President's Message

July 18, 2008

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