Cecilie Gudesen Torp

Cecilie is a city-girl, and the whole family likes to travel. This is a family portrait from Paris.

Managing Director for DNV Product Assurance AS

I am a “city girl” and love to meet friends for coffee, dinner, shopping or strolling around. I am 46 years old and live in Oslo with my husband and 2 children, 11 and 15 years old. In our free time, we also like to spend time visiting our cabin in the mountains where we enjoy outdoor activities. In the summer, we like boating and to visit Fredrikstad, where both me and my husband are from, to meet family and relax by the sea.

In our family, we like to travel. During 2012 to 2015 we lived in Busan, South Korea, where my husband was the regional manager for Korea and Japan in DNV Oil and Gas. I worked with the certification of medical equipment for DNV Business Assurance. That was an amazing time. To live and work abroad, connecting with new friends and travelling in Korea and Southeast Asia. Personally, this experience has been important and taught me a lot about intercultural relations and different ways of living and working.

PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE AND WORK EXPERIENCE

I have always been enthusiastic about technology and started out by taking a Cand Scient/M. Sc. in Physics at the University of Oslo. During the last part of my studies, I also got very interested in Medicine and studied additional topics within biology. This combination got me into my first job at Ullevål University hospital, with a strong and interesting environment for medical device technology. We worked with the early stages of digital x-ray technology and image quality optimization. After this, I joined the Norwegian radiation authority (Statens Strålevern) where I focused on radiation safety related to Computed Tomography (CT) scanning. When DNV had an opening in Product Assurance CE-marking Medical devices, I tought it was a good opportunity to look at the technology from a different angle and to work with manufacturers. In 2001, I joined DNV and the job turned out to be the most interesting journey I could imagine. I have now worked in DNV with CE-marking of Medical devices for 20 years. I have had many different roles and been a part of the development of the service and global network in DNV. It has never been a boring day, always a new customer, people, technology, interpretations and discussions.

MY ROLE TODAY

Since 2019, I have held the role of Managing Director for DNV Product Assurance AS. My main responsibility is to head the Notified Bodies that DNV has in Norway, also being responsible for our accreditations. I work very closely with Bjørn Spongsveen, who is responsible for the Industrial Noti-

fied Body services, while I keep my attention on the Medical devices’ services. Since I joined DNV, there have been many initiatives around growing the Product Assurance business. DNV has historically been a Notified Body for CE marking of products since the mid 90’s. In 2012, DNV formed a joint venture with Nemko for Product assurance services. The initiative was a result of development in the markets and the expectations on growth. During the 6 years of this joint Venture, we grew our business both organically and inorganically. In 2018 DNV decided to further invest and bought the shares from Nemko, becoming the full owners of DNV Presafe AS, today DNV Product Assurance AS. DNV has built a global function and deliver our product assurance services through DNVs global network. We have a lot of different competencies working within this field, from all types of engineers to medical doctors and nurses. Our main markets are India, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Europe, North and South Americas. We are also looking into new and exciting markets in Australia and Malaysia. It is important to ensure growth, quality and trust, in all our markets, always focused on our customers.

MAIN MOTIVATIONS AT WORK

Working with product safety has motivated me since I started my career. I think we in DNV play a very important role in the society assuring that medical products are safe. Today, with a global population that is growing bigger and older, health technology is key. Especially during this pandemic, we have all got a reminder how vulnerable we are, and dependent we all are on access to safe medical devices and medicines.

There are so many talented people in DNV and it is amazing how you can always find experts in all types of technology areas. This is a great asset in our organization for the teams working with medical devices and technologies that spans from simple face masks to x-ray machines, surgical robots or implants made of advanced materials. This means that we must put together broad teams containing both engineers, auditors, and clinicians. I feel honored to work with customers who are leading manufacturers, big and small. I get my energy from meeting with customers and understand their needs, learn about their products and technologies and to certify their products.

In DNV, I was introduced to “never compromise on quality and integrity”. This has been, is and is will be my key values and I believe this is like a compass guiding to the right decisions. •

I think we in DNV play a very important role in the society assuring that medical products are safe. Today, with a global population that is growing bigger and older, health technology is key.

Cross contry skiing is a must during wintertime in Norway.

Testing new technology is one of Cecilies favorite things to do.