Small chapter with big, but realistic ambitions
NorCham Philadelphia
Photo courtesy of Frode Kjersem
NorCham Philadelphia President Frode Kjersem holds two fish he caught in Northern Norway this summer. He would like his next catch would like to be Norwegian businesses for Philadelphia.
Philadelphia has long existed in the shadows of New York and Washington, D.C. The image has changed as organizations like Visit Philadelphia, Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, Select Greater Philadelphia, Global Philadelphia Association, and others aggressively push the city’s positives and flipped the proximity to New York, Washington, and Boston as a strength.
NorCham Philadelphia, in wanting to attract Norwegian businesses, faces similar challenges. In addition, there is also no Norwegian population base like in Minneapolis, Seattle, and Chicago
“That is a challenge for us and for Philadelphia’s Commerce Department and business development entities in general,” said Frode Kjersem, who has been NorCham Philadelphia president for most of the time since the chapter was founded in 2013. “There isn’t so much a Norwegian footprint here in Philadelphia, but we have the strengths of Philadelphia. Traditionally, we had the Philly Shipyard that used to be owned by Aker. That was the Norwegian anchor businesswise here in the United States and in Philadelphia for about two decades. However, the ownership changed hands last spring to a Korean group.”
Former Shipyard CEO Steinar Nerbøvik was a major participant in the Philadelphia chapter.
“We are actively promoting opportunities for Norwegian businesses, startups to come over here and try it out,” said Kjersem. “It’s a great place to start a business. It’s on the East Coast, only a seven-hour flight from Norway, and has 6.5 million people within a two-hour drive from the city center. Philadelphia has a lot to offer for international entrepreneurs, for startups. It’s a very affordable city compared with New York, and it’s also very accessible in terms of the startup ecosystem that exists there. It also has great startup incentive programs. We are all eager to promote that to the right type of companies that are eager to test it out.”
It has passed the test for Kjersem. He first came to the United States to attend the University of Missouri, where he earned a bachelor’s degree.
“I’ve always been attracted to the United States because it has an open economy, and it has a great culture for innovation and entrepreneurship,” said Kjersem. “Those are things attractive to me and hence, I wanted to work here. I did look at opportunities after I graduated, although the timing wasn’t right at the time.”
The Oslo native returned to Norway but kept an eye out for jobs in the United States. He worked for a Norwegian company that was acquired by FMC Corporation, a global agricultural sciences company based in Philadelphia. He was sent to Philadelphia on an interim one-year deal as an “in-between coordinator, bridging all the marketing programs and digital presence for both entities.” That was in 1999.
For many years after, Kjersem worked in the corporate sector as a project manager in IT. Four years ago, the opportunity came to work with a Norwegian health tech startup, Pletly, as a co-founder. Pletly develops technology to better support care workers and special education teachers. In the United States, they’re based in Philadelphia, which co-founder/CEO Marius Mathisen considers his second home.
“I like Philadelphia because it’s a very accessible and walkable city, with great people, and it also has a lot of great neighborhoods,” said Kjersem. “We (he and his wife) live in South Philly and we’re really enjoying that environment.”
Despite the size, the chapter has created and/or co-sponsored a variety of timely, political and cultural programs, but its signature event predated the chapter. Aug. 18 was the 20th and last golf outing, the “Fifth Major” fundraiser/silent auction. For the whole time, treasurer Christer Andresen and vice president Hans Petter Andresen — no relation — has arranged everything. Kjersem presented each of them a trophy of appreciation on the 18th. Over $200,000 has been donated to charities such as Jefferson Cancer Research, Smith Foundation, First Tee, Habitat for Humanity, Chester County, and Caring for Friends.
“HP and I had just joined the Swedish chamber, and we thought a good fundraiser would be a golf outing,” explained Christer about the origins of the event. “We started at Jeffersonville, Pa., with 42 people, and when we broke away from the Swedish chamber, we took the outing with us. We ran it through the Scandinavian American Business Forum, followed by NACC and now NorCham. As it became more popular, we jokingly called it the Fifth Major since the top four majors are the most prestigious (PGA) golf tournaments. It has stuck ever since.”
They earn some money through golfer fees, but most dollars come from the sale of silent-auction items and raffle tickets. Half of the proceeds are donated to the charity. This year’s event drew 64 people, but the average was between 70 and 75. Amazingly, the highest turnout was 125 in 2020 during the pandemic.
Though this is the last golf outing, the Andresens say there will be a new fundraiser of some kind.
Among the chapter’s “visibility” events was in 2017. Board member Tess Kristensen, an adjunct professor at Temple University, had her business students survey Norwegian businesses about what they knew about Philadelphia. The answers were little to nothing.
To change this, on March 30, 2017, the chapter hosted an on-site and virtual event, “Oceans of Opportunity: Increasing Trade Between Norway and Philadelphia.”
Jason Turflinger, managing director of the American Chamber of Commerce Norway in Oslo and Gro Dyrnes, regional director Americas for Innovation Norway, San Francisco, were online. A panel of representatives from different organizations, including the director of international business investment for the city, talked about Philadelphia as a destination for Norwegian businesses.
What are those assets?
Sept. 3 will mark the 10th anniversary of Philadelphia becoming the first American city designated a World Heritage City.
On July 31, Startup Genome cited Philadelphia for rising 12 spots to 13th in the world for startup ecosystems.
Philadelphia has four suburban counties but also borders South Jersey and Northern Delaware. If you incorporate Cecil County, Md., the population is 6.5 million. There are over 100 colleges in Philadelphia, its counties, South Jersey and Delaware, including the top-ranked finance college, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. This means 90,000+ graduates a year, more than 4,000 in biomedical and biological fields.
There are five medical schools in the city aligned with University of Pennsylvania, Temple, Drexel, Thomas Jefferson Universities, and Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. There are 85 hospitals and clinics as well as 15 major medical systems featuring cutting-edge research in biomedical, gene and cell therapy, cancer, and numerous pharmaceutical companies.
“Philadelphia is known to be a Med Ed town, so this is a very strong educational health-care environment and ecosystem,” said Kjersem. “We have some of the best leading research in, for instance, gene therapy. We have some of the most prestigious universities in the world here.”
Of course, Philadelphia is the birthplace of the nation, the story told through Independence Hall, Liberty Bell, the National Constitution Center and Museum of the American Revolution. In addition, there are the renowned cultural institutions like Philadelphia Museum of Art, Barnes Foundation (art), Rodin sculpture museum, The Franklin Institute, and the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University.
Housing costs are 24.1% cheaper than in New York.
Should one have to visit those other cities, it’s around a two-hour drive to New York or Baltimore, almost three hours to Washington, and less than an hour flight to Boston.
Among other events co-sponsored: “The Future of NATO” on Feb. 19, 2025, with the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia. Anniken Huitfeldt, Norwegian ambassador to the United States, and Kristjan Prikk, Estonian ambassador to the United States, traveled from Washington to speak at “200th Anniversary of Norwegian Constitution” at the National Constitution Center on Oct. 22, 2014, with Norwegian consul general in New York and others, “The Nordic Economic Model: Successes, Challenges, and the Future” on December 15, 2014. Socially, there are annual winter holiday parties and Torsdagspils, Scandinavians meeting socially at a Center City bar on the third Thursday evening of the month.
It is a small chapter with big ambitions.
“You can say that,” said Kjersem. “Big ambitions but also being realistic and targeted in terms of what can be of most value for our membership. Our small chapter activity level is relatively modest, but we are proud of the programs that we have pulled off over the years. They have been targeted toward partnerships with local organizations and institutions.
“We have fewer resources than some of the other chapters in NorCham, and we are 100% reliant on volunteerism. For us, it makes sense to have stronger ties to a national network and have D.C. support for what we are doing to a larger degree. So, for us, we are interested in moving the national agenda. The goal for the chapter is to increase the visibility of the opportunities of the Greater Philadelphia region for the Norwegian business community.”
This article originally appeared in the September 2025 issue of The Norwegian American.
