Joakim Theodor Haagaas Lystad (born 17 April 1953) is a Norwegian civil servant.

He was born in Oslo

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

 a a grandson of the mathematician Theodor Haagaas. He received his cand.agric. degree from the Norwegian College of Agriculture, and worked as a researcher at the Norwegian Institute for Water Research. From 1991 to 1995 he was a sub-director in the Ministry of the Environment

Norwegian Ministry of the Environment

The Royal Norwegian Ministry of the Environment is a Norwegian ministry established in 1972. The ministry is responsible for environmental issues in Norway. It is led by the Minister of the Environment, Erik Solheim...

, and from 1995 to 2002 he was director of planning and control at the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority

Norwegian Pollution Control Authority

The Norwegian Climate and Pollution Agency is a Norwegian government agency responsible for insuring that pollution, waste and other harmful substances don't result in health damage, inflict the well-being or hinder the production and reproduction of nature...

.

In 2002 he became the director of the State Food Authority. In 2003 it was merged into the Norwegian Food Safety Authority

Norwegian Food Safety Authority

Norwegian Food Safety Authority is a Norwegian government agency responsible for safe food and drinking water, and works within the fields of human, plant, fish and animal health as well as environmentally friendly production and ethically acceptable farming of animals and fish...

, where Lystad became the new director, building the organisation.

From 2011 he is the new director of the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Service, a position he did not originally apply for.