H.R.H. Princess Madeleine
DEPUTY HONORARY CHAIR, WORLD CHILDHOOD FOUNDATION
After graduating from Stockholm University in 2006, Princess Madeleine carried out an internship at UNICEF in New York in spring 2006. That autumn, she learnt more about humanitarian issues by studying a master’s course in organization and leadership at Stockholm University. The Princess continued her master’s studies at the School of Social Work in spring 2007 and completed a university course in child psychology in the fall. While studying, The Princess became increasingly active in the work of the World Childhood Foundation and has been working with Childhood since 2006. In the United States, The Princess subsequently worked at the offices of Childhood, including project visits to various parts of the country. The Princess also helped to coordinate humanitarian efforts and projects such as preventing human trafficking and sexual exploitation, public awareness work and fundraising. Princess Madeleine serves as its Vice Honorary Chair and is an Honorary member of Childhood USA’s board.
Lauren Aste
CHAIR OF THE BOARD
Sofia Chappuis
VICE-CHAIR Childhood USASofia was formerly the Director of Business Development at Citi Private Bank, North America. She was a Project Manager at Capgemini focusing on Financial Serviceswith experience in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.She has a Masters of Science degree in International Business from Stockholm School of Economics, and attended courses at Bocconi University in Milan, Stockholm University, and Sorbonne in Paris.
Paula Guillet de Monthoux
SECRETARY GENERAL Childhood SwedenPaula has been the Secretary General of the World Childhood Foundation for over 9 years. She previously worked at UNICEF for 15 years in various roles.Paula is the chair of the Board for Giva Sverige (the Swedish Fundraising Association). She was previously the chairman of the board for the Global Child Forum and a member of the Board of Directors of the Maternity Foundation. She attended Stockholm University and Geneva Graduate Institute and was a PhD Fellow at Copenhagen Business School.
Helenmarie Rodgers
TREASURER
Helenmarie [HM] Rodgers is President & CEO of Belgraton Ltd, an investment consulting firm in London. The firm advises large financial institutions and major management consulting firms. HM has a thirty-year career investing in, managing, structuring, and marketing portfolios in non-traditional investments at firms such as Salomon Brothers, UBP, JPMorgan, Chase Capital, and, more recently, KKR/PAAMCO/Prisma, where she spent 16 years. HM has been actively involved in ESG (environmental, social, and governance) initiatives for many years. She served on the alternative investment sub-committee of the United Nations PRI, focusing on implementation solutions for AI funds adopting ESG. HM also led the Emerging Manager program at KKR for alternative managers, sourcing and advising diversity managers on launching private funds. She was an active member of the KKR Inclusion and Diversity Committee, negotiating partnerships with external organizations to promote diversity and inclusion. During the Obama administration, HM served on the White House task force on legislation for emerging managers, led by Valerie Jarrett. She was also a founding member of 100 Women in Finance. HM earned her B.S. in Business from Tulane University and an MBA in Finance from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
Board Members
Madeleine Ekholm
Madeleine brings a wealth of experience and a lifelong dedication to fostering Swedish-American business and cultural relations. She served as Executive Assistant to Marcus Wallenberg, Marketing, and Information Director at SEB Fonder (where she was also part of the Management Team), and CEO of NordNet, Sweden’s first internet-based brokerage firm. In the United States, Madeleine has also focused on philanthropy, working extensively in fundraising and development. During a brief return to Sweden, she served as Senior Advisor and Head of Major Gifts for the Swedish Lung and Heart Foundation. She founded her own company, where she created bespoke events designed to strengthen Swedish-American relations. Her initiatives include organizing week-long business trips to NYC for Swedish businesswomen. She was previously on the board of Westminster School in Connecticut and co-founded Horizons at Westminster, a summer program aimed at closing opportunity gaps for students from Hartford. She is on the board of Childhood USA, where she co-chairs External Affairs, and serves as an advisor to Princess Estelle’s Cultural Foundation in Sweden.
Dan Flanigan
Polsinelli
Dan is an attorney with POLSINELLI, a national law firm of more than 1000 lawyers with offices in more than 20 U.S. cities. He has for many years been selected for inclusion in the annual Best Lawyers in America. He attended the University of Kansas (B.S. Journalism), Rice University (Ph.D. American History), and the University of Houston (J.D.). He and his wife Candy founded Sierra Tucson, an internationally renowned Residential Treatment Center for Drug & Alcohol Addiction & Behavioral Health. Dan is also an author. He has during the last few years published a book of poetry (Tenebrae: A Memoir of Love and Death), a collection of short fiction (Dewdrops), and, thus far, four novels in his Peter O’Keefe private detective series (Mink Eyes, The Big Tilt, On Lonesome Roads, An American Tragedy).
Emma Gage
MELKE
With a focus on craft, Emma Gage is a fashion designer and advocate whose work merges ethical responsibility with artistic expression. As the founder and creative director of MELKE, she is committed to redefining luxury through sustainable practices and transparent production with a goal to bridge craft, ethics, and emotion.
Emma believes that true luxury begins with human connection. Through her partnership with Knit One, Change One (KOCO), she works with female artisans in rural India to create handcrafted knitwear that carries both beauty and purpose. Each piece is an exchange of skill, culture, and care and is a reminder that fashion can celebrate joy, preserve tradition, and uplift lives. For Emma, craftsmanship is more than technique; it’s a shared story between maker and wearer. Equally committed to preserving craft at home, she works with historic manufacturers in New York’s Garment District, supporting local production and helping to sustain the legacy of American garment-making. For Emma, craftsmanship is more than technique; it’s a shared story between maker and wearer, rooted in dignity, heritage, and heart.
Her collections, shown at New York Fashion Week and carried by specialty boutiques internationally, reflect a balance of conceptual design, refined tailoring, and unexpected whimsy. Before launching MELKE, Emma worked with designers including Betsey Johnson, NiNA Tiari, and Kate Hudson, gaining hands-on experience in both heritage and contemporary fashion houses. She earned her BFA in Fashion Design from Marist University, where she was a two-time Fashion Scholarship Fund recipient and a Kate Spade & Company Foundation Scholar. She was invited to join the CFDA as an interim member in 2022.
Karini Gustafson-Teixeira
Karini co-founded Thankyou by Childhood in 2013 and the #Eyes Wide Open campaign in 2015 for World Childhood Foundation. She co-wrote the book Stella and the Secret, published by Bonnier in five different languages in 2019. That same year, she also co-founded Moose Tech with Sophie Stenbeck, a summit of ideas and entrepreneurs in Stockholm in 2019. She was formerly International Project Director for Asap Worldwide, creating political and economic analyses for 13 different countries while living in them for a period of time. Countries like Mongolia, Haiti, Ghana, Venezuela, Romania, Peru, Greece, and Spain, among others. In 2004, she worked for the Senate political campaign of Peter Coors in Colorado. Her main passion is singing, and she has sung the national anthem at events like George Bush’s inauguration and the Season Opening for Major League Baseball in 1999. She did her master’s in foreign service at Georgetown University, her postgraduate continuing studies at Stanford University, and her undergraduate studies at Tecnológico de Monterrey. Karini now lives in Florida and has four children. She currently sits on the board of the American Scandinavian Foundation and actively works with the Alumni Admission’s Program of Georgetown University. She is currently co-creator of a new animated TV series for children called Hidden Islands, which has been signed by SkyShowtime and the Danish Film Institute for 2026.
Joanna Heimbold
Joanna, a performing artist and designer, is the founder of Millwright Design, which is a business providing interior design services, as well as creative content for the performing arts and childhood education. Joanna was also the interior stylist for a children’s book entitled Baby’s Room, published by Chronicle Books. In the performing arts, Ms. Heimbold is known for her acting and creative role with Instant Girl, a dance/theater group.
She has appeared on The Jon Stewart Show, MTV, PBS City Arts, The Tracey Ullman Show, and The Nanny Diaries. She has also written blogs for HuffPost’s STYLIST and was featured by Charlotte Moss in a summer issue of House Beautiful. She is currently working on a line of fabrics for the table and home. The Swedish American Chamber of Commerce enlisted Joanna to moderate the Swedish American Executive Women’s Conference in Stockholm and New York, a gathering for high-level corporate executives. Joanna is a proud half-Swede, has two sons, and lives between Connecticut and Los Angeles.
Charlotte Heuveldop
Charlotte joined the Board in 2022 after being actively involved with Childhood for a longer time. She brings multicultural experience and has consistently supported organizations focused on children’s well-being. Some of her engagements include serving as a court-appointed special advocate, performing therapeutic horsemanship for children with special needs in Texas, and initiating and participating in education and development programs in shantytowns in Costa Rica. Her background includes work as a law consultant, relocation, and real estate agent. Charlotte holds a Master of Laws and a real estate degree and has pursued additional studies in psychology, business, HR, and intercultural communication.
Lena Kaplan
Lena Kaplan has been actively involved in Scandinavian matters for more than 30 years. In 1972, two years after arriving in New York, she founded Svea, an organization for Swedish women living in the city where they could exchange ideas, share Swedish traditions, and keep in touch with Swedish developments. Lena Kaplan has been an Executive Trustee of the American Scandinavian Foundation (ASF) since 1984 and served as the Vice Chairman for Sweden. She also served as President of the organization from 1989-1996. The ASF Niels Poulson Award, recognizing outstanding dedication and service by a member of the Board of Trustees, was presented to Lena in 2022. During her tenure, she spearheaded the efforts to establish a Nordic cultural center in New York. Her work was crucial in creating the Scandinavia House, which included extensive public spaces to present Scandinavian culture and society to a broad and diverse audience, along with a new headquarters for ASF. After she stepped down as President, Mrs. Kaplan joined the Scandinavia House Operations and Art & Program committees, on which she continues to serve. Today, she is Deputy Chairman of the ASF Board. In 1988, on the 350th anniversary of the founding of New Sweden in what is now Wilmington, Delaware, she served as the chair of the committee responsible for organizing a city-wide celebration. Lena helped launch and was the first chair of The American Roul Wallenberg Committee to search for information from Russia about the whereabouts of Wallenberg. She attended Uppsala University in Sweden and Columbia University.
Caren Khoo
Verizon
Caren Khoo, Vice President & Deputy General Counsel, leads the legal team for all central functions for Verizon Business, including Marketing, Product, Global Customer Operations, Strategy, Business Transformation, Technology Solutions, Artificial Intelligence, Regulatory Compliance, Information Security, Privacy, and Professional Services. As the former general counsel for the Global Technology Solutions (IT) organization and Verizon head of intellectual property, Caren established the company’s AI and open-source software legal practices and led the creation and launch of Verizon’s AI Council and Responsible AI governance program.
At Verizon, Caren has served in increasingly complex and broad legal and policy roles involving global services, network and technology, product development, emerging tech, new business incubation, customer service, sales operations, data governance, ethical AI, digital trust and safety, software development, supply chain risk management, finance operations, state public policy and government affairs, digital transformation, and intellectual property prosecution, licensing, and M&A.
Long committed to developing talent, building high-performing teams, and fostering diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, Caren co-founded and leads the New York regional chapter of ChIPs, a non-profit organization formed to connect and advance women in technology, law, and policy, and also serves on the organization’s national Social Justice Committee. For nearly two decades, Caren has also volunteered her time and pro bono legal support for efforts focused on empowering children and teens, especially first-generation and low-income students, to see possibilities for themselves, navigate conflict, and reach their potential.
Caren earned a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Rutgers University, and her J.D. and master’s degree in intellectual property from the UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law. Before Verizon, she practiced IP litigation at Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto (now Venable) and Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr. She lives in Morris County, NJ, with her husband and two children.
Salma Merchant Rahmathulla
Salma brings over two decades of diverse global experience. Salmaruns her family’s foundation funding projects in the US & India supporting children’s education, women’s empowerment, health care and livelihoods. She isthe co-founder of a Twin City Art Deco Centennial Celebration, which will honor the shared cultural and architectural heritage of Miami and Mumbai. She serves on the board of The Underline, 120-acre linear park reshaping Miami and is part of the Regional Council of The Smithsonian. She began her career at JPMorgan, working in the London and Paris offices, before transitioning to development roles at the UN in New York and The World Bank in D.C. She has worked both behind and in front of the camera for BBC World Service, Channel 4 and NDTV. She was the Creative Director of her family company – Pelicans, where she oversaw operations in Europe and Asia, designing and distributing luxury leather goods worldwide. Salmaholds a master’s from The London School of Economics and lives in Miami with her husband and two young children.
Lauriann Serra
Lauriann brings over two decades of global marketing communications experience. She has held roles at the world’s leading global marketing communications agencies and global brands, recently as as EVP, Managing Director of Health & Wellness at Publicis New York; Managing Director, USA at The Goat Agency, part of WPP, a leading influencer global advertising agency; and at Ogilvy as Senior Partner, Managing Director. Her role is not only to increase desire for her brands and programs, but to help create a voice and reason for them to exist in their consumers’ lives and the world.
During her 15 years at Ogilvy, she played both North American and Global roles across the agency and led Nestlé NA, with a focus on health and wellness. While at Ogilvy, she led the UNICEF relationship and helped launch UNICEF’s Generation Unlimited, with the mission of giving opportunity to the world’s 1.8 billion young people by connecting them to employment and entrepreneurship opportunities. She also partnered with UNICEF on World Immunization Week.
She spent the first part of her career on the brand side with The LEGO Company, where she was part of the iconic global brand’s Global Innovation and Marketing group in New York, London, and Denmark.
Lauriann earned a BFA in Communication Design from Syracuse University. She is an avid traveler, has studied and lived in various places in the US and abroad. She currently lives in New York.
Annika Sten Pärson
Annika Sten Pärson has a broad portfolio of activities within social impact and commercial enterprises as a social entrepreneur, board member, and investor. In 2021, Annika and Pär-Jörgen Pärson established The Inner Foundation, which focuses on addressing the accelerating global mental health crisis and mounting challenges in diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.The foundation aims to strengthen the mental well-being of emerging adults (aged 18-30) and diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging through supporting innovative social entrepreneurs. Annika co-founded 1825, a Stockholm-based non-profit clinic in the mental health sector serving vulnerable young adults with therapeutic support. Annika has more than 25 years of experience in C-level management positions leading sizeable operations in Telecoms/Media/Cable, Retailing, and Consumer Goods. Annika’s primary residence is in Stockholm, Sweden. She also spends time in New York City.
Honorary Board of Directors
Jon W. Brayshaw
Prime Finance
Jon is the Co-Founder of Prime Finance and a member of the Investment Committees for each strategy. He leads the New York office, where he oversees Capital Markets and Legal Strategy for the entire platform as well as Operations and New Business Development. Before forming Prime Finance, Jon was a Managing Director at Natixis, where he was involved in negotiating, structuring, and closing commercial real estate loan transactions. Prior to Natixis, he practiced law in New York at Kaye Scholer LLP. Jon is a graduate of Bates College and the Fordham University School of Law.
Romero Britto
Romero Britto, founder of the Happy Art Movement, has created an iconic visual language of happiness, fun, love, and hope all its own, inspiring millions worldwide. Brazilian-born and Miami-made, Romero’s work has been exhibited in galleries and museums in over 120 countries, including the Carrousel Du Louvre, and he was the first living visual artist to present his work at the Soumaya Museum. Romero has also created many public and private art installations, including the largest in the history of London’s Hyde Park. He collaborated on the opening of Super Bowl XLI with Cirque Du Soleil, was the official artist for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, an ambassador to the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil, and an honorary torchbearer and ambassador for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Romero is a frequent speaker at the World Economic Forum (Davos, Switzerland) and is an activist for more than 250 charitable organizations.
Rick Gage
Carlson
Rick is the chair of Carlson, a private investment firm. Gage’s board governance, executive leadership, and entrepreneurial experience span the business and technology sectors. He is the founder and former CEO of real estate technology company YourMLSsearch.com, a leader in IDX property search and real estate web design. Rick Gage is also a co-founder and director of Municipal Parking Services (MPS), a smart cities parking-technology company. He has also served on the board of the Carlson Family Foundation for more than 20 years. Rick graduated from Augsburg College, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in English Literature and Art History. A proud Minnesotan, he lives in the Twin Cities with his wife, Britt, and their three children.
Linus Karlsson
SharkNinja
In 2025, Linus was appointed Executive Vice President, Chief Creative Officer at SharkNinja, a global product design and technology company. In this newly created role, Karlsson is leading SharkNinja’s brand storytelling and shaping the company’s creative vision while advancing product communication and consumer engagement strategies. Linus joined SharkNinja with more than three decades of global experience in creative leadership, brand building, and marketing innovation, most recently serving as Chief Creative Officer for IKEA.
During his tenure at IKEA, Linus led the company’s creative direction and strategy across product development and global marketing, integrating design, storytelling, and customer experience to strengthen brand positioning and drive engagement and visitation. Before IKEA, Linus held leadership roles at renowned creative agencies, including McCann-Erickson and Crispin Porter + Bogusky. Before that, he co-founded Mother New York, which was known for its innovative and unconventional approach to marketing.
Linus has been recognized as one of the most influential creative executives in the industry. In addition to his professional accomplishments, Karlsson has served on the boards of World Childhood Foundation, the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce, and Elanders Group, a publicly traded global logistics and supply chain company. Today, he serves as a permanent guest lecturer on Strategic Innovation for the Master’s in Communications program at Stockholm University.
Christine Mack
Christine Mack is a New York–based philanthropist, art collector, and advocate for mental health and the arts. Born in the Philippines and raised in Stockholm, Sweden, she moved to New York at 18 to attend Parsons School of Design, earning a degree in Graphic Design and Advertising. Christine began her career at Hearst Publications before founding her own design firm, where she worked with cultural institutions and nonprofit organizations.
A passionate supporter and collector of contemporary art, she is the founder of the Mack Art Foundation, which runs a residency program supporting emerging artists. She also co-founded Space2Create, a curatorial platform that transforms vacant commercial spaces into public art exhibitions. Christine serves on the boards and committees of several prominent cultural institutions, including the Guggenheim Museum, The Studio Museum in Harlem, the AKG Museum in Buffalo, The Jewish Museum, and American Friends of Moderna Museet. Her philanthropic work extends to children’s mental health, as a board member of the Child Mind Institute and an advocate for the Partnership to End Addiction.
