The Norwegian American Chamber of Commerce

Moods of Norway to open store in Minnesota

naccusa — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:42:09 +0000

Photo: Jørund Hessevik E24
(From left) CEO of Moods of Norway, Nils Are Karstad Lysø, founder Simen Staalnacke, Governor of Minnesota Mark Dayton and founder Stefan Dahlquist. From the Governor’s recent trip to Norway.

Moods of Norway will open their third US store in America’s biggest shopping mall, Mall of America, in Minnesota, September 5, 2013. The Norwegian clothing brand is already established in Los Angeles and New York city.

Minnesota has the largest collection of Norwegian ancestry in the United States and 900,000 residents with Norwegian heritage. That equals every sixth person in the state!

-People are very proud of their Norwegian heritage here. Just the word “Norway” will draw a lot of attention, says Governor Mark Dayton.

To read more, go to e24.no

NACC’s new President, Mr. Ole Christian Schroder

naccusa — Fri, 10 May 2013 21:00:29 +0000

NACC would like to thank the outgoing President, Blaine Collins, (right) for his excellent leadership of this organization for the past three years. NACC welcome the newly elected President, Ole Christian Schroder, and wish him great success! Read Mr. Schroder’s bio below.

Mr. Ole Christian Schroder
General Manager, Environmental Compliance

Mr. Ole Christian Schroder joined the management team of TORM after their acquisition of OMI Corporation back in 2007. At that time Mr. Schroder reported to the Board of Directors and Audit Committee of OMI Corporation for a period of four years. As General Manager of Torm’s Environmental Compliance, Mr. Schroder is responsible for implementing TORM’s comprehensive, aggressive and strategic compliance program while overseeing and enforcing environmental compliance, performance and regulatory issues pertaining to its fleet of 65 tanker vessels trading worldwide. Mr. Schroder is based in TORM’s US office in Stamford, CT.

Previously, Mr. Schroder was the co-founder, principal and partner of the international maritime consulting group, Hudson Marine Management Services specializing in crisis management, safety, emergency response and maritime security. Originally from Oslo Norway, Mr. Schroder has over 29 years of international shipping expertise. His earliest shipping experience dates back to his long family history in ship owning, crewing and ship management, at OSCO Shipping, of Oslo, Norway.

In addition to being on the Board of NACC since 1999, head of the Program Committee since 2011 and now the President of NACC, Mr. Schroder is also on the Board of Directors of North American Marine Environmental Protection Association, and has worked closely with Intertanko’s Environmental Committee since 1997.

HM Queen Sonja received the Nora Award for Women of Achievement, on April 25, 2013

naccusa — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 20:46:41 +0000

HM Queen Sonja received The NACC Nora Award for Women of Achievement at a luncheon on April 25, 2013 in New York City.
Her Majesty is the first recipient of the newly created award, an award to honor a woman who has reached extraordinary success in her chosen endeavors.

To see photos from the event, go to the photo gallery

2013 has been named the Year of Women in Norway in recognition of the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote. With this in mind, the NACC’ s board of directors has agreed to establish an award focusing on women’s achievements.

Photo: Helen Tschudi – Manahatta Images Production

StarGate received the NACC Achievement Award in New York

admin — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 17:17:22 +0000

The Norwegian record production and songwriting team StarGate have received the Norwegian‐American Chamber of Commerce Achievement Award. (Go to Photo Gallery for pictures from the event).

The Board of Directors of the Norwegian‐American Chamber of Commerce selected the Grammy Award winning music production company StarGate, consisting of Mikkel Eriksen and Tor Erik Hermansen, to receive its distinguished Achievement Award for 2012. This Award was presented to individuals whose outstanding personal accomplishments exemplify the spirit of commitment, perseverance and endeavor that sustains the strong relations between Norway and the U.S. In nominating StarGate, the Award Committee cites the extraordinary accomplishments of this remarkable Norwegian duo in an industry where few Norwegians have succeeded previously: the American music industry. Eriksen/Hermansen have had sensational international success with artists like Rihanna, Beyoncé, Katy Perry and Ne‐Yo. In fact, they have had a total of nine number one hits on Billboard Hot 100.

Their career as producers and studio owners was launched in Trondheim, Norway in 1997. They were quickly successful , particularly on the British market with more than 40 Top 10 hits in the UK. In 2005 the duo relocated to New York and soon established themselves as associates of the hottest Hip‐ Hop/R&B stars on the US market.

Musical Awards

Among StarGate’s most significant accomplishments are winning two Grammy Awards and two Spellemann Awards (in Norway). They won their first Grammy for best R&B song together with Ne‐Yo for “Miss Independent”. The second award was for their Rihanna recording “Only Girl (In the World)”. The duo has twice been named “Songwriter of the year” at the Annual ASCAP Pop Music Awards. Master Class In 2011, StarGate together with Music Export Norway presented a unique master class in New York for around 35 Norwegian artists, songwriters, producers and record label professionals at the Tish School of the Arts at NY University. It was an impressive program giving young Norwegians an opportunity to learn from leading music industry professionals and to receive direct feedback on their own music through a session in the studio StarGate shares with music mogul Jay‐Z.

The Achievement Award was presented to StarGate at a dinner on November 1. 2012 in New York City.