Our staff

 

Anders Wangby, Director
Anders is the head of VIA and has previously worked as a Business Coordinator at Skellefteå municipality and as an Investment Promotor for the province of Jämtland. He has 17 years experience as a Business Consultant in marketing, exports promotion and product development at Centek and Almi, and has worked within the EU SME programs Innovation Relay Centres and Euroinfo Centres.

Anders has also been Export Consultant at the Swedish Trade Council and Product Manager at Kraft General Foods. He holds a MBA from the Stockholm School of Economics. Anders is our contact person for Mining, Environmental Technology and Renewable Energy. Contact Anders

 

Karolina Andersson, Marketing Coordinator
Karolina has experience from the finance and service sector as a result of her years as a private advisor at Handelsbanken. She also has extensive international experience and intercultural understanding stemming from her years studying and working in countries such as Austria, Spain and the US.

Karolina holds a Master’s degree in Business and Management, combined with a Bachelor’s degree in Service Management from Umeå School of Business. Her major was in service marketing. Contact Karolina

 

Björn M. Ursing, Ph.D and Investment Promotion Manager
Björn has a doctorate in genetics and more than 10 years experience from academic research in Sweden and abroad. He has worked with applied research in the pharmaceutical industry for more than 5 years and was engaged in Beronem AB, a company helping scientists in biotech, pharmaceuticals and medical technology to find new business opportunities.

Björn holds an associate professorship from Karolinska Institutet, one of Europe’s largest medical universities, and a diploma as Market Economist. Björn is our contact person for for the Life Sciences sector. Contact Björn

 

Inger E. Pedersen, Investment Promotion Manager
Inger has years of experience from B2B marketing as Marketing Manager, Public Relations Officer and Project Manager both from the private and public sector, she has also worked with freelance web design and sales missions.

From the Umeå School of Business, Inger holds a Master’s degree in Business by the program Entrepreneurship and Dynamic Business Contexts, as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing from the International Business Program. Inger is our contact person for Creative Industries, Tourism and GIS. Contact Inger

 

Olof Norberg, Investment Promotion Manager
Olof has been Manager of Purchase and Supply at the manufacturing companies Gargnäs Production Link, Gargnäs Latvija, Gargnäs Gedynia and Leab Group. He was the CEO of Leab Eesti OU in Tallinn. Previously, Olof has also been a Project and OEM purchaser for Pharmacia.

Olof is educated in Business Administration and is a certified Business Developer for Northwest Russia via Barents Business School. He also holds education in and experience from production management, quality control and jurisprudence. Olof is our contact person for the Climate Testing, Manufacturing and Wood sectors. Contact Olof

 

Nina Rismalm, Expo Coordinator
Nina joined us from Bosch Rexroth where she worked as Project manager for exhibitions and events, Internal Communicator and Executive Assistant. Nina has also worked in Düsseldorf at C&A, one of Europe´s biggest department store groups, at the departments International Marketing and Communications.

She holds a Master degree in Business Administration and Economics with a major in Marketing from Luleå University of Technology. Nina has also studied at Vienna University of Economics and Business, Vienna Business school as well as Berghs School of Communications. Nina is our contact person for International Trade shows. Contact Nina

For general inquiries: info@viavasterbotten.se

International representatives

Västerbotten Investment Agency has two international representatives, one in Norway and the other in North America. Please feel free to contact our representatives with inquiries about investment opportunities in northern Sweden.

Norway

Jan Sundstén, Norwegian Representative
Jan has, as Business Consultant, 19 years experience of marketing and exports promotion assistance to foreign private companies and to public organisations. His FDI experience is based on Investment Promotion assignments during the last 15 years for, e.g. several provinces in Sweden and International Business Wales in UK.

Jan has a former background from working with industrial and regional development at the management consulting company Indevo AS, at the Nordic Council of Ministers and at the Vaasa County Administration. He holds a Master of Science (Economy) degree from Åbo Akademi University. Jan is our representative on the Norwegian market. Contact Jan

North America

Kerstin Nicholson, North American Representative
Kerstin is responsible for VIA in North America. She has lived and worked there for more than 30 years, mostly as Business Promotor for the Swedish Trade Council in the US, where the health care sector was her specialty. The last few years she has been engaged in investment promotion, first for the province of Jämtland and then for Skellefteå municipality.

Kerstin´s educational background is also from the Stockholm School of Economics. Except for the Life Sciences, she also works for VIA in Mining and Cleantech.
Contact Kerstin