Board of Directors

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Christer Söderberg

- CEO, Founder

As a social entrepreneur Christer Söderberg has developed an intimate relationship with the multiple aspects and interdependency of international business, human beings, and the environment. Christer started and managed a NGO coordinating humanitarian aid during the war in Bosnia, managed a telecom product design company based in Hong Kong and as Director of a Swedish multinational in Brazil, established the industrial products company in six South American countries. Christer has lived in nine countries and speaks the languages of seven, experiencing first hand the differences in culture and working conditions on four continents. 

After returning from Brazil in 2002 Christer started Zero Aeons AB, a Stockholm based Business Leadership and Communications consultancy. In 2006 he introduced Brazilian art, furniture, and design to Sweden and helped develop a business based on a triple bottom line. Founded in the spring of 2007, Open World Foundation builds on the spirit of these two businesses; with the Open World Café (2008) and Open World Villages (2011) creating meeting places to inspire a transformational dialogue about sustainability, leadership, and resilience.

Renato H. Caldas

- Co-Founder, Project Manager

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Gregory Somers

- Co-Founder, Project Manager

Gregory, a unique mix of cultures, formal English and exotic Brazilian, has lived in the midst of antiques, handcrafts and other decorative arts for most of his life. For more than 30 years Gregory has built a comfortable experience of leadership and management skills. During those years Gregory has worked and learnt such varied businesses as a restaurant on an abandoned island, furniture manufacturing, pewter making and international sales as well as the organization of the sales outlet of a traditional English car manufacturer (Land Rover Brazil).

Married, with two boys and living in the interior of Brazil, Gregory spends his time teaching the employees of his company and other local craftsmen how to design and create exclusive products for the demanding customer base he has built up. It is Gregory’s ability to mix a number of materials to produce beautiful products that serve a purpose that has given him a name for design excellence. With a shop in picturesque Tiradentes, which serves both as a sales outlet as well as a window to the world, Gregory and his wife Cida often spend their weekends discussing products and projects with customers from all over the world.

With a profound awareness of what the human being is doing to nature, Gregory is through the Open World Café Foundation helping establish a project which again brings change to his life, but matches and enriches everything he has done so far.

Christiana Söderberg

- Member of the Board of Directors, Communications

Christiana is an ambitious and self-declared frustrated student and young entrepreneur growing up in a world where there are endless (almost too many) opportunities but limited ways to really make a difference…
 
In search of being able to contribute professionally towards something fun and interesting, while meaningful and of importance, Christiana has identified with the values of the Open World Foundation, and specifically of the Open World Café.
 
Having been raised in five countries and speaking the same languages she has a keen interest in communicating and interacting with people from different backgrounds and cultures. Passions include traveling, dancing, doing and watching sports…, and, last but not least, enjoying a good meal in the company of friends.
 
She spent two years in London pursuing part-time studies at Birkbeck University as well as interning and working for one of the UK's leading communication agencies with focus on sustainability issues (Futerra Sustainability Communications). In September 2010 she returned to Sweden to assist with the management of Open World Café and further develop its concept guidelines with an expanding network of OWCafés around the world. Besides heading up communication activities for OWFOundation, she is presently also engaged in part-time sustainability studies at Stockholm University & Stockholm Resilience Center.

Vera Brandes

- Member of the Board of Directors, Ambassador

Vera Brandes introduced herself to music lovers at the age of 17 as Germany’s youngest concert promoter presenting her concert series "New Jazz In Cologne", with Keith Jarrett's "The Köln Concert" on January 24th, 1975 as the headlining event.

Since then, she managed artists, promoted tours, organized festivals, and produced & published music and founded several companies including the veraBra music group in Europe and INTUITION Records in the USA. In 1984 veraBra was awarded for being Germany’s most creative and innovative company in the field of music and media. Focusing on jazz, world, new contemporary and crossover music, the group consisted of nine different labels, with distribution in 27 countries and released over 350 albums, encompassing artists such as Andreas Vollweider, Astor Piazzolla, Mikis Theodorakis, Steps Ahead, Jon Hassell, Eddie Palmieri, Charlie Mariano, Barbara Thompson and many more.

Brandes was committed to the peace movement of the 80's. She was a member of the board of directors of "Künstler In Action" ("Artists In Action") and helped organize campaigns for all kinds of social and environmental issues. She initiated and produced numerous international festivals, including the original "ONE WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL" in 1990, which was broadcasted worldwide.

In 1998, she decided to focus her knowledge and expertise into the research of the effects and the experience of music on the human body & psyche and the application of music in medicine, and began to develop audio programs and cultural projects for hospitals. She is co-founder of saludArt e.V., of I.M.A.R.A.A., the International Music & Art Research Association Austria, and Dynamic Life Arts, and is director of the MusicMedicine Research Program at the Paracelsus Medical University in Salzburg, Austria.

Vera was facilitator and co-director of "in:fusion – New Qualities in the Health Industry“ in 2004 and of the international conference „MOZART & SCIENCE“ in 2006, as well as the author of numerous articles and publications including the book “Life in Rhythm – The healing power of sounds, vibrations and emotions”.

Why I Joined Open World Foundation:

“I have always believed that when people come together, who not only have knowledge, but can also really listen; people who are open and willing to absorb the knowledge of others, people who can think clearly and make decisions with sincere concern and compassion for the well-being of all men and women, unencumbered by their own political, economic or religious motives, they can, as a group, contribute constructively to the common evolution of mankind, significantly influencing the course of world events. As a contributor to Open World, I thoroughly enjoy this experience of co-creation with colleagues who possess open hearts, minds and a free spirit, and who share in the vision that we indeed can make a difference!”

David Dalmau

- Member of the Board of Directors, Artist, Sculptor, Photographer

Painter, plastic artist, photographer, theatrical designer, David Dalmau was born on December 4th, 1962 . His father, an art collector, artist and businessman travels around the world with Dalmau visiting galleries and museums. After this experience at a young age and as a self-taught painter, he declares his interest in the arts and combines them with studies in economy, architecture and aviation. In 1982 Dalmau leaves the United States with the dream of living in Europe . He settles in an old fishing house in Sitges near Barcelona , were his uncle Pepe has a small studio. He begins to dedicate himself to painting, discovering his own style and his potential for portraying different themes, a virtue he continues to maintain.

His paintings redeem the tradition of the European figurative expressionist, calling attention to his fondness for the urban motives and to his technique which involves laborious construction, showing a unique mix of simplicity and sophistication with a brilliant use of color and image in a highly communicative drawing that captures festive ambiences, anonymous crowds and eternal ha pp iness.

In the early 90's, Dalmau visits Brazil working as an assistant curator at the 21st International Biennial of São Paulo, representing an additional stimulus for him to establish residency and his atelier and gallery in the city. Depending on his mood and the Art-Show schedule he also lives in Miami and Barcelona . Agents and galleries all around America , Europe and Asia show his works. He is also actively involved with important companies working with image licensing.

Along with all the collaborations and social works he has been doing, he is now contributing with the Maisha Foundation, a non-profit United States registered charity organization whose main concern is improving and providing education for people in places where a basic education is difficult to attain.

Rogerio Shimmori (on Sabbatical Leave)

- Member of the Board of Directors, Business Development

Rogério Shimmori founded BroadSense Ventures AB in 2007 after a 14-year career as an Executive at Ericsson in various Director positions in Supply Chain Management, Sourcing and Sales. A graduate of Electrical Engineering from the University of São Paulo, Rogerio holds three business post-graduate degrees including an MBA from IMD in Switzerland.

BroadSense Ventures is a private investment and consulting company based in Stockholm/Sweden. Activities include business investment and development projects with social, environmental, and economical benefits, always aligned with the core values of the company.

Brazilian-born son of Japanese parents living in Sweden, Rogerio is an avid supporter of the Open World Foundation. Growing up in an industrial suburb of São Paulo during the military dictatorship and hyperinflation years (1200% per annum), he appreciates the value of sustainable development.