John G. Bernander

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John Gordon Bernander (born September 22, 1957 in New York City) is a Norwegian politician for the Conservative Party and former director-general of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK).

He grew up in Brooklyn and Kristiansand. He was educated at Sjøkrigsskolen, Bergen 1976-1977 and graduated from the University of Oslo with the cand.jur. degree in 1982.

In 1989 he was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Vest-Agder, but he was not re-elected in 1993. From March to November 1990 he was appointed State Secretary in the Ministry of Trade. During this period his seat in parliament was taken by Kirsten Huser Leschbrandt. Bernander had been a personal secretary (today known as political advisor) in the Ministry of Industry from 1985 to 1986.

On the local level he was a member of Kristiansand city council from 1979 to 1985 and 1987 to 1989, the first period in the executive committee. He chaired the county party chapter from 1988 to 1989. From 1991 to 1994 Bernander was vice-chairman of the nationwide party. He was a member of the nationwide central board from 1988 to 1997.

Before entering politics Bernander worked as a businessman and lawyer. From 1993 to 2001 he was CEO of the Gard P&I Club and later Gard Services AS in Arendal. From July 15, 2001 to March 19, 2007, Bernander was the director-general (kringkastingssjef) of NRK, the Norwegian state-owned broadcasting company. He succeeded Einar Førde, and was succeeded by Hans-Tore Bjerkaas. From 2006 to 2007 Bernander was vice president of the European Broadcasting Union.

From May 2007 Bernander is associated with The Mosvold Shipping Group in Kristiansand. He has attended the Bilderberg meetings.^{[citation needed]}