Leadership

Hans served on the Board from 2008 – 2017 as Trustee and has also served as Treasurer. He is the Finance Director for the 737MAX and 787-10 Airplane Development programs. He is a Boeing executive focal to the University of Washington Business School and serves as a Board member on the UW Global Business Advisory Board. Hans is a graduate of the University of Washington with a Master of Business Administration with specialization in Finance and Management. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Economics. Hans was born and raised in Norway and came to the US in 1984 to study Business and Economics at the University of Washington. He is married to Kris and has 2 sons, Anders and Lars. Other interests include fishing and golf. He became the Nordic Museum Board Vice President since 2019 and was elected President in 2022.

Jay Bruns is Senior Climate Policy Advisor to the Washington State Insurance Commissioner. In this role, he advises Commissioner Kreidler on strategies to encourage the insurance industry to take actions that address climate change. Previously, Jay was Senior Advisor for Private Sector Engagement at the United Nations Environment Program. In this role, he worked with UN Environment Executive Director Erik Solheim and his team to partner with leading U.S. and Canadian businesses to advance the UN’s environmental agenda. Before that, Jay was Vice President for Public Policy at The Hartford, one of the largest and oldest insurance companies in the U.S. He led the company’s environmental stewardship efforts and worked on insurance-related issues at the federal and state levels. Earlier, Jay had a 25-year career as a Foreign Service Officer in the U.S. Department of State, rising to the Senior Foreign Service. He represented the United States in Norway (as acting ambassador), Germany, Japan, Trinidad and Tobago and Canada (as Consul General in British Columbia and Yukon Territory), and participated in negotiations and managed policy issues in the State Department, Office of U.S. Trade Representative and the National Security Council at the White House. Jay holds a B.A. in international relations from Colorado College and an M.A. in international affairs from George Washington University. He also studied at the National War College and the University of Copenhagen. He speaks Norwegian, Danish and German, as well as some Japanese.

Initially Elected: 2015

Earl Ecklund is of Swedish and Finish descent and is a longtime Ballard resident. Earl is a graduate of Pacific Lutheran University, holds a Ph.D. from Washington State University in Mathematics, and has served as an Associate Professor at universities in Oregon and Illinois, as well as the University of Oslo. He has served as Principal Consultant at Objective Technology Group and as Principal Scientist at Tektronix. Earl’s family recently sold the Lockhaven apartment complex here in Ballard to John Goodman. Earl lives with Denise in Ballard.

Initially Elected: 2020

After graduating from law school Monica joined PriceWaterhouseCoopers in New York City, where she advised multinationals on their tax structure, she then spent a few years with Kaye Scholer, also in New York City, while pursuing her LL.M in Taxation at NYU before moving west to finish her LL.M at UW. Upon completing of her LL.M, Monica joined Miller Nash, a premier northwest law firm, where she practiced in the area of corporate law, international, federal, state and local tax law as well as provided guidance to numerous tax-exempt and for-profit organizations. Prior to forming her own firm in 2013, she was a partner at Garvey Schubert Barer, an international law firm, headquartered in Seattle, Washington. At Garvey Schubert Barer, Monica honed her corporate counsel skills as well as expanded her knowledge of all areas of the tax law. Langfeldt Law, PLLC assists clients with corporate as well as tax counsel, with a special talent for solving international tax issues, all with a personal touch. Monica grew up in Norway and speaks fluent Norwegian and is active in the local Norwegian community in Seattle. She is also an Adjunct Professor at Seattle University School of Law, where she teaches international tax law. In her spare time, she tries to fit in as much hiking, running, skiing, snowboarding and cooking as she can manage, all to the delight of her husband and four-legged companions Scout and Indie.

Electa Johnson Anderson has significant professional and volunteer experience in fundraising, advocacy, and corporate relationships. In addition to her extensive volunteer experience, Electa ran her own philanthropy/corporate partnerships consultant business for over ten years and served as the Executive Director of Friends of the Missions in San Juan Capistrano. Since her husband’s death from Alzheimer’s disease, she devotes much of her time to raising awareness and funds for the Alzheimer’s Association. Electa is a member of the Washington Women's Foundation, Junior League of Seattle, and the Rainier Club. She currently serves on the Chapter Relations, Development and Diversity & Inclusion committees of the Alzheimer’s Association National Board of Directors. Electa is of Norwegian descent.

Anne-Lise Berger was born and raised in Sandvika, Norway. She attended a Secretarial College in Oslo, and spent the next 7 years traveling around the world, living and working in many different countries, before coming to Seattle in 1977. Anne-Lise sold real estate in Seattle for many years before purchasing Scandinavian Specialties in Ballard. She is a member and past president of Norwegian Chamber of Commerce and Norwegian Commercial Club, and a past board member at Norse Home, and a member of Sons of Norway.

Laurie Black graduated from the University of Washington and completed three post-graduate programs in communications, career counseling, and fundraising management. She enjoyed a 30-year career in the life and health insurance industry as a senior operations executive, working at Safeco locally and nation-wide companies headquartered in the Midwest and East. During the latter part of her career, she moved into the nonprofit sector, obtaining large-scale federal and state grants and directing funded programs for workforce development and employment. In retirement, Laurie has been active as a volunteer, donor, or board member for community organizations such as the Washington Women’s Foundation, the Washington Athletic Club, ISB, the Alzheimer’s Association, and the National Nordic Museum. In addition to community involvement, Laurie enjoys time with family and pursuing her other interests, including travel, collage, gardening, and genealogy, and is currently starting Tai Chi.

Jann Blackbourn has over 30 years of advertising, marketing and business management experience. While serving as President and CEO of Washington Transit Advertising she and her business partner owned and operated the largest woman owned media company in Washington State. Her corporate office was in Seattle with satellite offices throughout the state. Their company handled transit advertising for 13 transit agencies throughout Washington as well as for private entities such as Grayline Tours and Washington Outdoor walls.

Ray was born in the Scandinavian community of Stanwood, WA to a Norwegian mother and a Swedish father. He graduated from Western Washington University with a degree in accounting before starting his professional involvement with companies in a number of industries including senior housing, the Washington wine industry, horticulture and real estate. He was co-founder, Executive Vice President of Finance, Vice Chairman and Board member of Emeritus Senior Living, which started with one senior housing community is Seattle and grew to become on the of largest providors of senior housing in the US. He holds a CPA certificate State of Washington. Ray is a life-long member of Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in Stanwood, the oldest Lutheran church west of the Mississippi, founded by Norwegian immigrants in 1876. Ray has served on boards of public companies and is currently a member of the Advisor Board of the Department of Scandinavian Studies at the University of Washington.

Ewaldsson spent nearly 30 years at Ericsson, where he most recently served as a senior adviser to the company’s CEO, Börje Ekholm. Prior to that, Ewaldsson held various senior leadership roles, including senior vice president and head of business area digital services, senior vice president and chief strategy and technology officer, head of group function strategy and technology, and head of product area radio. Ewaldsson has been a Director of ASSA ABLOY AB since 2016. He serves as Board member of Lund University, the Ericsson-LG Board in Korea and Telecom Management Forum. He was a Member of the European Cloud Partnership Steering Board. He is the Chairman of KTH Royal Institute of Technology. He held various telecom advisory assignments within EU and member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA). He is involved in the European strategic work regarding ICT and the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities (EIP SCC) headed by the European Commission in Brussels. Mr. Ewaldsson holds MSc in Engineering and Business Management from Linköping Institute of Technology in Sweden. He has served on the Nordic Museum board since May, 2019.

Dr. Anne-Charlotte (Lotta) Gavel Adams has lived in the Seattle area for the past 30 years, and has been involved with the Museum off and on since its inception. She is a member of the Museum’s President's Club, and served on the Board from 2008 – 2017. She was also on the Board of Trustees in the 1990’s, and served on the Museum’s long-range planning committee. Lotta recently retired as Professor of Scandinavian Studies at the UW. She has given a number of lectures at the Museum in her field of expertise: Scandinavian drama (August Strindberg's Mother Love), Scandinavian art (The Golden Age of Scandinavian Painting; Bruno Liljeforss), Scandinavian women writers (Selma Lagerlöf) and Scandinavian Children's literature (The Moomin Trolls). In 2002, she was nominated for a Distinguished Teaching Award at the UW. In 2002, the Swedish Institute named the Swedish Program at the UW the Best Swedish Program in the World outside of Sweden. Lotta is a dual citizen of the US and Sweden.

Initially Elected: November 2016

Mike Hlastala has Icelandic roots and is the Managing Director at CBRE, whose team manages Microsoft real estate across the United States and Canada. Previously, Mike was the Managing Director of Project Management for CBRE in the west region. Mike also led the project management team on the Microsoft account, where his team delivered projects in Puget Sound and the North American Field Sites for a portfolio of campus and high-rise properties. Mike is a Guest lecturer at University of Washington undergraduate program in Building Construction.

Jane Klausen is Danish and has been active in the Danish Community in Seattle for over 20 years. Jane has served as President for the Danish Club and currently as Treasurer. She is the marketing director for a Seattle-based cloud and IT infrastructure provider.

Elected: 2021

Terje Leiren was born in Stamneshella, Norway. He was the third of five children of Anna and Haakon Leiren who, in 1949, made the decision to leave Norway and emigrate to Alberta, Canada, where Haakon had two uncles. Wanderlust and work saw the family, subsequently, move to Vancouver, BC for three years before emigrating to the United States in 1959, where they settled in Los Angeles County. After graduating from high school, Terje’s university studies took him from California to Texas and eventually back to Norway and the University of Oslo where he taught courses on American history while writing his Ph.D. doctoral dissertation on the history of the modern Norwegian monarchy. In 1977, he joined the faculty of the Department of Scandinavian Studies at the University of Washington, Seattle. He reached the rank of full professor and was chosen to hold the prestigious Sverre Arestad Endowed Chair in Norwegian Studies. He was appointment Chair of the Department of Scandinavian Studies in 1995, a position he held until 2010. In 1996, he was knighted by His Majesty King Harald V of Norway, becoming a member of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit (Den Kongelige Norske Fortjenstorden). Leiren has written and edited four books, the most recent being an expanded edition of the Historical Dictionary of Norway, published by Rowman and Littlefield in 2019. He also served as co-General Editor of the University of Washington Press book series, New Directions in Scandinavian Studies, which during his tenure, published eleven books on the history and culture of Scandinavia. He continues to teach part-time at the University of Washington. Terje married Ingunn Bøhaug in 1967. They have two sons, Eliot and Haakon, and four grandchildren. Ingunn, a former financial analyst, is the owner of Leiren & Associates Mortgage Brokers, located in Kirkland, Washington. Born and raised on the western Norwegian island of Fedje, northwest of Bergen, Ingunn emigrated to the US in 1965. Professor Leiren is a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Nordic Museum in Seattle and the Norwegian American Historical Association of Northfield, Minnesota. He has been a member of several Norwegian-American organizations in Seattle, including the Leif Erikson Lodge Sons of Norway and the Norwegian Commercial Club where he also served as president. While continuing his scholarly writing and teaching, Terje also remains engaged as a regular lecturer and tour leader for the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC, and the University of Washington Alumni Association.

Outi Mäkiniemi was born and raised in Finland, the happiest country on earth. She currently works at Microsoft as a Business Planner in Microsoft Business Applications.

Prior to moving to USA in 2016, Outi was with Nokia for 13 years as a Communications Manager, and last five years prior relocating she worked as a Marketing and Communications Manager in the Association of Finnish Accounting Firms. She holds a master’s degree in Economics and Business Administration from Turku School of Economics. She is a mother of three children, who all have now settled into college life in Pacific Northwest.

Outi has been a board member of Finlandia Foundation Seattle Chapter since 2018 and in that role, she has organized several events for the Finnish community. Outi embraces the Nordic values of equality, innovation, sisu, and sustainability.

Elected: 2016

Kurt Manchester is a Ballard resident of Norwegian descent and a longtime Museum supporter and former Vice President at Bardahl (from 1980 – 2009). He was President of Norwegian Commercial Club in 2010 and Vice President in 2009. Other affiliations include Ballard District Council, Ballard Chamber of Commerce, and General Biodiesel.

Jens has a passion for entrepreneurship, innovation investing, and a world where social and economic progress are available to all. He is the founder of NewImpact, a humanity benefit non-profit that seeks to utilize a data-driven “tri-sector” approach to align the resources available in the private, social, and public sectors to generate superior societal and financial outcomes than would be possible if organizations were restricted to the resources within their sector alone. Jens first learned of potential for tri-sector solutions when he founded Coinstar in 1990, with the goal of creating a company that could simultaneously benefit the private, public, and non-profit sectors. Coinstar pioneered self-service coin counting kiosks to provide consumers a convenient means to convert loose coins into cash. In addition to counting change, Coinstar kiosks accept donations for charitable organizations including UNICEF, The Red Cross, and WWF. Coinstar also worked collaboratively with the Fed, US Mint, and Royal UK Mint. The company has processed over $60bb, raised $100mm for non-profits, and save the US government billions in reduced costs. Jens holds an M.B.A. from Stanford University and a B.A. from Yale University. A native of Seattle, Jens is an avid hiker, back country skier, and enthusiast of landscape architecture.

David Nelson is a Director/Consultant at Michels Utility Services, a nationwide underground Utility construction company. He owned his own pipeline construction company for many years and is still very active in the construction industry, serving on several nationwide boards of trust that serve the industry. His family heritage is Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Sami. Dave and his parents were all born and raised in Ballard. He graduated from Ballard High and the University of Washington School of Business Administration. He has many close relations in the Nordic Countries and visits with them often.

Elected: 2016

Kurt Ness is Director of Sales and Marketing and Co-Owner of Integrated Marine Systems, Inc. (IMS), located in Mukilteo, WA. The company specializes in designing and manufacturing marine refrigeration equipment for commercial fishing vessels and shore side processing facilities. Prior to his involvement with IMS, Kurt was the Captain of Oregon State University Men’s Soccer Team, where he graduated with honors and was selected to both the PAC-10 All-Academic and All-Athletic teams from 2000-03. He was also awarded the Student Athlete Glenn Klein Community Service Award by the OSU Athletic Department. Kurt later completed his Master’s degree at Seattle University before serving as European Sales Director for a local marine electronics company. Kurt comes from a Norwegian fishing family and from an early age proudly immersed himself in his family’s Nordic heritage; he continues to look for ways in which he can honor this community through education, service and cultural outreach. He has served on several boards including the Norwegian American Chamber of Commerce and Pacific Fishermen Shipyard. Kurt resides in Woodway, WA with his lovely wife and three wonderful children.

Elected: 2021

Per has had a long and successful career in small, midsize, and large multinational high-tech corporations such as Carmen Systems, Jeppesen, The Boeing Company and Anuvu. He is currently the CEO of Ovzon, a world leader in revolutionizing mobile broadband via satellites. Per is passion is building high performing cultures and through many years of leadership ranging from small to large organizations, Per uses the ‘culture’ of fika as one of his key leadership models to bring people, networked organizations, and teams together - the connected organization. He calls it the Nordic leadership philosophy of driving performance by implementing the connected and networked organization. Per hopes to bring Nordic history, culture, music together with people, companies, and organizations at the National Nordic Museum. He wishes to help maintain the National Nordic Museum's heritage of creating a strong, multigenerational meeting point alongside preserving and developing its culture, business, and a place for connecting people, stories, experiences, and ideas. Per was born in Karlstad, Värmland, Sweden and has lived in Göteborg, Sweden and in Seattle and Washington DC in the US. His ancestors hail from Stockholm, Upsala and Brunskog. Per, together with his partner Ulrika, moved with their daughters Hanna and Karolina to Seattle almost 15 years ago.

Aaron Overland works as a commercial fishing broker for Dock Street Brokers in Ballard. Overland has worked alongside the fisheries for over a decade, previously as a commercial banker. His family connection to Ballard goes back to his grandparents. His grandfather was the head pastor of a predominantly Norwegian church on Phinney Ridge that served many members of the Ballard community. All of Overland’s family lineage can be traced back to Norway. He makes his home here in Ballard.

A native of Finland, Tuula Rytilä is the Corporate Vice President for Microsoft Digital Stores where she leads Microsoft’s digital storefronts, including Microsoft.com and Microsoft Store on Windows and Xbox. With a Microsoft Digital Store presence in more than 190 countries, Tuula embraces a customer obsessed mindset and works across Microsoft to optimize the customer learning and buying journey.

Prior to Microsoft, Tuula was with Nokia since 1999 and was named CMO in 2012. She began her career as an economist with the Bank of Finland, and worked in small international companies in Russia and Germany before moving with her family to Malaysia to work with the Finnish Embassy. She holds a master’s degree in economics from the Helsinki School of Economics.

Johan Erik Strand was born and raised in Björklinge, a small town located 100 kilometers north of Stockholm, Sweden. He served in the Swedish marines in Stockholm’s archipelago at Waxholms Coastal Artillery Regiment, prior to attending university at Uppsala University where he studied business. Following university, Johan worked at Swedbank Robur; the asset management arm of Swedbank—one of the largest banks in Sweden. Robur launched the first mutual fund in Sweden and manages money for one out of every third person in Sweden. While working at Robur he pursued his MBA at Edinburgh Business School. He is presently working on creating an investment vehicle which will invest capital raised in Sweden into US companies.

Johan is passionate about infusing Nordic values into American companies, and his work has taken him all over the world. After living together with his with wife Jordan Selig in Stockholm for about a year, they decided to move back to Jordan’s hometown, Seattle. Johan and Jordan both love that the Pacific Northwest both feel very much at home here.

Henrik Strabo was born and raised in Denmark. He moved to the US in 1979 and graduated from UW in 1983 with a degree in business. Since then, he lived in San Francisco, New York, and Austin, before moving back to Seattle in 2012. He works in the investment business, investing in public companies. He, his wife, and two children spend much time in Denmark.

Heli Suokko was born and raised in Elimäki, Finland and graduated from Tampere Business College before moving to Seattle in 1992. She was a co-founder, Vice President for Sales and Marketing of  Travel Time travel agency, with offices in Maple Valley and Bellevue. Currently she works as General Manager at Block 41, which is an event venue in downtown Seattle. She has served as secretary at the Finnish American Chamber of Commerce and volunteered at the Finnish School of Seattle as a librarian.

Lisa Toftemark was initially elected to the Nordic Heritage Museum Board of Trustees in 2007 and has served three terms. She returned to the board in 2017. Her father, born in Denmark, immigrated to the U.S. at age 13 where his family settled in Oregon; her mother is of Swedish and Danish descent. Ms. Toftemark attended Pacific Lutheran University for two years--then moved abroad to Stockholm, Sweden, where she attended the University of Stockholm for a year. Upon returning to the US, she graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with an emphasis in management. After several years as an editor in the college textbook publishing industry, she moved back to the Northwest, where she has worked at Microsoft since 2002—first as a technical editor and thereafter as a product manager. Ms. Toftemark is a member of the Danish Brotherhood--Centennial Lodge in Eugene, Oregon.

Initially Elected: 2012

Born on Karmøy, Norway in 1945, Tor Tollessen attended an electrical technical school and moved to Seattle in 1966. He has long been connected to the maritime industry as an electrician, technician, fisherman as well as businessman. He is presently CEO and President of Lunde Marine Electronics in Ballard, which specializes in sales and service, installation, repair, and upgrade of all marine electronic systems and components. He is a member of Sons of Norway, the Karmøy Club of Washington, the Norwegian Commercial Club, Norwegian American Chamber of Commerce, Masonic Lodge, Scottish and Nile Temples, Rotary International, and serves on the Board of Pacific Fishermen Shipyard, LLC. Tor is a recipient of the Fishermen’s Night Heroism Award, the King Neptune Award from the Norwegian Commercial Club, and was distinguished as the Person of the Year from the Norwegian American Chamber of Commerce.

Eric Nelson joined the National Nordic Museum in Seattle as Executive Director/CEO in January 2008. Under Nelson's leadership, the National Nordic Museum earned national and international recognition. Nelson led a successful $53 million campaign to build the award-winning and iconic building that now houses the Museum’s collection of more than 80,000 objects. The Museum received an outpouring of public acclaim upon the opening of its new building in May 2018; the following year the Museum earned national designation by an Act of Congress becoming the National Nordic Museum. In addition to collecting objects of cultural and historical significance and presenting internationally important exhibitions, the National Nordic Museum serves as a convener on critical issues including innovation in the Nordic region and United States, economic development, environmental policy, cultural identity, and societal issues.

On July 18, 2023, Nelson was made Knight, First Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit conferred by His Majesty King Harald V of Norway for his longstanding work advancing Norwegian-American relations. This award marks the third time that Nelson has received a knighthood from a Nordic Head of State. He was previously named Knight of the Order of the White Rose of Finland by the President Sauli Niinistö of Finland and was awarded Knight First Class of the Royal Order of the Polar Star by His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. He has been honored with the rarely awarded Hazelius Medal in Gold by Sweden’s Nordiska Museet, the only non-Swedish citizen to receive the recognition and was inducted into the Scandinavian-American Hall of Fame. In addition, Nelson was awarded Swedish American of the Year/Årets Svensk Amerikan by the Vasa Order of America in Sweden in recognition of his work establishing the Museum as the only museum in the United States – and indeed the world – that showcases the impact and influence of Nordic values and innovation in contemporary society.

Nelson is a graduate of the prestigious Getty Museum Leadership Institute and holds a Master of Art degree in History. He has served as a guest lecturer at the University of Washington, California State University, and Sacramento and San Francisco State University. A native of Napa, California, Nelson previously served as Executive Director of the Napa Valley Museum from 1999 to 2007. Prior to this role, he was Curator of Exhibits and Collections and then Executive Director of the Sonoma County Museum in Santa Rosa, California.

Nelson's paternal family immigrated from Sweden, towards the end of the 19^th century. His father’s grandparents Olof Nilsson and Maria Gustafsdotter left their home in Kulleberga, a village in Bosjökloster, Skåne, just south of Västra Ringsjön, and immigrated to the United States (in 1873 and 1881) and settled in Kansas where he changed the family name to Nelson. His father’s maternal grandparents immigrated to Durango, Colorado in the 1880’s. His great grandfather Lars Magnus Larson (who changed his name to Louis Magnus Naslund) departed from Gräsmark Värmland in 1882. His great grandmother, Christina (Kristina) Marie Nilsson, immigrated from the village of Hässjö, close to Härnösand on the high coast to Colorado in 1886. While they left Sweden to pursue new opportunities in the United States, their Swedish heritage and values remained an important part of their lives which has been passed on through the generations.

Tom Malone grew up in Ballard and attended Daniel Webster Elementary School (the former site of the Nordic Heritage Museum). Tom has a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Washington, a Juris Doctor from the University Of Washington School Of Law, and a Master of Business Administration in Taxation from Golden Gate University. Tom is the President of Malone Law Group PS and has practiced law in the Seattle area for over thirty years. Tom has Swedish ancestry. He is a former Board Chairman at Swedish Medical Center and has served as a Trustee of Seattle Colleges from 1998 to 2013. Tom joined the Museum's Board in 2014. He was elected President of the National Nordic Museum Board in 2019 and served in that position until 2021.

Eric Nelson joined the National Nordic Museum in Seattle as Executive Director/CEO in January 2008. Under Nelson's leadership, the National Nordic Museum earned national and international recognition. Nelson led a successful $53 million campaign to build the award-winning and iconic building that now houses the Museum’s collection of more than 80,000 objects. The Museum received an outpouring of public acclaim upon the opening of its new building in May 2018; the following year the Museum earned national designation by an Act of Congress becoming the National Nordic Museum. In addition to collecting objects of cultural and historical significance and presenting internationally important exhibitions, the National Nordic Museum serves as a convener on critical issues including innovation in the Nordic region and United States, economic development, environmental policy, cultural identity, and societal issues.

On July 18, 2023, Nelson was made Knight, First Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit conferred by His Majesty King Harald V of Norway for his longstanding work advancing Norwegian-American relations. This award marks the third time that Nelson has received a knighthood from a Nordic Head of State. He was previously named Knight of the Order of the White Rose of Finland by the President Sauli Niinistö of Finland and was awarded Knight First Class of the Royal Order of the Polar Star by His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. He has been honored with the rarely awarded Hazelius Medal in Gold by Sweden’s Nordiska Museet, the only non-Swedish citizen to receive the recognition and was inducted into the Scandinavian-American Hall of Fame. In addition, Nelson was awarded Swedish American of the Year/Årets Svensk Amerikan by the Vasa Order of America in Sweden in recognition of his work establishing the Museum as the only museum in the United States – and indeed the world – that showcases the impact and influence of Nordic values and innovation in contemporary society.

Nelson is a graduate of the prestigious Getty Museum Leadership Institute and holds a Master of Art degree in History. He has served as a guest lecturer at the University of Washington, California State University, and Sacramento and San Francisco State University. A native of Napa, California, Nelson previously served as Executive Director of the Napa Valley Museum from 1999 to 2007. Prior to this role, he was Curator of Exhibits and Collections and then Executive Director of the Sonoma County Museum in Santa Rosa, California.

Nelson's paternal family immigrated from Sweden, towards the end of the 19^th century. His father’s grandparents Olof Nilsson and Maria Gustafsdotter left their home in Kulleberga, a village in Bosjökloster, Skåne, just south of Västra Ringsjön, and immigrated to the United States (in 1873 and 1881) and settled in Kansas where he changed the family name to Nelson. His father’s maternal grandparents immigrated to Durango, Colorado in the 1880’s. His great grandfather Lars Magnus Larson (who changed his name to Louis Magnus Naslund) departed from Gräsmark Värmland in 1882. His great grandmother, Christina (Kristina) Marie Nilsson, immigrated from the village of Hässjö, close to Härnösand on the high coast to Colorado in 1886. While they left Sweden to pursue new opportunities in the United States, their Swedish heritage and values remained an important part of their lives which has been passed on through the generations.