Fostering transatlantic businesses

What if the Russian economy hadn’t collapsed? What if Jason Turflinger’s college roommate weren’t Norwegian? What if he had followed his mother’s pleas to return to graduate school?

Circumstances happen, goals change, opportunity knocks. Turflinger attended the University of South Florida in Tampa, studying political science and Russian while working 39.5 hours a week for Bank of America. He had an offer to work in Moscow, but the Russian economy crashed, shutting that door. He visited his Norwegian friend in Norway. Wanting to live in a foreign country for a spell, he thought, why not Norway?

“A year or two has turned into 26 years now, 22 at AmCham Norway,” says the AmCham managing director from Oslo, proving the path in life is not linear. “I think sometimes it’s ironic. A lot of people with Norwegian roots are bound and determined to make it back here, either for vacation or to live here for a while. They spend a lot of time learning the language. I have no Norwegian heritage. I just leaped.”

Turflinger is responsible for helping businesses chart the path and negotiate the roadblocks in transatlantic business, whether it’s American companies coming west who want to expand into Norway or Norwegian companies migrating east to establish roots in the United States, using AmCham’s vast network in America. AmCham provides the platform for Norwegian and American businesses in Norway to network, exploring the possibility of collaboration.

“My mother always wanted me to get my master’s degree,” said Turflinger, who grew up in Fort Wayne, Ind. “I used to tell her, ‘I feel like I work on my degree every day by working with so many different business leaders.’ Every day is different. You learn quite a bit. We’re empowered by our members to facilitate business. We can be creative when doing that on behalf of such great companies.

“Most of what we do is relationship management. Member companies stay, but the people representing them shift on a regular basis. A big part of our job is knowing who at company X would be the right person to talk to at company Y. Personally, that facilitation has kept it very interesting for 22 plus years. You come in each morning with what you need to get done. I hope to get 40%-50% of that done. The other 50% is whatever happens that day. All of us here must be flexible.”

AmCham was established in 1958 in Oslo as The American Club. In 1999, it merged with the Norwegian American Chamber of Commerce Oslo. There are over 130 AmChams in the world. AmCham Norway has over 240 members across 21 industries. Members are scattered across the country, though most are in Oslo. There are four full-time staff members and one intern to make the operation hum.

Photo: Nancy Bundt
Jason Turflinger, managing director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Norway.

“When I started at AmCham, there were discussions about us being headquartered in Stavanger with a field office in Oslo because the U.S. energy companies were by far and away the biggest members and were located there,” said Turflinger. “We didn’t do that, but we are AmCham Norway and not AmCham Oslo. Our many Oslo region meetings reflect where most members are physically based. That said, we host meetings in Stavanger and Arendal. We have delegations that go down to Lindesnes. GE Healthcare [based in Chicago] has a big facility there. In March, we’ll head up north to Tromsø and Svalbard with a small delegation. We are active and have an extensive network around the country. Local city chambers of commerce play an important partnership role. We facilitate dialogue between a city’s key public or private sector and the specific business.”

AmCham is guided by three pillars — member services, policy and advocacy, and events — and the credo, “Membership Built, Membership Driven.” Obviously, member services and events are interconnected. An event that meets a business’ interests becomes a member service and can increase membership. The event also allows businesses to connect. According to the AmCham website, “our cross-industry forums and leadership development programs have helped us quadruple our membership since 1998.” Then, there are annual social programs, such as the golf tournament, tasting of American wines, and American Thanksgiving Charity Dinner, attended by 200 people.

The Thanksgiving event isn’t just to present an American holiday, but “to celebrate transatlantic friendship, express gratitude, and support a meaningful cause.” Proceeds from an auction and raffle are donated to charity. The 11th annual in 2025 raised almost $13,500 for UNICEF Norway. The sponsors were 3M (Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company), whose most notable products are Scotch tape, Scotchgard, Post-it notes, and Nexcare adhesive bandages); KPMG (Klynveld, Peat, Marwick, and Goerdeler), a worldwide professional services company including business accounting, and MSD (Merck, Sharp and Dohme), a worldwide research pharmaceutical company.

“We have 50% American companies, 40% Norwegian, and 10% third country,” said Turflinger. “Third country companies would include Bayer or Icelandair, for example. All have transatlantic operations. We do upward of 50 different meetings and events throughout any given year. We’re constantly working on events of all shapes and sizes. They can be focused on very specific trade issues or broader, like the Thanksgiving Charity Dinner.

“We host our Transatlantic Assembly every spring. We do a big corporate golf tournament each August. We’re active at ONS (Offshore Northern Seas) global energy conference in Stavanger every other year, and at Arendalsuka in Arendal each summer.

“Member services boil down to facilitating businesses connecting with other companies. We profile their contributions, both in Norway and the United States, in terms of investments, new technologies, R&D, job creation, taxes paid.

“Our third tranche is advocacy work. We collaborate on behalf of member companies where we can have a real impact on business’ critical issues. There is a wide array of issues within transatlantic business. We work with members across our 21 industry groups.”

A major program is the 10-year mentorship program. Among the uniqueness is mentees-mentors are not paired in the same industry, but cross-industry. One reason is the program’s intent is not to be a pathway to a job; another is to gain insights into business from a different perspective.

“This was formed via our best practices exchanges with other AmChams in the Nordic neighborhood,” said Turflinger. “Within our increasingly popular program, member company leader mentors are paired with rising member company mentees. Participants fill out a questionnaire, indicating what they’re hoping to get out of the program, as well as what they’d like to improve upon professionally. Each company decides who their mentors and mentees are. Sometimes we’ll have mentors in their 30s. Sometimes we’ll have mentees in their 30s. Participating companies determine what they want to prioritize in terms of professional development. We then pair them up with the most appropriate person from a different industry group. I’ve participated almost every year as a mentor. I get as much out of it as my mentees do. Mentors receive perspectives from vastly different industries, as well as an opportunity for introspection on leadership style.

“Our pairing works out very well. We measure the program’s success by the fact that every year we have more people in the program. We’ve had many repeat mentors. We also have mentees who have gone on to be mentors. It’s a rewarding program to host.”

As for AmCham generally, words like “attracting” and “placing businesses” in Norway or the United States, are not part of its vocabulary. Turflinger continually uses “facilitate/facilitating/facilitation.”

“There are nearly 400 American companies in Norway,” said Turflinger. “We spend a good amount of our recruiting energy ensuring as many of those American companies are AmCham members. Other transatlantic companies are naturally attracted to our business community, which is the largest of its kind in Norway.

“Members engage one another in a trusting environment. If company X needs some unique technology that you’ve created, we’re going to provide the platform upon which you can explore opportunities. You can ask those questions and have those conversations. It often takes some time before joint projects come to fruition. The members are the stars, and AmCham is their platform. We’re in the (nonprofit) business of championing commerce.”