With more than 35 years of international experience Birkeland have managed onshore and offshore oil & gas projects, deep-sea shipping/logistics projects, offshore vessels & onshore facility assets, and vessel newbuild projects and operations. For this teaming, people and use of new technology have proved to make a difference. He has gained significant experience in assessing people and technical maturity of plans, learned to make timely corrective actions, and designing effective execution processes and organizations.

For the last 5 years, He was responsible Project Manager and later Project Director for construction of wind turbine- and foundations installation vessels in China. This included one Heavy Lift Vessel (HLV) and one large Jack-up, both with heavy lift cranes 2500-3000 Ton.

The international experience includes roles in engineering, technical management, investment management, risk management, HSEQ leadership, cost control and Project- / Director Management for both domestic and global projects. Post merger of the Wallenius and Wilhelmsen operations, his role was to facilitate and coordinating the first alignment of the global business processes in a new matrix organization for two successful but different organizations.

Diverse company and country experience including assignments with Shell in the Netherlands, USA, Egypt, the UK, and Norway has enabled him to be more effective in think globally and acting locally. Further during his time in global shipping logistics, he took on roles as Project Manager / Director of the first global SCM projects that included car shipping and onshore distribution in Australia (BMW) and South Africa (VAG). He has also managed operations, project teams, and staff remotely in Sweden, Germany, UK, USA, Australia, Japan, Brazil, and Nigeria.

In brief, Birkeland worked 11 years abroad and the remaining time in Norway with frequent travelling abroad. Former employers include Seaway7, Blystad Management (OHT), Ocean Yield (Aker), EMAS/Chiyoda/AMC, Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics (WWL) and Shell International.