Annual Report from The Board of Directors

Transcription

1 Annual Report from The Board of Directors

2 Annual General Meeting 2005 pg 4 Annual Report from the Board of Directors Introduction In 2004, AmCham Denmark experienced its fifth consecutive year of growth, surpassing the Board s growth projection in terms of both numbers and revenues. The Chamber also made significant progress on the goals and initiatives set forth by the Board, which included: continued membership growth, expansion of programs and events, increasing Chamber visibility and speaking out on policy and issues of importance, all while maintaining a solid financial foundation for the future. Board of Directors The Chamber Board determines policies and sets goals aimed at improving the economic and socioeconomic well-being of the American-Danish business community. The Board appoints an Executive Committee, consisting of the Chairman, Vice Chairman and at least one other Board member, which works together with the Executive Director on the management of the Chamber. The Board of Directors was convened four (4) times during 2004: March 10, June 9, August 25 and November 18. In addition, the Executive Committee met ten (10) times. The 2004 Annual General Meeting was held in May and hosted by AmCham Denmark Member PricewaterhouseCoopers. The membership approved the re-election of Board members Eskil A. Westh, John Alexander, Jørgen Bardenfleth, Jørgen A. Engell and Jesper Bertel Hansen as well as the confirmation of new Board members Torben Juul Andersen, Steen Blomquist, Chris I. Devries, Kevin Fix and Daniel O Day. Notes: Chairman Jonathan Grover resigned his Chairman position in October 2004 due to an upcoming re-assignment to Switzerland. The Board unanimously elected Paul Coleman to assume the Chairman role, which was announced at the October membership reception. In addition, Kevin Fix and John Alexander resigned their Board positions following new assignments outside of Denmark for their respective companies. At year-end 2004, the Chamber Board of Directors was comprised of: Chairman: Paul Coleman (Biogen Idec) Vice Chairman: Eskil A. Westh (Amrop Hever) Directors: Torben Juul Andersen (CBS) Ole Lund Andersen (Tvilum-Scanbirk) Jørgen Bardenfleth (Microsoft) Steen Blomquist (KPMG) Chris I. Devries (Citigroup) Jørgen A. Engell (A.P. Møller - Mærsk) Jonathan Grover (Ferring) Jesper Bertel Hansen (UPS) Søren Holm (Amerada Hess) Ole Haaber (IBM) Tim Koenig (3M) Per Månsson (Novozymes) Daniel O Day (Roche) Ex-officio liaison Board member: Greg Burton (United States Embassy) Membership The Chamber grew its membership by 20% in 2004, expanding to 245 companies by year-end. In October, Honorary Chamber President, Ambassador Stuart Bernstein hosted a successful membership drive at Rydhave, which resulted in several new high-level members.

3 Annual General Meeting 2005 pg 5 Annual Report from the Board of Directors AmCham Membership Status Year-end 2004 Membership Patron: Corporate: Associate: Total: Membership growth: 19,5 % Membership retention rate (all members): 94,6 % Membership retention rate (Corporate and Patrons): 98,5 % New members: 51 Patron: 4 Corporate: 25 Associate: 22 Membership upgrades: 11 Corporate to Patron: 6 Associate to Patron: 1 Associate to Corporate: 4 Membership downgrades: 4 Patron to Corporate: 2 Corporate to Associate: 2 Discontinued membership: 11 Patron: 0 Corporate: 2 Associate: 9 Economy & Finance AmCham Denmark grew its membership substantially in 2004, enabling the Chamber to expand its services and programs while maintaining cash reserves to guarantee one full-year s operation. At year-end 2004, the accounts showed liquid assets of over DKK , giving the Chamber a solid financial foundation for the future. Chamber Management At year-end 2004, the Chamber had four persons in its employ: Stephen Brugger (Executive Director), Chris Eberhart and Stephanie Frye (Member Relations and Services) and David Barrett (IT and Communications). In addition, the Chamber s permanent staff was supplemented by Free-lance Journalist Scott Berman to cover Chamber events and activities throughout the year and to co-edit AmCham Denmark s monthly newsletter Business News. Events & Activities During 2004, AmCham Denmark arranged over 20 well-attended events for our members and guests including regular Business Breakfasts and Executive Forums, which provided high-quality opportunities for information sharing and networking. Some event highlights included: A May Annual General Meeting with guest speaker Bendt Bendtsen, Minister of Economic & Business Affairs; a June Business Breakfast with a Congressional Delegation headed up by Representative Roy Blunt; a June Patron Member Breakfast with business legend Jack Welch and an HR Executive Forum with Employment Minister, Claus Hjort Frederiksen. Additionally, the Chamber sponsored and co-organized the U.S. Embassy s Independence Day Celebration at Rydhave, which was attended by over 800 people, as well as two high profile election events: An Election Night Party attended by over people and an Election Breakfast attended by over 250 people including several ministers, diplomats and business people as well as a welcome by Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

4 Annual General Meeting 2005 pg 6 Annual Report from the Board of Directors Committees & Business Services One of the most important aspects of AmCham Denmark is its committee system, which provides regular opportunities for communication, enabling experts within industries and sectors to share information and work together strategically to make a positive difference saw the formation of two new committees: See America-Denmark and Jutland, which join the already established Human Resources, Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC), Pharmaceutical, Analytical Instruments, Insurance and Finance, and Øresund Committees. In cooperation with the Embassy s Commercial Service, the Chamber continued to promote Company and Product Promotions at the U.S. Embassy, which include the use of the Embassy s meeting room and the Diplomat Restaurant. This service is available exclusively to U.S. companies and companies distributing U.S. products and includes Chamber planning assistance to Corporate and Patron members, free-of-charge. Publications The primary method for communicating with our growing membership as well as to our partners and colleagues is through Chamber publications. In 2004 the Chamber published ten (10) issues of its popular monthly electronic newsletter AmCham Denmark Business News, which were distributed to the Chamber membership, the U.S. Embassy, key Danish governmental agencies and ministries, selected businesses in Denmark and throughout the global network of the American Chambers of Commerce. In November, AmCham Denmark published its third Yearbook and Membership Directory, which included a review of the Chamber s activities, a new section on the AmCham European Business Network and an expanded membership section. Looking ahead One of AmCham Denmark s key goals for 2005 is to help our members take full advantage of the many opportunities the Chamber offers its members. In January, the Chamber launched a new initiative entitled Membership 101, where new and continuing members can gather, network, and learn more about how their membership can create value for their companies. Other goals include: Increasing the perceived and derived value from being a member of AmCham Denmark - both for our current membership and those we would seek to attract as members; Developing a comprehensive set of Policy positions, to be presented to appropriate policy and decision makers in government, on key issues that face our membership in general in doing business in Denmark and augmented by sector specific issues as appropriate; Seeking avenues for cooperation with organizations who are involved with strengthening the business relations between America and Denmark, from both perspectives. We look forward to helping our members increase their networks and grow their businesses during this most interesting period. Thanks In closing, we thank our partner, the US Embassy, and especially Chargé d Affaires Sally Light and Economic Officer Greg Burton for their tremendous support. We also thank the Chamber s former Honorary President Ambassador Stuart Bernstein for his important role in AmCham s success during his 3 ½ years in Denmark and wish him all the best as he resumes his business life in Washington DC. Thanks also go out to our many partners who have assisted us throughout the year on a wide range of projects and events. Finally, the Board extends its sincere thanks to the Chamber membership, for your loyal support during the past year. Your assistance in adding new members, your participation in our events, and your support generally, are all vitally important. The Chamber Board of Directors April 2005

5 Membership Growth & Current Membership List

6 Annual General Meeting 2005 pg 8 AmCham Denmark Membership Growth Current Level Number of Members Y

7 Annual General Meeting 2005 pg 9 Current Members Corporate Patron Members (59) 3M Denmark A.P. Møller - Mærsk Amerada Hess American Express Corporate Travel Amway Bentley Scandinavia Biogen Idec Brenntag Nordic Burson-Marsteller CF Geologistics ChevronTexaco CHUBB Insurance Company Cisco Systems Citigroup CNA Insurance Hansen & Klein Coca-Cola Nordic Services Computer Associates Computer Sciences Corporation Connexion by Boeing Copenhagen Marriott Hotel Dell Deloitte Discovery Networks Nordic Ecolab EDS Denmark Eli Lilly Ernst & Young Estée Lauder Cosmetics GE Money Bank Heidrick & Struggles Hertz Hewlett Packard Hilton Copenhagen Airport Intel IBM KPMG Lexmark Marsh MasterFoods Mattel Northern Europe McDonald's MCI Merck Sharp & Dohme Microsoft Motorola Nordisk Kellogg s Novell Novozymes Nypro Pfizer PriceWaterhouseCoopers SAS Institute Scientific-Atlanta Denmark Sun Microsystems Texas Instruments Trivirix UL International Demko Unisys UPS A.T. Kearney Abbot Laboratories Accelerate Accenture Accura Law Firm Agilent Technologies AIG Europe ALD Automotive Alpharma Ametek Amrop Hever Andersen & Martini AON Applied Biosystems Arkitema Assurant Services Atlas Stord B-K Medical Babcock & Vilcox Vølund Bang & Olufsen BankInvest Gruppen Bavarian Nordic Bech-Bruun Dragsted Blockbuster BMC Software Bodilsen Bowne Global Solutions Bristol-Myers Squibb Carl Bro Carlson Wagonlit Travel Corporate Members (117) Citco Coloplast Component Software Copenhagen Airports Copenhagen Business School COWI Cultivator DaimlerChrysler Danisco Dansk Handel & Service Danske Bank Dun & Bradstreet Elizabeth Arden EMC Computer Systems Emerson Process Management Fair Forsikring Ferring Pharmaceuticals Ford Motor Company General Motors GlaxoSmithKline Pharma Global Eyes Gorrissen Federspiel Kierkegaard Grant Thornton Green & Andersen Grundfos H. Lundbeck Haldor Topsøe Honeywell Horton International IDG Denmark Associate Members (78) IHS Nordic J. Lauritzen Janssen-Cilag Johnson & Johnson Jyske Bank Leif Hansen Consulting Engineers Magnusson Wahlin Qvist Stanbrook (MAQS) Maxygen McKinsey & Company Mercuri Urval Mobilglas 2000 Møbeltransport Denmark National Instruments Nordea International Novartis Novo Nordisk Nykredit Observer Denmark Ogilvy Denmark Oracle Otis (United Technologies) PeopleGroup PerkinElmer Philip Morris Pitney Bowes Management Services Premiere Security Agency Radisson SAS Hotels & Resorts Randstad Right Kjaer & Kjerulf Roche Rockwell Automation Rønne & Lundgren Sanofi-Synthelabo SAS Scandinavian Airlines Sealed Air Shurgard SimCorp Spamfighter SprintLink Denmark Struers Sun Chemical TDC Thermo Electron Toms Gruppen Tvillum-Scanbirk Uni-Chains Varian Medical Systems Velux Waters Weibel Scientific World Jet Trading Worldspan Services Wyeth Xerox York Novenco ApS Zealand Pharma ZyXEL Communications AidaCom Air France / KLM Group ALL DENMARK Relocation American Aviation Data Amicorp Arbortext Nordic Arcito Atlantic Link Avis Biludlejning Berlitz Language Services Best Talent Billetkontoret Booz Allen Hamilton Boyden international British Airways Butterflies PR Cap s Harley-Davidson Change Management ConocoPhillips Copenhagen Business Center Copenhagen Capacity Danish American Football Federation Dionex DIS - Denmark s International Study Program The Diplomat Restaurant Dunlop Effector Communications EM Growth Eversheds Advokataktieselskab Eye For Image Feedback Scandinavia Finnair FUHU Gartner GHDsign Global Refund Greater Richmond Partnership, Inc. Gugin Hans Just Havreholm Slot The Hennessy Group Hobart Foster Houghton The International Institute of Written Oxford English Icelandair Scandinavia IMS Health Invest in Denmark Kinetico KL - Marketing Kuoni Denmark Leo Burnett Lionbridge Technologies MBE (Mail Boxes Etc.) Moore Stephens NHG NJT NLP World, Copenhagen Nordic Asset Management Nordic Phytopharma OFS Fitel OneSeal PPC Denmark PrimeTime Communication Radiometer Medical Resenbro + Partners ResQ Rosendahl International Sales Force 1 Scandinavian Cruise Center / Scandinavian Travel Center Scott Berman PR Settwell Stanley Nordic Symbol Technologies T. Rowe Price Travel Partner United Airlines Virksomhedsskolen Viewpoint Communication Woer / Gregorius