Leadership

Simula is a group of 5 companies, in which Simula Research Laboratory (SRL) is the mother company and the following are subsidiaries: Simula Innovation (SI), Simula UiB, Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering (SimulaMet), and Simula Consulting (SC). All companies in the Simula Group are organised as limited companies, each of which is managed by a Director and overseen by a Board of Directors.

Learn about the Simula Group

Management Group

The management group is an advisory body for the managing director, and strives to facilitate communication flow and maintain a single, unifying culture across all Simula companies and locations.

The management group is led by Dr. Lillian Røstad, CEO of Simula Research Laboratory. The management group includes the directors and deputy directors of Simula's companies as well as the CFO and other selected key functions.

CEO / Managing Director (SRL)

Lillian Røstad joined Simula in 2023 as managing director. Røstad holds a PhD in cybersecurity from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Røstad has held adjunct associate professor positions at NTNU and the University of Oslo, and contributed to the special committee on ICT security in Norway. Before joining Simula, Røstad worked as managing director of Business Consulting Scandinavia for Sopra Steria and was formerly a research scientist at SINTEF.

Chief Financial Officer

Monica Eriksen joined Simula in 2014. She holds a master's degree in business and economics, and she is a state-authorized public accountant. Both degrees are from the Norwegian School of Management (BI).

Director of SRL Research

Joakim Sundnes joined Simula in 2001, and holds a PhD in scientific computing from the University of Oslo. Before entering his current role as Director of SRL
Research he has held numerous research and management positions at Simula, including Research Director for Scientific Computing, Assistant Director of Research, and Deputy leader of the Center for Biomedical Computing. He has also held adjunct positions at the Department of Informatics at the University of Oslo, and has been strongly involved in teaching at all levels. He is currently combining his manager role with research in scientific computing and computational physiology.

Director of the Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering

Prof. Olav Lysne has held various positions at Simula since its establishment in 2001, including Section Director for Communication Systems. Lysne currently serves as the Director of Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering (SimulaMet). He is also a Professor at the Department of Informatics at the University of Oslo. In addition to his research on resilient networks, Lysne has led two government commissions on digital vulnerability and lawful interception of internet traffic. He has also built the Center for Resilient Networks and Applications (CRNA), which is currently part of SimulaMet.  

Deputy Director of the Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering

Marianne M. Sundet has been at Simula since 2007. Before taking on the role of Deputy Director of Simula Metropolitan, Sundet held various management positions at Simula, including the Director of Administration and the Director of Simula Innovation. Sundet holds a Master of philosophy from the University of Oslo.

Director of Simula Innovation

Ottar Hovind joined Simula in 2007. Hovind holds a degree in law (cand. jur) from the University of Oslo and has a master's degree in international commercial law from the London School of Economics. Before he joined Simula Innovation as director, he was involved in different projects at Simula through his law company JusIt. Hovind has worked with the law firm Ræder Advokatfirma.

Director of Simula UiB

Carlos Cid is the director of Simula UiB. He is also adjunct professor at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Japan. Before joining Simula as director of Simula UiB in May 2022, Carlos was a professor at Royal Holloway University of London, where he spent over 18 years. He was the founding director of Royal Holloway’s Centre for Doctoral Training in Cyber Security. A mathematician by formation, Carlos is an experienced researcher and educator in cyber security, with main research interest and expertise in cryptography.

Director of Simula Consulting 

Holger Hussmann joined Simula in 2023 as director of Simula Consulting. Hussmann has a Dr. Ing. in telecommunications from Aachen University.

Director of Simula Academy

Rachel Thomas joined Simula in 2017. Thomas has a PhD in immunology from Hannover Medical School in Germany and has worked in academic publishing, as well as research administration at the University of Oslo. Before taking on the role as Director of the Simula Academy, Thomas held the position of Director of Corporate Development at Simula from 2018 - 2021.

Director of Administration

Maria Benterud has worked at Simula since 2016. As of 2018, Benterud is the Head of Administration in SRL. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from the University of Nice Sophia-Antipolis. Before joining Simula, Benterud had various administrative positions of an international character.

Research Director

Prof. Are Magnus Bruaset has been with Simula since 2003, after several years as a senior research scientist at SINTEF Applied Mathematics and as an entrepreneur in the software industry. Before his current position as Research Director for Software Engineering and High-Performance Computing, he held a number of management positions within Simula, including as director of Simula's commercial subsidiary Kalkulo until the successful acquisition by the American company Bluware. Prof. Bruaset is also an adjunct professor at the Department of Informatics at the University of Oslo and leads the national HPC research infrastructure eX3.