Scandinavian Society Siam Appoints Thomas Raldorf Chairman

Thomas Raldorf, editor of the Scandinavian Bulletin for a number of years was elected new Chairman of the Scandinavian Society Siam on May 10 2006.
Other members elected to the new board are Sten Olesen, Joakim Persson, Wanna Anant, Tiina Sipila Simawit, Jerker Eric Hellander, Kenneth Jorgensen, Elina Koski, Elisabeth L. Leirvaag, Anne-Marie Hauslo.
The new board will convene for its first meeting on 24 May to sort out who will be in charge of what area of responsibility.
John Svengren was elected Chairman of the meeting, which was held as usual at the Amari Boulevard Hotel, Sukhumvit Soi 5 in Bangkok. John Svengren noted that the meeting was lawfully called and gave the word to outgoing Chairman Anne-Marie Hauslo to brief members on the past year of activity.
In doing so, Anne-Marie Hauslo called on Elina Koski to report on the parties, Ole Petersen for a report on the Football Section, Klaus Stoeve for a report on the Golf Section, Thomas Raldorf for a report on the Motorsports Section and Jerker Hellander for a report on the website.
Next, treasurer Gregers Moller reported on the profit and loss statement and the balance sheet of the Society, which triggered a lengthy and at points heated dialogue between the members.
The net result of minus of 103,000 Baht was due mainly to an unusually high number of cancelled memberships due to lack of payment and high costs for the first full year with a staffed office.
This investment had not translated into higher revenue or less decline in membership, Gregers Moller reported.
Jorgen Ib Hedes described the situation with currently 206 members left in the Society as being in “deep shit”, a characterization which Gregers Moller could not agree with. Many of the deleted members had been re-invoiced the previous year although they had already at that time shown no sign of inclination to pay.
John Svengren’s attempt to keep the discussion on the treasurer’s report was overruled by Josie Alm who said that in her opinion the declining membership might be due to lack of activities especially for non-Scandinavian spouses.
Other suggestions for the new board was offered by Tom Sorensen, who said the current rule of changing chairman every year may not be in the best interests of the Society. He encouraged the newly elected Chairman to consider staying on for one more term as the experience of the Chambers suggests that the second term will often be more productive than the first.

About Gregers Møller

Editor-in-Chief • ScandAsia Publishing Co., Ltd. • Bangkok, Thailand

View all posts by Gregers Møller

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