Helga Pedersen (Norway)

Helga Pedersen
Helga Pedersen in 2009
Minister of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs
In office 2005–2009
Prime Minister	Jens Stoltenberg
Preceded by	Svein Ludvigsen
Succeeded by	Sylvia Brustad
County mayor of Finnmark
In office 2003–2005
Preceded by	Evy-Ann Midttun
Succeeded by	Kirsti Saxi
Personal details
Born	January 13, 1973 (1973-01-13) (age 44) Sør-Varanger, Norway
Political party	Labour
Spouse(s)	Erik Brenli
Children	Two daughters
Alma mater	University of Tromsø University of Bergen
Religion	Christianity

Helga Pedersen (born 13 January 1973) is a Norwegian politician, former Minister, and member of the Storting, who is currently deputy leader for the Norwegian Labour Party. A native of Sør-Varanger, 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 Sami national minority, Pedersen was Norway's first officially Sámi cabinet minister.

Helga Pedersen was born in the municipality of Sør-Varanger in Finnmark county on 13 January 1973, but was raised in the rural settlement of Vestertana in the nearby Tana municipality. Her father, Terje Pedersen (1941-) was a farmer who had built his own sheep-farm, as well as being a fisherman and a local politician. Her mother, Hjørdis Langholm (1942-), was originally from Jæren and worked as a registered nurse. She grew up with three siblings in a culturally Sámi household.

She attended elementary school as well as lower secondary school at the local settlement school in Vestertana. Later she went to Vadsø Upper Secondary school, during which time she spent a year studying at the Lycée Alain Chartier in Bayeux, France. Upon finishing high school, she enrolled in the University of Bergen graduating in 1996 with a bachelor's degree in Russian studies. After leaving Bergen she enrolled in the University of Tromsø, graduating in 1998 with a degree in History.