1. Where are you from originally?

Green Bay, WI USA
.

2. How long have you been a EC member?

Since 2000!

3. What line of work are you in?

Enterprise IT and telecommunications sales.

4. What languages do you speak?

French, Portuguese, Spanish and English.

5. Favorite European destination and why?

Barcelona! When you find a good tapas place, sangria, the staff gets to know you, you speak fluent Spanish and the sun!!!

6. What’s your favorite hangout in Chicago?

The Lakefront.

7. Travel plans for the summer?

Cape Cod and St. Petersburg Russia.

8. Favorite EC venue so far?

Vertigo Sky Lounge at the Dana

9. Madonna or Lady Gaga?

Easy, Madonna. Reminds me of when I was young and I admire her staying power. Je suis desolé Gaga.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/Kirk.I.am

Happy Hour prices are $1.00 off the glass or $4.00 off the bottle for wine, and $1.00 off all beers until 8:00 p.m. House white is $5.00 per glass and house red $6.00 per glass.

NOTE ON PARKING: There is a small parking lot to the south of Bacchus, but plenty of street parking on Dunlavy and surrounding streets.

See you there! Invite a few new friends!

Mary Beth, Shahla & Wade
Like us at www.facebook.com/eurocircle!
EuroCirckle Houston Facebook Group www.facebook.com/groups/172355259455117/!

This is a social and all attire is welcome.
NO COVER
MUSIC will be EUROHITS and IBIZA GROOVES

Just come and enjoy some sun in the Financial District.

1.What is International Swede?

International Swede is a collective for young, expat Swedes living in New York City and Los Angeles. We gather for sport events, live music, parties and Swedish holidays. We believe in a modern view of Sweden but enjoy some nostalgia from time to time (especially when it comes to music) and we are always welcoming of non-Swedes to share our culture and way-of-life with. We have a few big events every year, Midsummer being the biggest with up to 1000 people, where our members and their friends gather at a nightclub venue somewhere in Manhattan to celebrate the Swedish spirit and dance the night away. We also invite a famous Swedish Music Act from Sweden every year and that is always a highlight.

2. When and why did you start International Swede?

Thomas Noe founded ISwede in 2002. I joined in 2003. We were both lacking a place to meet other young Swedish people. There were plenty of organizations for the older crowd and the business community, but nothing on the social level. Thomas, who is also a DJ, also wanted an audience to play Swedish music for and that became a huge attraction at our events.

3. What is your role with the group?

I am more on the event organizing side and Thomas handles anything related to music and sports.

4. What challenges have your faced and what are your best accomplishments?

We aim for perfection at our events which is always a challenge when being forced to trust venues and suppliers, but we have learned a lot over the past 11 years and I am proud to say we are very close to achieving our goal.

5. What kind of events do you have and how often do you have them?

We have between 6 and 10 events per year of different sizes and themes.
Apart from our Swedish Midsummer Party and other similar dance events, we do a yearly traditional crawfish dinner where we gather 150 people on long-tables to eat, chat and sing schnaps songs.

We also organize locations for our community to watch Soccer/Ice hockey games and the Eurovision Song Contest. Whenever there is a famous Swedish DJ or band in town we are the first to announce it.

6. How many members do you have and where is your member base from?

We have 10,000+ members and most are Scandinavians living in the New York and LA area.

7.Is International Swede in any other US or International cities?

Only New York and Los Angeles for now.

8. When you aren’t planning events what fun things do you like to do in New York City?

There are so much to do, but I like catching up with friends at house parties and dinners, grabbing a show or feeding my intellect with an interesting TEDx lecture or movie screening (accompanied by cocktails of course).

9. How is New York different than Sweden?

I’ve lived here for almost 50% of my life now, so I’m at a point where I remember only the good things about Sweden and idealize them, but I would say Sweden is more structured (in mindset and system) which could prove very helpful and efficient when playing by the “rules” but less so when trying to work/think outside the box.

10. When is the best time of year to visit Sweden and how often do you go and visit?

Summer! Summer! Summer!  I don’t go as often as I would like to for sure.

11. How long have you lived in New York?

Since 1996

12. Are you involved with any other groups in New York? If so which ones and for how long?

I like to follow all the European networks here in New York.  EuroCircle, NL Borrels, Made in Italy, French Tuesdays, etc. I used to attend a lot 5-6 years back, but I’ve had to scale down. Too much partying. : )

13.How can people connect up with you?

You can follow us on Facebook page “Swedes in New York” and of course sign up on the website also www.iswede.com

International Swede – ISwede Website: www.iswede.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SwedesInNY

International Swede – ISwede Twitter http://twitter.com/iswede

The selected venue for our big occasion is Club Providence in the heart of Manhattan, near Columbus Circle; a space with soaring ceilings, multiple levels, several bars, refined furniture and fixtures and an abundance of seating. It’s exclusively ours for the night.

The Highlights
- A live performance by Alcazar
- Multiple rooms, two sounds and Several Scandinavian DJs alternating through-out the night.
- Special Guest Appearances.
- Scandinavian Drink Favorites: Kopparberg Cider, Kronan Lime and Piggelin.
- Swedish Candy Arrangements from Sockerbit.

DETAILS:
- Age to enter: 21 and up
- Tickets: ONLY 700 tickets available
- Ticket price: Online $20-$25, Door: $30
- Attire: Midsummer chic, dress to impress
- Coat check: yes

Save-the-date: July 16 we’ll probably have a joint rooftop party with ISwede.

Join us for an evening of fashion and professional networking! Come see the latest in fashion tech and social shopping, while learning from top senior Silicon Valley executives how fashionable work suits can empower employees create a unique personal branding and boost their confidence to succeed in the cut-throat world of corporate organizations. Meet My Runway app, the new social shopping app developed by SAP, and enjoy a rockin’ fashion show with SAP’s Fashion Ambassadors.

AGENDA
5:00: Hors d’oeuvre and Networking (Fashion Ambassadors & My Runway team welcoming attendees and directing them to seats)
5:30: Welcome & Introductions by Jonathan Becher – CMO, SAP
5:45: Twitter/Tory Burch Fashion Contest presented by Layla Sabourian
5:45: Panel Discussion moderated by Layla Sabourian
7:30: My Runway video played
7:45: Fashion Show by SAP Fashion Ambassadors
8:00 Contest winners announced & Goodbye by Inga and Li

MODERATOR
Layla Sabourian – External Relations, SAP Business Women’s Network

PANELISTS

Miki Berardelli - Chief Marketing Officer, Tory Burch
Since joining Tory Burch as Chief Marketing Officer in 2009, Miki Berardelli has been responsible for global marketing, public relations, CRM, and e-commerce. Prior to joining Tory Burch, Miki was Senior VicePresident of Marketing at Ralph Lauren, where she spent nearly eight years developing and leading multichannel marketing strategy for the retail businesses. Earlier in her career, Ms. Berardelli held positions at Limited Too/Tween Brands, Experian North America, and McMillan Associates.Ms. Berardelli is actively involved in Shop.org, the digital division of the National Retail Federation, where she iscurrently serving her third term on the board of directors as Chairman. In 2011, she also joined the board of directors for Giggle Inc., a multichannel baby products and lifestyle retail brand. Ms. Berardelli earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa and a master’s degree from Northwestern University. She was recognized in 2011 as one of the “Top Women in Cross-Channel Retail.”

Vineet Buch - Head of Shopping Search, Google
Vineet Buch is an Internet executive and angel investor living in Bay Area, California. He is currently Director of Product Management at Google, responsible for Google’s Shopping Search. Prior to Google, he was a Co-founder of Like.com, a visual search engine focused on fashion, and a partner with BlueRun Ventures, a venture capital firm that he worked at for about four years. He is passionate outdoorsman and he has a strong interest in venture capitals, entrepreneurship, and Indian startups.

Barbara Holzapfel - SVP & Managing Director, SAP
Barbara Holzapfel Barbara Holzapfel was appointed Managing Director of SAP Labs North America in April 2011, responsible for the strategy and operations of SAP Labs locations in the United States and Canada. Prior to her current role, Barbara has held leadership positions at SAP since 2001. Barbara holds an MBA from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and a business degree in from The University of Saarbruecken/Germany.

Marcelle Parrish – Head of Business & Strategy, eBay Fashion
Marcelle Parrish is the head behind eBay Fashion, a fashion lover’s destination and virtual department store that offers vintage and new, boutique shops and exclusive deals from several favorite brands. Prior to eBay, Inc., she worked as Executive Director of eCommerce at Anthropologie, and eBusiness Product Director at McNeil Nutritionals. Marcelle holds an MBA in Marketing from the Business School of George Washington University.

Erin Matts - Chief Digital Marketing Officer, Glam Media, Inc.
In her role as Chief Digital Marketing Officer of Glam Media, Erin Matts is responsible for furthering the company’s vision of providing a platform for brand marketers to engage with passionate social communities in more meaningful ways across all digital channels. Matts is a veteran of the brand advertising industry, with a background that spans executive agency and leading global brand positions. Prior to joining Glam Media, she served as the Global Director, Digital Connections at Anheuser-Busch In-Bev (AB In-Bev) where she was tasked with elevating the brewer’s consumer position and engagement on all digital platforms. Prior to AB In-Bev, she led the U.S. digital media practice for OMD, the largest media agency in the U.S., playing major roles in helping the agency to be recognized by Ad Age as Agency of the Year in 2008 and 2009.

Mike Giresi – Chief Information Officer, Tory Burch
As CIO at Tory Burch, Mike Giresi is responsible for technology initiatives that address the unique business and operational needs of a rapidly growing, global fashion brand. Mike and his team are responsible for all information technology initiatives at Tory Burch, with a core focus on overseeing the identification and implementation of new infrastructure and enterprise systems that support continued long-term, global growth and enable collaboration. Prior to joining Tory Burch, Mike was EVP and CIO at Direct Brands, Inc. In that role, he led global IT, ecommerce and new product development in addition to core Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) responsibilities. Prior to that, he was Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Godiva Chocolatier.

Dennis Goedegebuure - Head of Global SEO, Airbnb
Dennis is the head for Global SEO at Airbnb. Prior to Airbnb, Dennis was with Geeknet for little over a year, where he doubled the SEO traffic for sites like Slashdot & SourceForge. Prior to Geeknet, Dennis was at eBay for 9+ years in various roles on the Internet Marketing team, last as Director Global SEO. He started his eBay career in The Netherlands office, working for both eBay and Marktplaats, which is their local classifieds site.

Victor Zaud - Sr. VP and Co-Founder, Glam Media, Inc.
Victor is General Manager and Creative Director for Zaudhaus – a branding and interface design firm with offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Victor has helped conceive, shape, design, and build some of the most notable technology products in use, online and in business practice today. Ranging from consumer applications from companies like Yahoo and Adobe, to “on-demand” online applications like Arena Solutions, CourseSmart, and Travelocity. Victor has also participated in the founding of several ventures including the recent chart-topping Glam Media ad-network. Before starting Zaudhaus, Vic was the Director of Product Design at NetObjects. Victor holds a Graphic Design degree with honors from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California and holds 4 patents for Internet-related technologies. When he’s not designing, you can find him on the racetrack with his vintage 1980 Porsche 911SC that he rebuilt to racing specifications.

Does your outfit reflect your personal brand? Can fashion and design alter the way you build your career path? How do employees dress when it comes to choosing styles at work? What we wear can affect not only how people perceive our style, but also how we interact with our employers and colleagues. “It’s less about how you’re perceived by others, and more about internal self-assurance,” says Audrey Gelman, Press Secretary to Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.

NEWSWEEK surveyed 202 corporate hiring managers and 964 adults only to confirm that a unique personal style and a good-looking appearance count positively from hiring to office politics to promotions. 57% of the managers stated that candidates with professional skills but unattractive appearance might face challenges in finding a job, while more than half of them advised spending the same amount of time and money on looking attractive as on submitting the perfect résumé. Finally, 61% of managers responded that female employees who wear clothes that show off their figure at work are a remarkable asset for a company, and that, among the most important attributes, looks and confidence ranked higher than education and past experience.