Bondevik was born in Molde, Norway in 1947. He entered the Norwegian School of Theology in 1975, and was ordained as a pastor in the Lutheran Church of Norway in 1979.
Bondevik served as a member of Stortinget (Parliament of Norway) for the County of Møre og Romsdal from 1973-2005, representing the Christian Democratic Party
In 1983, he was appointed as Minister of Church Affairs and Education, where he would serve until 1986. In the meantime, he was appointed as Deputy Prime Minister to Prime Minister Kåre Willoch in 1985, a task that he fulfilled until 1986. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1989 until 1990. He served as party leader 1983-1985 and his party’s parliamentary leader from 1981-1983, 1986-1989, 1993-1997, and 2000-2001
Kjell Magne Bondevik was elected Prime Minister in 1997, in a coalition consisting of the Christian Democratic Party, the Centre Party and the Liberal Party.
He was appointed Prime Minister again in October 2001 heading a coalition government between the Christian Democratic Party, the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party, and he served until 2005.
After his political career, he founded The Oslo Center in 2006, where he served as President and later as Executive chair before he stepped down in 2023. He joined the Club de Madrid in 2005, ratified by the IV General Assembly.
