Raymond Carlsen reflects on the opportunities he’s seized over a decades-long career that culminated in the CEO seat at Scatec.
Raymond Carlsen’s phone vibrates on the table inside his 12th floor office in Skøyen. It’s the day after his retirement was announced, and already he’s been asked to sit down and relive his 67 years on Earth so far. The pinging phone is the result of the news that he will leave the CEO seat in Scatec on 1 May.
Raymond scans his messages. “I’ve heard from so many people from all parts of my life since the announcement. I had no idea that some of them even remembered me.” A former colleague from his time in South Africa writes about how much he meant to him. A current colleague in Ukraine messages, not of war and invasion in this moment, but of inspiration and thankfulness for his leadership.
“I’ve gotten messages from people I’d had no idea that I influenced,” Raymond comments.
His is a career that has spanned decades and continents. But it’s not one that was carefully planned or mapped out at an early age. It’s simply the result of seeing opportunities and being brave enough to say ‘yes’ to them.
The early years
When prodded on details from childhood that may have influenced who he is today, it becomes clear that Raymond’s cup of ambition was full from an early age. But that ambition didn’t necessarily shine through in his schoolwork, he’s quick to add. Instead, it came out in the roles he played towards his peers and in various social environments. He was the class trustee, the active youth club member, and the eager sportsman. “Anything with an opportunity to influence,” he reflects.
Raymond would go on to study environmental engineering and earn his master’s at Florida Institute of Technology, where he first dabbled in solar power. He then returned to his home country of Norway, eager to uncover his next opportunity to influence. He took a chance on oil and gas, “the cleaner side” of the business he explains, starting what would evolve into a 20+ year career in the industry by making sure that the produced water was pure enough to be put back in the ocean.
A global perspective
The oil and gas industry would eventually lead him to Kværner in 1989, where Raymond was a part of building up this industrial process engineering and construction newcomer – eventually helping it expand internationally. He once again seized opportunities that life presented and moved his family to Southeast Asia for the company. Raymond is quick to credit his wife and kids for their support and strength as they adventured with him around the world over the years, transforming them into the family of global citizens they are today.
Even with his family as his firm foundation, Raymond found himself in an unprecedented situation while working for Kværner in Malaysia – one in which attaining success didn’t follow Raymond’s typical formula.
“Up until the point I moved to Kuala Lumpur, I’d considered myself fairly successful. But my usual methods for success did not work in this environment, and it humbled me.”
He may not have known it at the time, but this struggle to adapt was an essential lesson for the leader Raymond would become. After Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta, he would move on to Singapore, and later, as part of the Aker Group, he relocated to Houston to head Aker Subsea. He left Aker in 2009, with his sights set on a new adventure. He was ready to build something again, he says, something closer to his environmental roots. And that’s when he got the call from a nascent solar start-up called Scatec.
“I came in as CEO and we hit the ground running. I saw before me a sea of opportunities across the solar value chain, from development, to construction, to selling power. We started off small, but things changed quickly.”
Growing beyond Norway
Early on, Raymond targeted the world outside of Norway for his burgeoning solar business. South Africa was one of the company’s first opportunities beyond Europe, and when it came time, Raymond ended up being the only willing executive to make the move, knowing how important cultural understanding was to their eventual success.
Raymond calls Cape Town “the best place I’ve ever lived”. He was there for three years, building and delivering, leading the growing, global company a continent away, eventually taking it public in 2014.
With Raymond at the helm for the past 13 years, the Scatec team has expanded to 622 employees representing around 51 different nationalities, with operations in 26 countries. The company has grown beyond its solar roots and is stretching its ambitions across the renewable power portfolio. Raymond’s team has read the horizon well and is meeting the renewables revolution head on with targeted moves into hydropower and green ammonia.
Leaving at the peak
An article in Norwegian business daily Dagens Næringsliv, published on the day of the retirement announcement, cited Raymond as saying that he is leaving Scatec “at the peak” of his career.
“We have been doing great, but we have all the opportunity in the world to be even greater. Not just because the market is developing like crazy, but because of our ability to spot trends and take long-term positions. There’s incredible potential,” he says.
These are just not the words of an outgoing CEO basking in the glory of his company. They are the words of a large shareholder who asserts that he “will not sell his shares like other outgoing CEOs often do”. He will hold on tight, steadfast in his faith in the culture he’s built, the team he’s nurtured and the opportunities yet to be seized.
“Scatec will do well in Terje’s capable hands,” he says, referring to incoming CEO Terje Pilskog, who is a “continuation not a change” according to the Scatec Chairman.
“And when Scatec sets its mind to something, we do it, and that will never change.”
The makings of a long-lasting legacy
It comes down to seizing the opportunities to influence – to be in lead, take the risks and see what’s possible. “I never did understand the companies who said they wanted to be a close second,” Raymond chuckles.
It’s a corporate mindset that Scatec has inherited from its leader over the past 13 years, and it’s one that will carry on long after Raymond takes leave of his 12th floor office.
Raymond glances down at his phone. The interview has gone well over the allotted time, but it’s not business that calls him back to duty.
“It’s time to call my colleagues and thank them for their kind messages.”
11 things about Raymond Carlsen
- Son of Larvik
Raymond was born in this southern Norwegian city 67 years ago. - Army kid
Raymond’s father was in the army, so he grew up in a military camp near Elverum, Norway. - Sportsman
As a kid, Raymond played football, competed in track & field, and was an avid cross-country skier. - A change of studies
Raymond started at the University of Stavanger with a major in ‘oil and gas engineering’, but after the 1977 Bravo blowout, he switched over to environmental engineering. - Florida sunshine
Raymond pursued a Master of Science at the Florida Institute of Technology where he witnessed the live launch of the space shuttle Columbia on 12 April 1981. It was also the place where he first studied solar power. - Kongsberg v. KL
When Raymond and family were just about to relocate to Kongsberg, Norway, he got an offer from Kværner to move to Kuala Lumpur. And so, he asked his wife to choose: “Kongsberg or KL?” - Houston, we have a problem
In 2002, Raymond took over Aker Subsea and moved the HQ to Houston, where he set out to turn things around and reorganize the global business. And that he did. - What keeps him up at night
Climate change. Raymond says he’s feeling better about it than he was just three years ago, as now people are taking it more seriously. He says he’s optimistic and believes that the world can still get its act together to fight this. - What makes life a bit easier
Humour. Raymond is a firm believer in bringing the ‘funny’ to the table, as a way to ease sometimes stressful situations or as a bridge between cultures. His management team is known for its ability to laugh so hard they almost can’t stop, something that has made Raymond’s career especially fun. - Not a fan of…
Job descriptions. Raymond believes that they limit people’s thinking. He would rather that people look for the opportunities to contribute instead of following words on a page. - A big fan of…
When people take something and run with it. Nothing gives him a bigger kick, he says, than seeing people bring an idea to life, in ways better than he ever could have imagined.