Helga Pedersen (Norway)

Helga Pedersen
Pedersen in 2009
Mayor of Tana Municipality
In office 10 October 2019 – 12 October 2023
Deputy	Odd Erik Solbakk
Preceded by	Frank Martin Ingilæ
Succeeded by	Jon Erland Balto
Deputy Leader of the Labour Party
In office 22 April 2007 – 18 April 2015
Leader	Jens Stoltenberg Jonas Gahr Støre
Preceded by	Hill-Marta Solberg
Succeeded by	Hadia Tajik Trond Giske
Minister of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs
In office 17 October 2005 – 2 October 2009
Prime Minister	Jens Stoltenberg
Preceded by	Svein Ludvigsen
Succeeded by	Lisbeth Berg-Hansen
County Mayor of Finnmark
In office October 2003 – 25 October 2005
Deputy	Kirsti Saxi
Preceded by	Evy-Ann Midttun
Succeeded by	Kirsti Saxi
Personal details
Born	(1973-01-13) 13 January 1973 (age 51) Sør-Varanger, Finnmark, Norway
Political party	Labour
Spouse	Erik Brenli ​ (m. 2008)​ [1]
Children	2
Alma mater	University of Tromsø University of Bergen

Helga Pedersen (born 13 January 1973) is a Norwegian politician, former Minister, and member of the Storting, who served as the deputy leader for the Labour Party from 2007 to 2015. A native of Sør-Varanger Municipality, she served between 2003 and 2005 as the County Mayor of the northernmost Finnmark county. From 2005 to 2009 she served as Minister of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs, becoming the youngest member of the Labour-led Red-Green Coalition headed by Jens Stoltenberg.

A teacher by profession, she has spent most her adult life as a career politician. In 2009 she was elected to the Norwegian parliament, the Storting for the first time, and from 2009 until the 2013 parliamentary election she served as the Labour Party's parliamentary leader. Officially registered as a member of the Sámi national minority, Pedersen was Norway's first officially Sámi cabinet minister.^[2]