Announcing 13 New Members to SACCNY’s Board of Directors | Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce in New York

On March 26, 2020, SACCNY’s esteemed Board of Directors ratified the decision of more than ten new Board Members, many of which are representatives for SACCNY’s core membership. In recognition of their achievements and expertise within their field, the newly elected Board Directors bring both their broad experience in international business as well as their unparalleled network. SACCNY invites you to get familiar with our new Board Members below. The full list of SACCNY’s Board of Directors is available to view on our website.

Jason W. Rekate
Global Head of Corporate Banking, CitiBank Inc.

Jason Rekate is Global Head of Corporate Banking. In this role, Mr. Rekate manages all aspects of Citi’s leading Corporate Bank, which provides the highest quality corporate banking solutions to the world’s most important corporates, financial institutions and governments. Mr. Rekate has worked in Citi since 2002 with previous coverage banking roles in New York, Paris, Zurich, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Japan. Mr. Rekate graduated from Wesleyan University with B.A. in English Literature & Spanish and earned a master’s of International Affairs from Columbia University’s School of International & Public Affairs and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Isabelle Cassel
Head of Corporates and Institutions, Sweden, Nordea

Isabelle Cassel joined Nordea in 2017 and holds the position as Head of Corporates and Institutions, Sweden. Ms. Cassel has more than twenty years of experience in the financial sector. Previous professional roles include Global Head of Large Corporates Coverage, Large Corporates & Financial Institutions, SEB; Senior Banker, Merchant Banking, SEB; Head of SEB Way, Group Staff, SEB; and Head of Mixed Industries Group, Client Relationship Management, Merchant Banking, SEB.

Sean Holt
President, Americas, Sanvik Coromant

Sean Holt has more than 25 years of engineering, business development, sales and executive management experience. Joining Sandvik Coromant in 2000 as a sales engineer, he built his career as an Application Development Specialist, Aerospace Manager and Vice President of Engineering. As President of Sandvik Coromant, he is responsible for the sales areas in both North and South America. His international business experience provides a critical foundation in an era where manufacturing and production transcends geographical borders. Focused on improving the customer experience, Mr. Holt actively works to deliver high-value solutions to customers, drives digitalization and supports the future of manufacturing.

Martin Blåvarg
General Manager, New York, Handelsbanken

Martin Blåvarg has worked for Handelsbanken since 2007. He started as General Manager for the New York Branch in September 2019, after spending four years as Group Controller for the Bank, where he was responsible for the financial steering of the bank, including capital allocation, internal rate setting and cost allocation. Mr. Blåvarg has had a number of Board memberships during his career, more recently for Swedish House of Finance, the Foundation for Financial Research, Handelsbanken Finans AB, and earlier for the Swedish Deposit Guarantee Board and the Institute for Growth Policy Studies. Mr. Blåvarg has a Master of Economics from the Stockholm School of Economics, and a Master of Law from Stockholm University.

Mattias Gunnarsson
Partner, Transaction Services, PwC

Mattias Gunnarsson leads PwC’s U.S. Southwest Market Financial Due Diligence and Private Equity practices. He specializes in providing transaction advice to strategic and private equity clients and has extensive experience leading large complex U.S. and multinational due diligence engagements. Mr. Gunnarsson spent several years in audit practice before joining the PwC Deals Team. Prior to relocating to the Los Angeles practice in 2006, Mattias was based in Boston, MA, and Stockholm, Sweden. Mr. Gunnarsson is a graduate of Gothenburg University, is a California CPA and was formerly an Authorized public Accountant in Sweden.

Jonas Pettersson
President & Regional Sales Director, Americas, Stora Enso North American Sales

Jonas Pettersson is President and Regional Sales Director Americas at Stora Enso North American Sales. Mr. Pettersson has been with Stora Enso for more than twenty-one years in both Scandinavia and the U.S. He began his career with Stora Enso in Finland as a Customer Service Manager and relocating to Miami, Florida in 2001 as a Sales Director, returning to the Nordics to hold management positions in Finland and Sweden in 2008 and back to the U.S. 2018 as the President and Regional Head for Stora Enso Packaging Materials in the Americas. Mr. Pettersson holds a master’s in economics and Business Administration from Åbo Akademi.

Aaron Prato
Vice President, Atlas Copco North America

Aaron Prato has been appointed Vice President Holding, Atlas Copco North America, effective April 1, 2020. Mr. Prato has close to fifteen years of experience within the Atlas Copco Group and is currently the Holding controller in AC North America Holding. A professional leader spending more than 19 years refining his skills, Mr. Prato keeps a customer-centric mind, a lean concept, and a clean balance sheet. Outside of the Group, Mr. Prato served as the CFO for Center Rock Inc. in the U.S. between 2016 and 2018. Mr. Prato holds a Business Administration degree from the State University of New York.

Robert “Bob” Thomas
SVP of Corporate and Governmental Affairs, Elekta

Robert “Bob” Thomas is Elekta’s Senior Vice President of Corporate and Government Affairs. In this role, Mr. Thomas creates, builds and leads a formal Public Policy team in Washington, D.C. In addition, he is responsible for representing Elekta’s interests on important healthcare policy issues concerning the treatment of cancer. His areas of expertise include legislative affairs, business development, customer engagement, coalition management, and corporate affairs. Mr. Thomas currently serves on the nonprofit boards for ASRT Foundation, Rise Foundation, and the Paul Rabil Foundation.

Adam Kostyál
SVP Global Corporate Client Group & Head of European Listings, Nasdaq OMX

Adam Kostyál is the Senior Vice President of the Global Corporate Client Group and Head of European Listings for NASDAQ OMX. Besides the Nordic Exchanges, NASDAQ has more than 120 companies that are either primarily listed or dual listed on NASDAQ in the USA. Most recently, NASDAQ has launched the NASDAQ Private Market which will be an offering for private issuers world-wide. Mr. Kostyál has been with NASDAQ OMX for the past 12 years. Prior to NASDAQ OMX, Mr. Kostyál held various positions with Enron, Cell Network and Bloomberg.

Anders Gustafsson
Head of Volvo Car Group Americas, President & CEO, Volvo Car USA LLC

Anders Gustafsson is the Head of the Volvo Car Group within the Americas Region, and President and CEO of Volvo Car USA LLC. Holding both roles since 2017, Mr. Gustafsson’s area of responsibility spans more than 20 countries. With a deep knowledge of the strengths and efficiencies of a holistic value chain, Mr. Gustafsson is skilled in his ability to capture value throughout the entire ownership cycle. He is also a relentless advocate for driving unparalleled customer experience and believes it will be the factor that paves the path for Volvo Cars’ future success. Throughout his career, Mr. Gustafsson has successfully spearheaded and executed multiple industry-wide transformation initiatives, with Carsharing Mobility as one of many examples of a pioneered, consumer-centric service.

John Nevado
Senior Advisor, Align17

John Nevado is an Advisor at Align 17, since January 2019. Align 17 is a private digital marketplace that seeks to systematically reduce key frictions faced by private wealth looking to deploy capital into investments addressing the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Before joining Align 17, Mr. Nevado worked for CDI Global M&A as an Advisor. Since 2000, Mr. Nevado has also been the President of Nevado Roses. He also founded I Love Roses and is still the company’s President. Mr. Nevado is on the board of multiple companies, including Madoo Conservancy, Sonanz, C/O Hotel, and Charity Star. Mr. Nevado graduated from The Johns Hopkins University, as well as Yale University and Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Pär-Jörgen Pärson
General Partner, Northzone

Pär-Jörgen Pärson is the General Partner at Northzone. With more than 20 years of VC experience, Mr. Pärson has gained a strong relationship to some of the greatest entrepreneurs coming out of Europe and as of lately also in New York. In November 2018, Mr. Pärson ranked no. 2 on the Forbes European Midas List. He was also on the global Forbes Midas List for 2019. In 2013 and 2018, Pär-Jörgen was awarded “Investor of the Year” award at the InvestorAllstars gala in London. Mr. Pärson is particularly focused on early-stage consumer-oriented technology startups.

Niclas Holmberg
Managing Director, Global Listing Services, Nasdaq Sweden

Niclas is the Managing Director – Global Listing Services at NASDAQ in Stockholm, Sweden. Niclas is responsible for listings in Sweden on the Main List and First North. He previously served as Vice President and held several senior positions in Capital Markets, Asset Management and International within the banking sector. Niclas has studied economics at Stockholm University, University of the West Indies and Wharton University of Pennsylvania. During his time in the West Indies he served as national team coach in table tennis for Trinidad and Tobago.

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