During the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Foreign Investors’ Council in Latvia (FICIL) on Wednesday, 22 March 2017 five new Executive Board members were elected.

The new Executive Board members of 2017/2018 are:

Alf Erik Lundgrenn

Alf Erik is Chairman of the Norwegian Chamber of Commerce in Latvia, one of  the 3 largest foreign Chambers. He is Managing Director of Nordic Invest and founder of several companies, such as Skandi Auto, the official importer and dealership for Mitsubishi in Latvia. His Latvian business experience started already in 1992 with the establishment of Latvisk Informasjons- og Handelssenter AS (Latvian Information & Trade Center) to attract Norwegian investors and businesses to Latvia. He also served as a board member of the Latvian Investment and Development Agency (LIAA), with main responsibility for FDI. Alf Erik has a degree in Business Administration & Finance from the US, and work experience in the Norwegian finance & banking sector. He has served on the FICIl Board from 2015-2017.

 

Graham Russell

Graham Russell is Chairman of CEMEX SIA and manages CEMEX’s operations in the Baltics, Finland and Russia. CEMEX SIA remains Latvia’s largest single foreign industrial investor.

Graham Russell holds a degree in Economics; a Masters in Internal Relations and an MBA. He has worked for a range of companies including Ford Motor Company in the UK and US; Lafarge in the UK and France and CEMEX in the UK, Middle East and Northern Europe. He lives in Riga and has served on the FICIL Board since 2014.

 

 

Ints Krasts

Since August 1, 2014, Ints Krasts is a board member and vice-president of SEB Latvia, responsible for corporate banking.

Ints joined SEB in 1999 as an analyst in Markets unit. During his career at SEB Ints has managed several branches and worked in the position of CEO at SEB’s leasing company, pension fund and life insurance company. I.Krasts has graduated from Concordia International University Estonia with a bachelor’s degree in economics and obtained an MBA degree from Rotterdam School of Management, Netherlands.

Ints has broadened his knowledge in corporate banking, financial analysis, investments and his leadership skills in various courses in Latvia, Spain and USA. Ints has also graduated from the top management development program at SEB Wallenberg institute. Ints is married and raises three children – a son and two daughters.

 

Julia Sundberg

Head of Heating and Cooling in Latvia for Fortum.

Julia Sundberg resides in Latvia since September 2015, when she became Head of Production in Baltics with power plants in Pärnu, Tartu, Jelgava and Klaipeda.

Currently responsible for Fortum’s activities in Latvia.

Julia Sundberg has been working in the energy business sins 1998, starting off with combustion R&D and process optimization to later become Technical Manager and Power Plant Manager.

In 2008, as the Russian electricity market opened, Fortum acquired one of the newly born companies TGC 10, with production and distribution assets in Chelyabinsk, Tyumen, Surgut and Tobolsk. During four intensive years Julia executed power plant efficiency programs and outlined the investment strategies for the Ural Region.

In 2012, Mrs. Sundberg returned to Sweden as Senior Project Manager for a brown field waste incineration block at Brista, north of Stockholm. After successfully handing over and closing the project is was time to return to management, this time in the Baltics.

 

Zlata Elksnina-Zascirinska

Zlata is Chair of the Board and Country Managing Partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers SIA.

She joined PwC in February 1994 while at university and has gained all her experience working at PwC. She went through all the levels of the career path from Junior to Partner at PwC. It took her 13 years to become Partner, and she has been the CMP of Latvia for three years. Zlata is leading a team of 165 professionals in three lines of service: Tax, Legal, and Advisory.

Her main area of expertise is tax. Zlata has been involved in many multi-territory and multi-company tax structuring projects. She has led a number of successful teams and coached several successful directors.

Her aspiration is to live up to the quote from Mahatma Ghandi: “You must be a change you wish to see in the world.”

Zlata is committed to devoting her time to FICIL activities, as she sees the importance of further improving the Latvian business environment. Zlata fully identifies with FICIL goals, ideas and strategy, and she would be happy to serve her last 2-year term on the board. She has been Chair of FICIL Board since 2013.