Oliver Ao Soon (President & Member of the Board)
Oliver is the co-founder of Noract AS and Founder and Chairman of Norwegian Chinese Guide Association. Since 2017 he is an Arctic Circle Ambassador . He is a member of the International Committee of the Norwegian Entrepreneurs Association (Gründerforeningen) and a Lay Judge of the Oslo Municipal Court. As Advisor to the Norwegian Guangdong Association, he has been tasked to develop relations between Norwegian Municipalities and Municipalities in Guandong province.
Mette Husemoen (Chairman of the Board)
Mette has a PhD in management and an MSc in physics. She is founding partner of NEX, Norway China Exchange (NEX) and co-founder of Society for Organizational Learning China (SOL). As postdoctoral researcher at Massachustes Institute of Technology (MIT), she initiated collaborations with Tsinghua and Peking Universities, Chinese and multinational companies in China, as well as the forerunner of China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment. While in Beijing, she coordinated the China Deep Dive Learning Journey, as part of the global leadership program ELIAS (Emerging Leaders for Innovation Across Sectors) at MIT. She is passionate about transcultural learning, education and exchange towards a more sustainable future.
Torkel Snellingen (Vice Chairman of the Board)
Torkel is a medical doctor, researcher and educator. He has over 25 years of experience building various projects and exchange programs between Norwegian and Asian cultural and research and educational institutions. From 2001 he worked with a wide range of state and non-state actors within health and medtech, research and education and in cultural arenas between Norway and China. TS was central to the development of activities in the bilateral agreement between Norway and China on health cooperation. He was based in Beijing from 2007 to 2016 and currently lives in Oslo. He is currently associated with the Norwegian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMB Norge) as a project coordinator for their International Program and as Senior Project Advisor for Trøndelag Forskning og Utvikling (TFOU) – a regional research organization in middle Norway.
Jørund Henning Rytman (Member of the Board)
Jørund was from 2005 to 2017 a Norwegian Parliamentarian representing Buskerud. He was a member of the Parliament’s Committees for Trade and Industry, Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and Finance Committee. JHR 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 entrepeneurs and was central for the establishment of the Norwegian Association of Entrepreneurs (Grunderforeningen) where he currently serves on the Board of Directors. After leaving the Parliament in 2017 he serves now as the Public Affairs Director of the Norwegian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMB Norge).
Mona Solberg (Member of the Board)
Mona brings to NCFA a broad interdisciplinary working experience. She holds a Masters of Health Science from the University of Oslo and has a broad educational background in clinical research, economics and management. Mona has contributed to several research projects within Health Science and Acupuncture. Mona is currently the Deputy Chairman of the Norwegian Acupuncture Association and an external reviewer in both Acupuncture in Medicine and Journal of Integrative Medicine.
Advisors
Jan Amundsen (Media and PR Advisor)
Jan is the association’s media and PR advisor. He has worked as chief editor in one of the largest publishing houses in Norway. JHA is today CEO of the largest website about food and drink in Norway, aperitif.no. He has been the communications advisor for numerous Norwegian Companies including the National Telephone Company Telenor. He has sat on several committes and boards within food and transport inluding the Oslo municipal transport company.
Haakon Baardsøn Hjelde (Political and Strategic Advisor)
Haakon is a retired Norwegian diplomat. From 1999 to 2004 he served as the Norwegian Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China. From 2007 to 2010 he led the Norwegian Government Delegation responsible for negotiating a bilateral free trade agreement between China and Norway. HBH has been particularly concerned with the efforts to promote good relations between Norway and China and has supported a number of initiatives that have had this as a main purpose. He was a key contributor to the establishment of the Norwegian Chinese Chamber of Commerce.
Pamela Hiley (Chinese Philosophy and Deep Ecology)
Pamela is founder and director of the Norwegian Taiji Centre (www.taiji.no). For some 30 years Pamela has been a force for developing an awarness to the Norwegian Public on the Wisdom of Taoist Practice and Thought and its relation to Deep Ecology through the teaching of Taijiquan. This year she celebrated 10 years of cooperation with the Beijing Friendship Association with Foreign Countries that hosts her annual Taiji Study and Practice Tours to Mainland China.