He was born in Bergen as a son of Ole Andor Hoel (1867–1941) and Ingeborg Astrup (1864–1950).
[1] He finished his secondary education in 1916, took the basic officer's course at the Norwegian Military Academy in 1917 before graduating from the Royal Frederick University with a cand.oecon.
He also attended Bergen Handelsgymnasium for one year, worked in Centralbanken for Norge and Freia Chocolade Fabrik between 1921 and 1924 before taking the cand.jur.
[4] Hoel was also a board member in the company from 1947 to 1970,[5] and deputy chair of Glommens og Laagens Brukseierforening from 1946 to 1966.
[1] He was the deputy chair of Landsforeningen for Elektrokjemisk og Elektrometallurgisk industri from 1956 to 1962, a supervisory council member of Forsikringsaktieselskabet Norden, Christiania Bank og Kreditkasse, Norsk Sprængstofindustri,[1] Nasjonal Pappemballasje-Industri[6] and Noratom, and a deputy council member of Norges Eksportråd from 1953 to 1965.