Diderik Børsting Schnitler (born 1946) is a Norwegian businessperson.

He hails from Stabekk

Stabekk

Stabekk is a suburban centre in the municipality of Bærum, Norway. Mainly a residential area and have most of the conservative population in Norway the current population is 6,261....

, and in his younger days he was the treasurer and an active tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 player for Stabekk TK. He graduated from the Norwegian Institute of Technology

Norwegian Institute of Technology

The Norwegian Institute of Technology, known by its Norwegian abbrevation NTH was a science institute in Trondheim, Norway. It was established in 1910, and existed as an independent technical university for 85 years, after which it was merged into the University of Trondheim as an independent...

 with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1970. He was hired as an engineer in Jarlsø Støperi in 1974, and was chief executive from 1976 to 1983. He was the chief executive officer of Kaldnes

Kaldnes Mekaniske Verksted

Kaldnes Mekaniske Verksted was a Norwegian manufacturing company, which it best known for its shipyard.It was founded in 1899, and was engaged in shipbuilding until 1992. It continued as a truck manufacturer until 2001. The former shipyard district at Kaldnes in Tønsberg was then built up with...

 from 1983 to 1986 and EB Anker Sønnak from 1986 to 1989. In the 1980s he was a board member of Larvik Jernstøperi, Vestfold Jernlager, EB Consultants and Scanmar and chair of Sandefjord Airport

Sandefjord Airport

Sandefjord Airport, Torp is an international airport located northeast of Sandefjord, Norway and 118km south of Oslo, Norway. It serves both as regional airport for Vestfold and Telemark, and as a low-cost airport for Eastern Norway...

.

He was elected leader of the Federation of Norwegian Manufacturing Industries

Federation of Norwegian Manufacturing Industries

The Federation of Norwegian Manufacturing Industries was an employers' organisation in Norway, organized under the national Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise. On 1 January 2006 it was merged with the Federation of Norwegian Process Industries to form the Federation of Norwegian Industries.It...

 in 1989. He left that position already in October 1989. After the Norwegian parliamentary election, 1989

Norwegian parliamentary election, 1989

A general election to the Storting, the parliament of Norway, was held on 11 September 1989.-Results:1 This list was a cooperation between the Norwegian Communist Party, Workers' Communist Party, Red Electoral Alliance and independent socialists....

, Syse's Cabinet assumed office, and Schnitler was appointed State Secretary

State Secretary (Norway)

In Norway, a State Secretary is a partisan political position within the executive branch of government. Contrary to the position Secretary of State in many other countries, the Norwegian State Secretary does not head his or her Ministry, rather, they are second in rank to a Minister...

 in the Ministry of Industry. He belonged to the Centre Party

Centre Party (Norway)

The Centre Party is a centrist and agrarian political party in Norway, founded in 1920. The Centre Party's policy is not based on any of the major ideologies of the 19th and 20th century, but has a focus on maintaining decentralised economic development and political decision-making.From its...

. He lost that job in 1990 when Syse's Cabinet fell, but immediately became president of Kværner Shipbuilding and vice president of the Kværner Group

Kværner

Kværner was a Norway-based engineering and construction services company in existence between 1853 and 2005 when it was merged with Aker ASA. The Kværner name was used in the subsidiary Aker Kværner until April 3, 2008 when it changed name to Aker Solutions. Kværner re-emerged on 6...

. He also served as president of the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise

Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise

The Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise is an employers' organisation in Norway with more than 16,000 members.It was founded in 1989 as a merger of the Federation of Norwegian Industries, the Norwegian Employers' Confederation and the Federation of Norwegian Craftsmen..The president is Kristin...

 from 1994 to 1996. From 1998 to 2000 he was the CEO of Saga Petroleum

Saga Petroleum

Saga Petroleum was a Norwegian upstream petroleum company established in 1972 that was acquired by Norsk Hydro in 1999. Since October 2007 it is a part of Statoil. The company was the only fully private oil company in Norway. It had partial ownership in 60 oil field licenses and was operator of 18...

; he stepped down to become a professional board member.

Since 2002 he has chaired the board of the global shipping company Wilh. Wilhelmsen. In 2009 he became chair of Stabæk Holding.