A portrait of… Charlotte Ullberg, the ECM Treasurer
…but Charlotte Ullberg is not only the ECM treasurer, officially approved by the General Assembly last June in Las Palmas. Since 2005 she has been the Marketing Director MIC at Uppsala Tourism, prior to which she worked as Business Development Manager for Stockholm Visitors Board AB (formerly called the Stockholm Information Service), Project Manager at Congress Stockholm and Director of Marketing in the Nordic and Baltic countries, Nordic SIAR Bossard (known today as Gemini Consultants). Charlotte splits her time between her job at Uppsala Tourism and her farm. On top of all that she has two children, Ulf, 19, and Freja, 17, and naturally, still has enough time and energy for skiing, hiking, contemporary design, Swedish crafts and dancing.
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What is interesting about being ECM Treasurer and part of Executive Committee?
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According to fictional drug baron, Tony Montana (the main character from the 1983 film Scarface), “first you get the money, then you get the power, then you get the women”. Although the women are unlikely to materialise in my case (being a woman I rather prefer men), with responsibility for ECM’s budgets, the Treasurer certainly has some power, but is also very much supported by the good work being done by Flavie and the entire ECM Head Office team. It’s very interesting to learn more about all the great work that’s done by ECM staff and members and how many activities we initiate and organise every year.\n
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For me Uppsala is… the central meeting point in Sweden. Even before the Viking Age Uppsala was an important meeting point: local chieftains gathered here on a regular basis to select their kings, to conduct trade, and to settle legal disputes. Uppsala Cathedral hovers impressively over the city skyline as a reminder that Uppsala has also retained its position as a national religious centre down through the ages.
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Behind its historical façade, the city is also still intensely engaged in science and research through its two universities with their 40,000 students and researchers. This creates a good basis for the dynamic life of the city with its mixture of young and old, culture and science, sports and events.
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The “project” I am focusing on these days… is the transformation of Uppsala Tourism from a tourism to a destination company. For us, it’s a time of great change and even greater opportunity. A chance to restructure and better to focus our efforts on what we do best – promoting Uppsala as an ideal place to live, work, visit and invest.
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But I am also focusing on the ECM Autumn Meeting. I’m so happy to be able to host ECM Autumn Meeting in Uppsala, from 4th to 6th October, 2010. I bid you welcome and I hope that you will find what you are looking for in Uppsala and, just as importantly, that you will enjoy your stay with us.
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My favourite… cattle aren’t gentle dairy types, but Aberdeen Angus. They are small, black beasts, fed on enriched grass and home-grown hay that I cut on my farm each summer. This is the theory behind the way in which I and my two children, Ulf and Freja, live. Life on my farm has distilled my strongly held beliefs. I have succeeded in bringing together, in one place, a low-energy, low-resource lifestyle. I produce meat that is healthier and tastier and which creates better conditions for wildlife to thrive.
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I feed the cattle entirely on meadow grass in summer and hay in winter. I’m up with the sun each morning. It is hard to combine this hobby with my ordinary work at Uppsala Tourism, but there is a huge amount of satisfaction in working with the farm and the animals in my free time. The way we do it encourages the wildlife. This year six calves were born, and at two years old (twice the age of supermarket beef) they will be slaughtered and the meat sold to friends in mixed boxes – some topside, rib, steak, mince and braising beef. I also keep nine ‘Gotlands’ sheep, which I turn into mutton, and an orchard of old apple varieties grown on tall crabapple stock, which allows the sheep to graze beneath. This year I’ve also bought a couple of hens, so I have fresh eggs for breakfast.
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No one doing this should expect to sit down to watch television before nine in the evening, as it is all work. Yet the work at Uppsala Tourism in combination with the activities on my farm gives me satisfaction and harmony.
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A place I would like to visit is New Zealand, which I’ve been told has a spectacularly beautiful landscape that includes vast mountain chains, steaming volcanoes, sweeping coastlines, deeply indented fiords and lush rainforests and which is one of the world’s least crowded countries. I have also heard that it’s a country for those seeking relaxation as well as a playground for adventurers. That would be perfect for me and my two teenagers.
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The popularity of Lord of the Rings has seen New Zealand tourism companies offer a wide range of tours that cover location sites and general sightseeing or adventure activities. I found this very interesting both from a personal and a professional point of view.
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A destination is successful in the world of tourism when…the destination comprises a network of tourism enterprises and organisations that show dedication to and success in maintaining a programme of sustainable tourism management at the destination level, incorporating social, cultural, environmental and economic aspects as well as multi-stakeholder engagement.
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If I could change one thing in the world, I would… make it so it would be physically impossible to rape or abuse children, men, women, whomever…
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