officer of Norges Bank Investment Management, which was established by the Norwegian government to manage its sovereign wealth fund and foreign exchange reserves.  Over his 10 year career at NBIM (1998-2008), Mr. Kjaer implemented an investment program and built the asset management team. 
 

Later Mr. Kjaer became President of RiskMetrics Group in New York, with direct responsibility for the firm’s global risk management and corporate governance advisory businesses, Institutional Shareholder Services.

Mr. Kjaer is member of the Supervisory board of APG Asset management in the Netherlands that manages the largest pension fund in Europe. He is member of the Investment and Risk Advisory Panel of the Monetary Authority of Singapore and serves on the International Advisory Board of China Investment Corporation.  Kjær is also member of the Advisory Investment Committee of the Central Bank of Thailand.

In 2008, Mr. Kjaer was appointed a Knight Class 1 of the Royal Order of St. Olav by His Majesty King Harald of Norway for his management of the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund and his contribution to the Norwegian economy and the future financing of its pensions.

Prior positions: Chairman CICERO, Centre for International Climate and Environmental Research, Oslo. Research fellow at the Department of Economics, University of Oslo. Researcher at Statistics Norway. Founding partner of ECON Center for Economic Analysis. Executive Vice President of Storebrand. Chairman of Storebrand Bank. Deputy Chairman Oslo Stock Exchange.  Member of the Supervisory Board of the Access to Medicine Foundation. Advisor to the Investment Strategies Committee and member of the International Advisory Board of Government of Singapore Investment Corporation. Member of the Investment committee of ABP.  Member of the commission that managed the Irish national pension reserve fund. 

Mr. Kjaer holds a master’s degree in Economics and a degree in political science from the University of Oslo (1982). He attended the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School (2003).