Viridien has appointed Henning Berg as its Chief Executive Officer, following a Board of Directors meeting convened after the company’s recent Combined General Meeting in Paris. The appointment was approved with high shareholder support, and Berg simultaneously joined the Board as a Director.
The promotion follows a deliberately short runway. Berg joined Viridien only in March 2026 as Chief Operating Officer, a three-month window in which, by all accounts, he moved quickly enough to earn the Board’s confidence for the top role.
What Berg brings to the position is a career built entirely in the energy sector, spanning over 27 years of global leadership. His most significant experience was accumulated at SLB, where he served as President and Vice President across four major global businesses. In those roles he managed multi-billion-dollar technology portfolios, led significant M&A integrations, and drove growth across Europe, Africa, Russia and the United States.
He began his career as an engineer, a foundation that has continued to shape his approach to leadership. He holds an MSc in Thermal Energy and Fluid Mechanics and a second MSc in Management for the Oil and Gas Industry, a combination that positions him as both technically grounded and commercially oriented.
Outgoing CEO Sophie Zurquiyah, who led Viridien through what she described as a pivotal rebuilding period over the past eight years, will remain as Chair of the Board, a structure designed to preserve strategic continuity while giving Berg the operational authority to take the company forward.
Berg’s own statement on appointment was notably forward-looking: accelerating innovation, deepening client partnerships, and unlocking what he called the company’s “next phase of sustainable growth and long-term value creation.”
With strong foundations, differentiated expertise and what Berg described as exceptional teams delivering meaningful value to clients worldwide, Viridien enters its next chapter under new leadership.
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