Board of Directors

Ofelia Madsen

Chairman of the board

Ofelia Madsen is VP Sales & Business Development at PanLink Group, an international electrical assembly partner. She has previously worked for Sony Mobile Communications for 13 years with extensive cooperation towards suppliers and manufacturers in Asia. She has been based in Asia for several years and has, heading up departments in Japan, been a frequent traveler to Tokyo.

Mikael Palmquist

Vice Chairman of the board

Mikael Palmquist is deputy Retail Operations Manager IKEA Retail, Ingka Group (former IKEA Group), among others he has been responsible for IKEA in Japan and chairman of the board IKEA Japan KK. He was based in Tokyo from January 2011 to June 2019, first as CEO & Country Manager for IKEA Japan KK and from February 2014 as Regional Retail Manager for Asia Pacific, IKEA Group.

Lars Vargö

Board Member

Dr. Lars Vargö is a former Swedish Ambassador to Japan (2011-14) and South Korea (2006-11). He currently heads Institute for Security & Development Policy Japan Center. He holds a Ph.D. in Japanese studies (history) from the University of Stockholm (1982). In 1972-76 he was a repeat Mombusho scholar at Kyoto University. As a diplomat Vargö has returned to Japan four times. Vargö has published a number of books on Japan in Swedish, mainly in the fields of history and literature. He has translated Japanese novels, short stories and poetry into Swedish. He is the founder of the Tokyo International Literary Society. Vargö has been decorated with the “Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun” (2014) and the “Kwanghwa Medal Order of Diplomatic Service” (2011).

Rebecka Lettevall

Board Member

Rebecka Lettevall is the pro vice-chancellor for Global Engagement and Human Rights at Malmö University. She was previously dean of the Faculty of Culture and Society for five years. At Södertörn University Stockholm she has served as deputy vice-chancellor with internationalization and research in her portfolio. She was also director of the research Centre for Baltic and East European Studies at the same university. Lettevall is a professor of intellectual history with expertise on Immanuel Kant, German idealism and concepts such as peace, citizenship, neutrality and cosmopolitanism. She has learned a lot from her involvement with Japanese philosophers in international networks.

Therese Fällman

Board Member

Therese Fällman is director for sustainable growth at City of Lund. She holds a master degree in cultural geography from Uppsala University and has previously worked as director for Lund’s sanitation works and chief of staff in City of Uppsala.

Johan Grundström Eriksson

Board Member

Johan Grundström Eriksson is advisor, interim, consultant and managing director of aiRikr Innovation AB. He has a background in governance, strategy and innovation at corporate multinationals like Ericsson, Tetra Pak, Sony Ericsson and Sony. Johan is a Swedish delegate and international expert on the ISO/TC279 technical committee co-authoring and pioneering world standards for innovation management together with Japan and other leading countries in the innovation field.

Victor Öwall

Board Member

Viktor Öwall is pro vice-chancellor for infrastructure and digitalization at Lund University. He is a professor of integrated electronic systems and was dean of Lund University’s Faculty of Engineering (LTH) 2015-2020. He is a board member of the Wallenberg Artificial Intelligence, Autonomous Systems and Software Program (WASP). Öwall is LU:s representative in the MIRAI General Assembly – the MIRAI cooperation connecting Swedish and Japanese universities through research, education and innovation.

Monika Liljenqvist Hermansson

Board Member

Monika Liljenqvist Hermansson is business support project manager, Global Sales at HMS Industrial Networks in Halmstad. She coordinates sales projects and manages the global CRM sales system. She is born in Tokyo and lived there for 11 years. Her father was the trade commissioner at the Swedish Embassy and was later managing director of the Sweden Center in Roppongi where the family also lived. She has 25+ years of experience doing business with Japan, speaks Japanese and have been a frequent traveler to Tokyo.

Micael Nord

Board Member

Micael Nord is business director at Malmö City. He studied political science at Göteborg and Lund Universities and English language and literature at London’s South Bank University before working in a variety of local and national government positions, including EU secretary for the Swedish Parliament, development manager for Göteborg and deputy director of development in the Region of Skåne.

Anders Olshov

Board Member

Anders Olshov is founder and chief of the think tank Intelligence Watch and a well-known economist and debater in Sweden. He worked as economist at Nordea Bank before he founded the Swedish-Danish cross border institute Öresundsinstitutet, which he headed for 12 years. In 2010 he was named economist of the year in Skåne. He has visited and written about J-Parc (Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex), reports about business relations Skåne/Scandinavia-Japan and had an Op-ed published in The Japan Times.

Petter Hartman

Board Member

Petter Hartman is the CEO of Medicon Village Science Park in Lund, consisting of more than 170 member companies. Medicon Village is part of a unique cluster of life science research and development capability, together with actors such as the European Spallation Source (ESS), the BioMedical Centre (BMC) at Lund University and the Max IV Laboratory. Petter holds a Master of Political Science from Lund University and retains a number of board positions such as Malmö University Board,
Member of the Faculty Board of Medicine at Lund University, Member of the Board at Smile Incubator to name a few.

Peter Nilsson

Board Member

Peter is currently independent. He has extensive background and experience from IT where he also spend several years as CIO for Sony Mobile Communication both in Sweden and Japan, as well as for Ascensia Diabetes Care working from Switzerland. Peter has also headed up the IT strategy department for PHC Holdings Corporation, where he was again based in Tokyo.

Henrik Fajerson

Deuputy Board Member

Henrik Fajerson is business development director at Skanska AB, one of the world’s leading construction and project development companies with about 32,500 employees. He has also worked as risk manager and business development manager at Skanska and as a project manager at WSP and Hifab.

Japan Bridge Scandinavia is more than a symbol. It aims to be a link in Japan’s European structure and part of the Swedish/ Scandinavian efforts to be present in Japan with a close relation to the planned ”House of Sweden Tokyo” in the Swedish embassy building.