Asa Barsness Joins Storytel as Chief People Officer

Storytel Group has named Åsa Barsness as the Chief People and Communication Officer of the group, an executive role that has been created to align the communication and HR/People sides of the company into one structure.

As the Chief People and Communications Officer, she will be responsible for both the people and communication strategy of Storytel. Asa will be a member of the Executive Management Team and will be reporting to the CEO of Storytel, Bodil Eriksson Torp. Asa is expected to take up her role as of November 1, 2026.

Key Highlights:

• Storytel appoints Åsa Barsness as Chief People and Communications Officer
• Asa brings extensive leadership experience across media, HR and communications
• Storytel serves 2.7M+ subscribers with 1.8M+ titles in 55+ languages

At Storytel, she will put her experience to work by overseeing the newly created People and Communication department with the objective of enhancing organizational alignment while helping the Group grow.

Asa provides Storytel with an impressive portfolio of senior leadership in communications, marketing and HR within the media industry. Asa has a wealth of experience in both communications, marketing, people management and organisational change. Before joining senior positions within the media company, Asa was the Director of Communications at Sweco and the Associate Director at JKL, gaining further knowledge in corporate communications and stakeholder management.

Prior to coming on board at SVT, she worked as Vice President of Communication, Marketing and HR at TV4 Media for three years, handling both corporate communication and HR responsibilities. Previously, she was employed as the Chief Communications Officer and the Chief HR Officer at Bonnier Broadcasting. In these positions, she gained valuable experience in aligning communications with HR policies.

Later she joined SVT as their Director of Communications & HR handling communication process and people. Her task entailed tying up the company’s communication strategy to the HR agenda. This dual responsibility provided her with much experience in organizational change management, as well as increasing employee engagement and aligning leadership strategy with HR and communication strategies.

Asa later joined IBM, where she held increasingly senior Nordic and country positions such as Director of Marketing & Communications, IBM Nordic, Nordic Communications Manager, and Country Communications Manager, IBM Sweden. Internationally, she has also worked at Motorola in Chicago, where she was the Marketing Communications Manager.

This varied background provides her with a deep understanding of how communication, people management and organizational considerations can be leveraged for business success. Her experience spans marketing and communications, Human Resources, leadership development, organizational change and transformation, both in international companies and in media organizations.

Based in Stockholm, Sweden, the Storytel Group is a worldwide storytelling company with diverse activities in digital streaming and publishing. Its vision shows that the company aims to develop storytelling in terms of production, distribution, and consumption. The company’s activities are carried out via two business segments: Streaming segment and Publishing segment.

Storytel has a streaming service with a library of over 1.8 million content pieces in more than 55 languages available to over 2.7 million subscribers. Its streaming range is made available under the brands Storytel, Mofibo and Audiobooks.com and targets customers who are looking for flexible digital stories on their devices.