"It's the kind of mission you don't say no to," Vatne confessed about the proposal he received from Ode's CEO, Ola Kvalheim.
Photo: Pelagia.
"New chapter time. I started as CTO at Ode on May 1st." With those words, Frode Norman Vatne started a LinkedIn post yesterday announcing his appointment as Chief Technology Officer of the Norwegian cod farming company.
Although Ode has not issued an official statement regarding his placement in office, shortly after Vatne's announcement, its CEO, Ola Kvalheim, shared the news on his own profile, welcoming him to the team.
With extensive experience leading the IT departments of companies such as Aibel, a leading provider of EPCI services, and GMC Maritime, a maritime services supplier, Vatne's most recent position before joining Ode was CIO at Pelagia, where he worked for nearly nine and a half years.
As he explains on his LinkedIn profile, during that time he led the company's digital transformation, taking full responsibility for the digital strategy and implementation across ERP, data platforms, cloud, automation, and operational models.
"When I joined, Pelagia was a 5 billion NOK business. Today, we've crossed 15 billion — expanded into new markets, built new capabilities, and grown into something I'm genuinely proud to have been part of," he wrote in his farewell post to his former position.
The executive, who claims that his core strength lies in bridging business, technology, and economics — translating complex IT landscapes into measurable improvements in efficiency, cost control, and decision-making, now arrives at Ode with a very specific mission.
"When Ola Kvalheim reached out, the pitch was clear: Ode wants to be the first mover on AI, digitalisation, and robotics in seafood — and turn that into a real competitive advantage," Frode Norman Vatne relayed.
"My mandate is simple to state, hard to deliver: make Ode the most advanced seafood company in the world on AI, digitalisation, and robotics. It's the kind of mission you don't say no to," he continued.
"I genuinely believe AI and robotics together are going to change this industry fundamentally over the next few years — not as a buzzword, but in how seafood is actually produced, day to day. We're at the point where the technology is finally ready, and Ode has the ambition to let it loose and see what it can really do," Vatne added.
The cod farming company's new CTO ended his announcement by thanking the CEO and Ode's team for their confidence in him. "I can't wait to get going, and I'll be sharing the journey along the way," he concluded.
As mentioned above, Ode CEO Ola Kvalheim also used LinkedIn to welcome the company's new hire. "Very happy to get Frode Norman Vatne on board at Ode as our new CTO," he said on his personal profile on the professional networking site. He then expressed his complete alignment with the new Chief Technology Officer's vision for the mission of the cod farming company.
"From our very first conversations, it was clear that we share the same ambition: to push seafood production forward through AI, robotics, and digitalisation. I strongly believe these innovations will fundamentally change the industry in the years ahead, and Ode intends to be at the forefront of that development. Welcome to the team, Frode. Exciting times ahead," Kvalheim wrote.
As Ode's CEO explained some time ago in an interview with WeAreAquaculture, the Norwegian company is determined to create a new culture around farmed cod. To this end, in recent years the company has recruited executives from diverse sectors.
"People who dare to create and lead, not just manage," Kvalheim said a few months ago, speaking about a management team that, he added, faces "situations where independent thinking, creativity, and new solutions are required"—a profile that Frode Norman Vatne seems to fit.
Ode, which has started 2026 with the acquisition of three more sites in Vestland and a juvenile cod producer in Møre og Romsdal, as well as increasing its investment in submersible cages designed for deep-farming operations, closed 2025 as Norway's largest single supplier of cod. With annual volume growth exceeding 110%, the milestone went beyond the annual figure, as it was the first time a cod farming company achieved such a position.