God Jul och Gott Nytt År!
This Christmas season I am thankful for so many things - among them, the opportunity to work with this Chamber, our member corporations, businesses, and individuals, our Board of Directors, and the gift of Gunn Johnsson, our Executive Administrator, who does a terrific job throughout the year of conducting the Chamber's day-to-day business, planning meetings and events, and connecting members and businesses.
I can't stop thinking about our 33rd Annual Lucia Luncheon. This year we had several first-time guests, sponsors, and donors, demonstrating that this event - a long tradition in our Chamber - always brings with it something new. Many of our members used the event this year as a chance to say thank you to a valued client, business partner, employee, or donor, and in the process gave them a great experience and new opportunities to connect with members of the Swedish and American business communities. This is what our Chamber is all about!
As you read this issue, you'll see that we have some terrific programming lined up for the coming year. Consider bringing members of your staff, a prospective new Chamber member, or other business associates to one of our excellent speaker events this spring.
Finally, I'd like to encourage all of you to attend our Trade Show and Annual Meeting in January, held every year at the Swedish American Museum. This show is an excellent opportunity for you to showcase your business and products to other members of the Chamber. We always have good participation, but this year, I'm hoping to see representation from a broader range of our members' business sectors.
Wishing all of you a wonderful Christmas season,
Janis Anderson Rueping
President, SACC-Chicago
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Many Thanks to our Lucia Sponsors for Your Support!
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Grand Sponsors of the Year
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Annual Lucia Luncheon - December 4
According to our traditions, the Annual Lucia Luncheon was held at the Drake Hotel the first Friday in December, this year on December 4. Two hundred and twenty guests networked, enjoyed an excellent Swedish Christmas luncheon, and were entertained by the Merula Choir with Jenny Erixon, SACC-Chicago's current intern, as Lucia.
We want to thank everyone involved in making this year's Lucia Luncheon so unforgettable! We couldn't have done it without you -
THANK YOU!!!
To view more pictures and videos from the event click
here
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Past Events
Swedish Relators Event - November 10
Margery Shinners and Donna Wilson of the Mainstreet Organization of Realtors and SACC business members asked us to help plan an event with 20 Swedish realtors coming to Chicago before continuing to the National Realtor Associations conference in San Diego.
We met on November 10 at 9 am at the National Association of Relators Headquarters, 430 N. Michigan Ave., with a light continental breakfast and brief presentations by Erik Brejla, Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity; Lili O'Day, Chair of MORe Global Committee; Catherine Terpstra, President-elect of Mainstreet; Janis A. Rueping, President of SACC Chicago and Gerd Sjögren, Honorary Consul General of Sweden. Then we toured three upscale condominiums and had lunch at Lou Malnati's, where Björn Olofsson, Trade Commissioner, Business Sweden, spoke.
The day ended with a guided Architectural and Historical Tour of Chicago led by Lena Hansson, previously with Business Sweden (then the Swedish Trade Council).
Speaker Event with Örebro Hockey, November 14
One hundred and seventy-seven guests, mostly from Örebro Hockey, gathered at the United Center on Saturday, November 14 to listen to several speakers on the topic "
Between Success and Failure."
This was the third time in as many years that Örebro Hockey organized a trip to the United States for their sponsors. Previous trips took the group to Washington, DC, and to New York.
This event was arranged by Filip Nyström, Örebro hockey, and co-sponsored by SACC-Chicago and the Swedish Consulate. Beata Krakus, chair of SACC Chicago and Jonas Almqvist, Sales Manager, Örebro Hockey, began the morning by welcoming guests and speakers. We had the opportunity to listen to engaging speakers such as Emily Berman, Interim Director of Strategic Partnership & Global Affairs, City of Chicago. She presented an overview of our city´s management, culture, business, education, and diverse population. Later, Eva Lilja, Director of Economic Growth, Örebro County, talked about business and growth in Örebro. It was interesting to compare the two cities, Chicago and Örebro.
Patrick Cotter, Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C, former Assistant US Attorney in New York, informed us about the American criminal justice system and gave us fantastic insight into the demise of the US mafia in the 80s through the John Gotti case, which he worked on.
Last speaker of the day was Ed Rensi, former CEO of McDonald's Corporation. He talked about how he worked his way up to become the CEO of McDonald's. He said you should always have a good strategy to fall back on, if you get lost. He also spoke about the impact of the franchise industry that McDonald's is built on and pointed out an important business strategy that McDonald´s has applied during its global expansion. To always have a local person in charge locally, since the locals are the ones who understand the culture of the local market.
A nice luncheon was served, guests networked before they were treated to a tour of the United Center and specifically the Blackhawks' locker room - the highlight of the day.
Each guests recieved a Blackhawks pin and puck before going home.
Swedish-American Community Program Meeting - November 18
Recently appointed, Honorary Consul General Gerd Sjögren and Vice Consul Anna Engström took the initiative and invited representatives from SACC Chicago, the Gothenburg Committee of Chicago Sister Cities International, SWEA, North Park University and former Honorary Consul General, Kerstin Lane, to a meeting to discuss upcoming programs. Björn Olofsson, Trade Commissioner, Business Sweden, was unfortunately not able attend, but was kind to let us use the Business Sweden conference room. It was great to get together and learn what each organization has planned for 2016 and also to discuss how we can work together.
Lunch Meeting with Skaraborg - November 20
A delegation of political and community leaders from the City of Lidköping and Country of Skaraborg met with SACC Chicago office. In 2006, the City of Lidköping in Sweden signed an Industrial Partnership Agreement with the City of Rockford in Illinois, with the overall purpose to serve as gateways to respective regions for local companies seeking global partners. SACC was instrumental in connecting Lidköping and Rockford, so the meeting in November was an opportunity to share projects and results that the agreement has generated. The meeting also included conversations on how the Industrial Partnership Agreement, and the SACC Chicago office can collaborate to further serve Swedish small companies looking for business opportunities in the Midwestern area.
Linnea Bengtsson
Board Director, SACC-Chicago
Glögg Tasting - December 3
The evening before our big Lucia event we met in the beautiful Palm Court Lounge at the Drake Hotel to get into the Christmas spirit. We mingled, networked and enjoyed tasteful Swedish Glögg. During the evening, we also got to be a part of Vanity Fairs charity Fashion show. Interesting twist with summer inspired cloths together with all the Christmas decorations and our glögg. A memorable night for sure!
Professional Networking Events
This monthly event, which takes place every third Wednesday, is a great way to network with members from the other European Chambers. The Networking Events takes place at the Palm Court Bar at Drake Hotel. Don't miss out on this great opportunity!
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It's time to renew your membership!
Those of you who are not yet members or have not yet renewed your SACC-Chicago membership will be entered into a drawing to win two tickets to this years Crayfish Party
if you sign up/renew by January 26
th
.
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SACC Chicago Mentorship Program
We are very happy to announce that we're planning to
revitalize
the SACC mentorship program again! It has prove
n
a great success in the past with mentor/mentee matches that have led to
significant
learning and development both for
mentors
and
the mentees who participate.
If you are interested in participating in the mentorship program, either as a mentor or mentee, or if you want to receive more information, please contact the SACC Chicago office at (312) 257-3002 or send us an
email
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Save the Dates
January 20 and February 17
Professional Networking Cocktail at The Drake Hotel
January 28
February 18
Speaker Event with Kitty Kurth, Political Strategist and present of Kurth Lampe
March 17
Speaker Event with Anders Gustafsson, CEO, Zebra Technologies
May 19
Speaker Event with Jonas Prising, CEO, Manpower Corporation
June 10
September 10
Annual Crayfish Party
October 27
Speaker Event with Bengt Kristensson Ugla, Professor at North Park University
December 2
Annual Lucia Luncheon
To read more about the upcoming events, please visit our
website
.
We hope to see you at the above events during 2016!
Gunn and Jenny
SACC-Office
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Swedish TV show looking for Americans of Swedish descent
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In need of a new Swedish Passport?
Swedish citizens can apply for passports at the Consulate General of Sweden in Chicag
o on
April 26 -
28, 2016.
Please call the Consulate General of Sweden
at (312) 781 6262 to schedule an appointment.
Warning ESTA-travelers!
Citizens from visa waiver countries [including
SWEDEN
] who have traveled to certain countries may be ineligible for visa-free travel.
The proposed legislation would disqualify anyone from the Visa Waiver Program who has traveled to Iraq, Iran, Sudan or Syria since March 2011 from entering the U.S. without a visa. These individuals would need to apply for a B visa which covers tourism or short-term business purposes.
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Meet our New Members
Corporate
Weiss-Rohling USA, LLC
Business
Mentice
Fria Bröd AB
Nels Johnson, Tree Experts
Individual
Nicklas Bylund
Young Professionals
Frida Koskell
Jacob Gustafsson
Babak Sadighi
Helena Sadighi
Carl Larsson
Nicklas Ankarstedt
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FLASH Editorial Team
Agneta Rosenberg Gunn Johnsson Jenny Erixon
VP of Communications Executive Director Executive Assistant
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