Claes Bjerkne: A “Team Player” Leader
Claes Bjerkne grew up with his family’s business and this experience was crucial for his career. His understanding of how the private sector functions gave him a real advantage later in his professional life. He joined the tourism industry when he accepted a job as a General Manager in a city in western Sweden. He got three cities on the Swedish west coast working together and introduced a long-term partnership with the private sector – a brand new idea for Sweden in the 70’s.
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He worked as General Manager of a regional tourist organisation in West Sweden and, in 1990, he started and developed Göteborg & Co as a platform for public-private partnership. For almost two decades he worked on the development of Gothenburg as a destination… and here again, his knowledge of the private and public sectors proved crucial in projects that were often oriented to media, communication, and, of course, business and politics.
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For 10 years Claes Bjerkne was on the board of the Swedish Tourist Board and besides regional and national tourism development projects in Sweden, he also invested a lot of effort in the international network. He joined the ECT Board in 1999 and between 2002 and 2006 spent 4 years as President of the association, staying on afterwards as a board member.
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The best moment of my professional career:
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Is still to come! I am now going back to basics building a private company and I am totally convinced that the best lies ahead.
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Why I will never forget the ECM/EFCT/ECT meeting …
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I will never forget the people, the many great human beings and friends I have met thanks to ECM because the most important thing about a MEETing is to MEET. And indeed, it is the most important thing in life, which is all about the relationships we have with people.
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ECM has brought me…
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Friends, a great network, knowledge, access to many cities, inspiration, quality of life and, not least during my presidency, a lot of work…
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One cannot survive working in tourism without….
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Dreams and ambitions. However, that’s not all – if you dream, you have to be stubborn, as well as having a holistic perspective and a great team of good people. In brief, you need dreams but you need missions, goals and strategies so you can make your dreams come true.
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Finally, I will have the time to….
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Nowadays, I feel I can really contribute and, hopefully, I can be of some use to the industry. I hope to be able to help some cities to develop as successful destinations. But right now, I am very much looking forward to seeing you all at the ECM Annual Conference in June. I can assure you that we have done our utmost to ensure that you’ll enjoy your time in Gothenburg. And I will have the time to become an active member of the ECM Friendship Group!
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