Hans Janzon
Now Mr. Janzon lives in San Diego with his American wife Rebecca, and two daughters 17 and 18 years old, which both are studying in San Diego. He also have a 31-year-old son living in Gothenburg, Sweden.
As the President of SACC San Diego Mr. Janzon wants to focus on cleantech companies and with his engineering background he can bring a broader understanding of these concepts. He also wants to build strong connections to Sweden through his good connections with Västsvenska Handelskammaren in Gothenburg, Sweden's largest chamber of commerce. Furthermore Mr. Janzon wants to be a mentor and support for the management associates of SACC San Diego. From left: Jesper Hofstedt, Jimmie Berggren, Hicham Larhnimi, Kevin Dai Hicham Larhnimi came to San Francisco six years ago on a tennis scholarship and combined this with marketing and communication studies. He later moved to Miami were he currently serve as the Vice President and General Manager of the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce Fort Lauderdale & Palm Beach (SACC-SFL). However, after almost two years at the Chamber he is now resigning to focus on his own projects. Luckily we got a chance to meet him when he came to visit us at our office in San Diego. Together we had an interesting conversation about Florida, SACC-SFL, and his own future projects.
With a strong Swedish presence in the south Florida area, SACC Fort Lauderdale & Palm Beach serve as a center for the Swedish community with a total of 200 members. This makes them one of the biggest Swedish American Chambers of Commerce. Florida attracts many Swedish start-ups because of the great climate, low taxes and the growing start-up scene in Miami and Fort Lauderdale. All this makes the area a perfect spot for Swedish businesses. Other than start-ups SACC-SFL is focusing on the maritime industry, which has a strong foothold in Florida. This month our talented Management Associates from fall 2015 has left San Diego to go back to the winter wonderland in Sweden and the new Management Associates of spring 2016 have arrived. Now it’s time for them to take over the responsibility of the chamber and hopefully do an as awesome job as their former colleges have done.
We asked them what it was that made them apply for an internship at SACC San Diego. Filip Syta was a Management Associate at SACC San Diego during the Spring of 2011. After his internship he got a job at the software giant Google. However, after two years Syta decided to leave the corporate world to pursue his passion of writing novels, and his debut literary novel The Show tells you why. The book is a satirical, true, and unsavory tale revealing the savagery behind the glamour of Silicon Valley.
We had the pleasure to talk to Mr Syta about his debut novel and what inspired him to write the book. Read the interview below. SACC San Diego's board member Fabian Wallen, is a regular contributor in one of the largest newspapers in Sweden, Göteborgs Posten. Wallen is an economist and writer and has published reports for the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (Svenskt Näringsliv). The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise is Sweden’s largest and most influential business federation representing 49 member organizations and 60 000 member companies with over 1.6 million employees.
A couple of days ago Wallen published a report about the future trade agreement between the EU and the U.S. via the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise. It's title is "Economic Implications of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership" and you can read the report here in English (link). Also, this past Saturday (December 5, 2015) Wallen's fifth chronicle was published on Göteborgs Posten. This time he discuss how there's a growing recognition of the need for reform during a crisis. Let it be a humanitarian or financial. You can read Mr. Wallen's chronicle here. We also heard that our board member was interviewed by a Zimbabwean journal during his latest travel to the African country! Wallen sure has had his hands full this past month! Mary Walshok is an author, educator, researcher and an associate Vice Chancellor at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). She is an industrial sociologist and has published six books and over 100 articles and reports on regional innovation, the role of research institutions in regional economies and workforce development. As if this was not enough, Walshok is also an international member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA), and much more! A very impressive resume, indeed. She also happens to be part of the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce San Diego’s Advisory Board.
In October Walshok was not only invited to Stockholm to receive a gold medal from Crown Prince Daniel, but also to London’s Buckingham Palace at the invitation of Prince Andrew . Prince Andrew is patron of the Northern Ireland Science Park, where Walshok is a member. After her first two stops in Europe Walshok continued on to Muscat, Oman, where Walshok interacted with the Sultan of Oman as a member of his technology and innovation advisory board. Talk about royal treatment! Board Member Fabian Wallen's Chronicle in GP: "Could the US learn something from Sweden?"10/27/2015
SACC San Diego's board member Fabian Wallen, who is a regular contributor in one of the largest newspapers in Sweden. This month Mr. Wallen discuss how the Scandinavian welfare system has been a hot topic in the American presidential election campaign. You can read Mr. Wallen's chronicle here.
Last Saturday September 26th SACC San Diego hosted the annual Swedish Crayfish Party. Let us tell you that it was a big success! More than fifty people attended our party at the House of Sweden in Balboa Park this past sunny Saturday. We ate Swedish traditional crayfish with salads and homemade pies, drank snaps, sang Swedish traditional songs and looked very fashionable in our red-orange party hats.Thank you all for coming and making this day memorable!
A special thanks to our sponsors OrderUp, IKEA, San Pasqual Winery, Ninkasi Brewing, and IKEA. SACC San Diego's board member Fabian Wallen, a regular contributor in one of the largest newspapers in Sweden, shares his thoughts about the European humanitarian crisis and the value of helping another fellow human being. You can read Mr. Wallen's text here.
President and chairman Jimmie Berggren and Management Associates Anna Sellen and Lilav Ali was invited to WS Radio - Radio Jack a couple of weeks ago to talk about the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce. Our host, Jack Warren, asked us questions about our business, the American life and how Sweden is.
You can now find the show here. San Diego has a big Swedish Community and there are many Swedish success stories to be told. One of them is about Johan Engman, owner of four restaurants. Mr. Engman moved to San Diego with his mother as a sixteen-year-old and was working as a dish washer during his high school years. At 25 years old he had the idea to open his own restaurant, and two years later in 2008 it became reality. Mr. Engman opened his first restaurant Fig Tree Café in Pacific Beach and now there is one in Hillcrest and in Liberty Station as well. Some years later he opened his fourth restaurant, but this time under the name Breakfast Republic. SACC San Diego got the opportunity to get a word with the Swedish entrepreneur and talk about his business, San Diego and of course Sweden.
One core service of the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce in San Diego is to help our member companies find trainees and interns. During the last four years SACC San Diego has helped one of our corporate members, Anametrix, host Swedish trainees with great results.
SACC San Diego met up with this years Anametrix trainees Per an Carl to ask them some questions about their traineeship and their perspective on the American business life. This years SACC Summit will be held 1-2 October in Atlanta, Georgia. If interested in networking, connecting and share information related to trade, commerce and investments between USA and Sweden then you do not want to miss this! Make sure to like SACC Summit's Facebook page and to subscribe to to get updates.
SACC San Diego Board member Fabian Wallen, a regular contributor in one of the largest newspapers in Sweden, shares his thoughts about the structural changes happening in the transportation system in America and Sweden. You can read Mr. Wallen's text here.
SACC San Diego Board member Fabian Wallen, a regular contributor in one of the largest newspapers in Sweden, got to publish his thoughts on Swedes in America for their 4th of July issue. Read Fabian's text here
Happy 4th of July! |