Executive Board


Mette Husemoen
Chairwomen

Mette Husemoen, Ph.D. Dr. Husemoen is founding partner of NEX, co-founder of the Society for Organizational Learning in China – SoL  China, and founding president of what has become the world’s largest international student festival, ISFiT – the International Student Festival in Trondheim. Mette holds a PhD in Management, MSc in Physics, and Diplôme d’Ingénieur from IFP in Paris. Her educational background includes studies at Harvard and MIT and postdoc research in collaboration with Tsinghua and Peking University. Mette has had the unique opportunity to study with late teacher Nan Huaijin, one of China’s most acknowledged teachers of classic Chinese culture, and founder of the Taihu Great Learning Center outside Shanghai. Mette has lived and worked in Beijing for several years working closely with the Norwegian and Chinese communities. She is the founder of the Norwegian Society Club in Beijing (Klubb Norge).

Torkel Snellingen
Vice Chairman

Co-founder and vice chairman of the Norwegian Chinese Friendship Association since 2018. Medical doctor by training with postgraduate degrees in public health (MPH) and clinical interventional epidemiology (PhD) with specialization in Visions Sciences. He has lived and worked in Asia for some three decades of which the last decades in Beijing (until 2016). In China he has worked broadly in the fields of public health and clinical research, and as university lecturer and has been actively involved in the promotion of academic and cultural exchanges between our two countries. He has over the years also been working to promote business opportunities for Norwegian SMEs in China particularly within the Medical & Health Information Technology Sectors. He was project coordinator of the  Norwegian Life Science and Innovation Expo held under the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai.   He is currently project coordinator  in  to the Norwegian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises – SMB Norge.

Eivind Bryne
Member

Partner in Nova - a Law Firm in Oslo that specializes in tax law. Bryne has for many years been recognized in several leading rankings, including Legal 500. He is an experienced speaker and facilitator. He was a member of the European Unions’s Value Added Tax (VAT) Committee. Eivind has been active and  instrumental in the development and promotion of  business relations between China and Norway for almost two decades. He was co-founder (2007) and Chairman of the Board and subsequent Board Member of the Norwegian Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Norway. He has more recently been serving as chairman of the board of Hurdal Ecovillage, a unique and pioneering project in sustainable living in Norway.

Sonja Cao
Member

Sonja grew up in Norway in a Chinese speaking family. She holds a Master of Science in Business (siviløkonom) from BI Norwegian Business School Oslo in 2019. In 2016-2017, she lived one year in Shanghai while pursuing studies at Fudan University. In 2016-2017, she lived one year in Shanghai while pursuing studies at Fudan University. Sonja has worked as a trainee in the multinational company COWI (consulting engineering company) in Oslo, within mobility planning, plan for land and transport use, sustainable transport and city planning, and market research in connection with car-free city centre. Her work experience also includes work at Pareto Bank in Oslo within finance, collateral, and loan administration. Currently, she works in the real estate industry in Nordic Group Holding AS as office manager with responsibility for the Oslo branch.  

Pamela Hiley
Member

Pamela was born in Wales in 1958 and is the Director of the Norwegian Taiji Centre which was founded in 1983. For over 40 years she has worked extensively through her engagement in the Chinese Arts and Dao Philosophy with a broad section of Norwegian Society.  She has been  conducting regular teaching of Taijiquan classes and training teachers to teach. She has for many years been developing close associations with Daoist and Taijiquan Masters, Academics, and Institutions in China and for over 15 years organising annual field trips with her student delegates to China hosted by the Beijing Chapter of China People’s Association of Friendship with Foreign Countries. Through this work she has been an important «ambassador» for Norway for the  promotion of  people to people understanding.

Jørund Rytman
Member

Executive Director of the Norwegian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises-SMB Norge, Oslo, Norway. From 2005 to 2017 Norwegian Parliamentarian representing Buskerud. He was a member of the Norwegian Parliament’s Committees for Trade and Industry, Foreign Affairs and Defense and Finance Committee. He was cofounder and the first Chairman of the Norwegian Parliament’s China Contact Group established in 2017. Jørund has been especially concerned with the working premisses for Norwegian Entrepreneurs and was the co-founder and first chairman of the Norwegian Entrepreneurs Association  (Grunderforeningen).

Senior Advisors


Kan Cao
Senior Advisor

Kan Cao is the Founder and Chairman of Nordic Group Holding AS and its 30 subsidiaries. He has accumulated a high level of expertise across 30 years of experience in the Norwegian real estate sector. In 2020, NGH was recognized by Estate Magazin as the 18th largest real estate company in Norway. He was awarded a place among the “Top 10 European Chinese Science and Technology Leading Talents” in 2018 by the Federation of Chinese Professional Associations in Europe, FCPAE”. Beyond many achievements, he is also the Founder and Chairman of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Norway.He holds dual master’s degrees in Physics and Engineering from the University of Bergen in Norway, and has been an external supervisor for bachelor’s and master’s degree students. As a lifelong learner, his fields of interest also include law, economics and finance.

Haakon Hjelde
Senior Advisor

Haakon is a retired Norwegian diplomat. He was in charge of the China desk at the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs during the 1990s.  From 1999 to 2003  he served as the Norwegian Ambassador to the People's Republic of China and subsequently Norwegian Ambassador to Finland. From 2007 to 2010 he led the Norwegian Government Delegation  negotiating on behalf of Norway a bilateral free trade agreement between China and Norway (first round).  Haakon has over many years  been particularly interested  in work to  promote good relations between Norway and China and has supported a number of initiatives in this regard.

Willy Johansen
Senior Advisor

Willy has for some four decades worked  actively  building relations between Norway and China. As an environmental enginneer he has been a pioneer working with Chinese Colleagues facilitating technology transfer from Europe to China within the public and private environmental engineering sector. In 2000 he led the international tender team on behalf of Anglia Water and Mitsubishi that won the  Beijing No 10   -the biggest water supply project in China at that time. Willy was co-founder of the first Business Forum in China in 1999 and was an active member of the board of directors. From 2016 to 2019 he served as Vice Chairman & Beijing Representative of what now is the Norwegian Business Association (NBA).

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