News

July 17, 2007

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Beaton As many of you know, I was recently elected President of the Finnish American Chamber of Commerce in New York. Although many of you know me, I realize there may be others who do not. I therefore thought it might be helpful to begin my tenure as President by telling the members and other interested persons about me and how I came to be involved in Finnish affairs.

I have lived in the New York suburbs or New York City my entire life except for seven years in Cambridge, Massachusetts attending Harvard College and Harvard Law School. While at Harvard College, I majored in Government with a focus on International Relations so, when I was looking for a law firm position, the international focus of the practice at a firm named Gilbert, Segall and Young was of particular interest to me.

At Gilbert, Segall and Young, I started working with Tom Silbiger on a growing number of Finnish clients. Within the first several months, I was assisting Tom on matters for clients such as Nokia and Marimekko with whom I have worked ever since. I have, for instance, helped companies such as Nokia and Polar Electro establish operations and do acquisitions in this country and I have worked with numerous other Finnish clients such as Alko (Altia), Kansa, Wärtsila, Rauma, Valio and Elektrobit on their contracts, corporate matters, visas and other legal issues.

I attended my first FACC meeting as Tom's substitute at the Christmas luncheon in 1978 and have been involved with the Chamber ever since. Having been Tom's colleague when he was President of the Chamber hopefully gives me a particularly good perspective on my new position.

My practice does not consist solely representing Finnish interests. I have, for instance, represented a Japanese company in the largest acquisition at the time ever done by a Japanese company outside Japan and in worldwide licensing agreements. I have also represented U.S. interests in doing transactions, other forms of contracts and other legal matters.

Gilbert, Segall and Young merged into a national law firm named Holland & Knight in 2001. Many of my new colleagues at Holland & Knight are also involved in representing non-U.S. interests, with a particularly focus on Scandinavia. Colleagues of mine serve on the boards of the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce, the Norwegian American Chamber of Commerce, the Danish American Chamber of Commerce and the American Scandinavian Foundation. As a result, we brought our Managing Partner to a series of receptions a few months ago in Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki and Copenhagen where we met with our numerous former trainees and other friends in those locations.

On the personal side, I live on the Upper East Side in Manhattan, am married and have three sons. My wife is a Ph.D. in microbiology who now teaches advanced science courses at the SUNY College of Optometry. My eldest son graduated Cornell and has a Master's Degree in Urban Planning from Harvard and now works for the New York City Department of Transportation as a planner. My middle son is entering his senior year at Duke where he has been quite busy as Sports Editor of the student newspaper. My third son is entering 10th grade at the Dalton School.

The FACC has been a useful forum for me to meet members of the Finnish community and learn more about the culture, history and activities of my clients. I think that over the years it has performed similar functions for many others. Our challenge going forward is to keep fulfilling the same mission in an increasingly diffuse world. With the help of my fellow officers and board members, our executive director and all of the members, I hope we can build upon our rich heritage.

To those of you who I already know, I look forward to getting to know you better through the FACC. To those of you who I do not yet know, I look forward to getting to know you through the FACC.

We have a number of interesting events slated for the fall and hope to see you all there.

Neal Beaton

President of Finnish American Chamber of Commerce, Inc.
New York, N.Y.
Email: neal.beaton@hklaw.com

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January 29, 2007

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE FACC NEW YORK:
LOOKING BACK AND LOOKING AHEAD

While wishing all of you a very Happy and Prosperous 2007, I would like to first look back at 2006, which was a very successful year with financial growth and excellent events. The year ended with the popular Christmas lunch held at the Scandinavia House.

Looking ahead, 2007 starts with two great events, Esa-Pekka Salonen performing together with the New York Philharmonic on February 2 at Avery Fisher Hall and then the February 6 networking event at the Nokia Flagship Store on 5 East 57th Street. On March 22, the National Meeting of the Finnish American Chambers of Commerce will be held in Washington, DC.

I wish to bring your attention to an organizational change. Maarit Bystedt will resign as Executive Director from the Finnish American Chamber of Commerce due to family reasons because of sudden illness. I want to extend a special thank you to Maarit for an excellent job and dedication to the FACC. Maarit has contributed a great deal to the good results of the FACC.

Kerstin Nordin was elected as the new Executive Director at the FACC January board meeting and we welcome Kerstin aboard and look forward to working with her. Kerstin brings 35 years of experience in tourism, marketing and association management, most recently 15 years as Marketing Manager for the Finnish Tourist Board New York.

I want to encourage all of you to stay active within the Finnish American Chamber of Commerce and contribute to future growth and success.

Ann-Christine Westerlund
President
Finnish American Chamber of Commerce, New York

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October 19, 2006

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE OCTOBER 19, 2006:

We are happy to announce that the FACC joint website is launched today at www.facc-usa.com. The website contains information of all Finnish American Chambers in the USA and in Finland, and serves as a key resource to Trans-Atlantic networking and business contacts.

The 5th Annual Nordic Open Golf tournament held on September 11, 2006, at Salem Golf Club, North Salem, NY, was a success with a record-breaking 78 golfers. During the same day a separate tennis tournament was organized at Powelton Club in Newburgh, NY. At the end of the games everyone gathered for dinner at Salem Golf Club.

I want to thank all the generous sponsors for their support. Without their participation the event would not have been possible. The platinum sponsors were Finlandia Cheese Inc, Finnair and M-real USA Corp. Gold sponsor was iittala Inc. Silver sponsors were Finnair Cargo, Nordea, SEB, Statoil and StoraEnso. Open bar sponsor was Fredericks Michael & Co. Hole sponsors were Finnish Tourist Board New York, Miller Thomson LLP, Nokia, and Plywood & Door Manufacturers Corp. The signs were generously donated by Zullo Associates. Other sponsors were Amer Sports, Cameron & Hornbostel LLP, Danisco USA Inc., FAWN, FINNCRISP, Finlandia Vodka, Handelsbanken, House of Elliott, Lumene North America LLC, Panda, Polar Electro, Statoil, VOSS and World Yacht.

The winner team was Robert Altman, Steve Daly, Kevin Mullen and Scott Stone. The business class ticket to Finland was won by Flavio Froehli of M-real USA Corp. The winner of the tennis tournament was Douglas Fried. Nordic Open was an intense and interesting event, not only by testing the skills of the players in the challenging golf course but also expanding the participants’ network and creating new contacts in our community.

I would like to remind you of our upcoming events this fall.

FACC Lecture Series will feature “Tax Tips and New Retirement” topics at Big Apple Conference Room, AXA Auditorium, 1290 Avenue of the Americas, 7th floor, New York, on November 8, 2006, at 6:30 PM.

The Annual Christmas Luncheon will be held on Thursday, November 30, 2006, at Scandinavia House at 1 PM.

We hope to see as many of you as possible at our events. Many more events are in the planning and will be announced soon. And save the date: the 6th Annual Nordic Open tournament will arranged on October 1, 2007, at Powelton Club in Newburgh, NY.

I wish you a pleasant and successful fall!
Ann-Christine Westerlund, President of FACC New York

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October 2, 2006

FACC New York Membership Drive

FACC New York announces a membership drive to its members effective today until January 31, 2006.

Those members referring new members earn points as follows:

Patron or Corporate Member: 5 points

Individual, Young Associate or Student member: 1 point

The person earning most point will be announced in our publications. The winner will receive a gift certificate for World Yacht Brunch for two.

Any questions, please contact FACC office, tel. 212-821-0225, faccnyc@verizon.net