Knut Arild Hareide (born 23 November 1972) is a Norwegian politician who served as a member of parliament from Hordaland and as the leader of the Christian Democratic Party from 2011 to 2019. He served as Minister of Transport and Communications from 2020 to 2021, and as Minister of the Environment from 2004 to 2005 in the second Bondevik cabinet. In 2007, he announced he would step down from the national political scene for the time being, but he returned when he was nominated as the top candidate for the Christian Democratic Party ticket in Akershus in the 2009 election where he won the county's leveling seat. After Dagfinn Høybråten stepped down as party leader, Hareide was unanimously elected to take his place at the 2011 party convention. In the 2013 election, Hareide was reelected to parliament, this time from his home county of Hordaland. Before his tenure as government minister, Hareide had sat through one term in the municipal council of his native Bømlo, served as a deputy representative to the national parliament as well as working two years as a State Secretary. He was also second deputy leader of his party from 2003 to 2007, having come through the ranks of the party's youth organization. Outside politics Hareide is an economist by education and he has worked for the media conglomerate Schibsted. Education Hareide was born in the village Rubbestadneset in Bømlo, Hordaland. He started his higher education in 1992, the same year he graduated from upper secondary school. Enrolled at the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH), he graduated in 1997 with a siv.øk. degree. During his time at NHH, he also minored in sociology (1995) at the University of Bergen. Hareide was active in student politics. His involvement included terms as a member of the student parliament at the University of Bergen, as the leader of the Student Union of the Norwegian School of Economics 1994–1995, and as a board member of the national student union 1993–1994. During the period in student politics, Hareide held a Christian democratic middle ground between radical (such as later socialist politician Aslak Sira Myhre) and conservative representatives, an experience he has described as educational. Career Hareide was active in the Youth of the Christian People's Party, being a member of the national board 1999–2001 before joining the national board of the Christian Democratic Party. He worked as a political advisor in