The NEF Newsletter: Connecting New England, Finland, and Scandinavia through trade, education, and culture. Born from the enthusiasm of Finnish New Englanders, it charts our shared journey—past, present, and future. Join our growing community of 3,100+ subscribers on LinkedIn and many more via email and blog. Share with anyone eager to build bridges between the Nordic and New England regions.

Editor-in-Chief: Dr. Henrik Totterman, Finnish Honorary Consul. A professor, entrepreneur, and connector dedicated to fostering Finnish-American collaboration and advancing sustainable solutions.

In This Special Summer June-August 2026 Issue:

• Feet on the Ground in Boston: How fractional leadership can help Nordic companies build presence before building a full U.S. organization.
• Finnish Quantum Delegation in Boston: Team Finland, IQM, QMill, and Quanscient explore Boston’s quantum ecosystem and turn visits into real pathways.
• A Week With Hanken EMBA Exploring Boston; Nordic executives engage with Harvard, Hult, M&T Bank, Richi Foundation, and Arthur D. Little.
• Experiential Learning in New York With Pitney Bowes: A Finnish first-grade friendship, a franking machine memory, and real innovation challenges come full circle.
• Monthly U.S. Policy Update for New England and Finland: Defense, AI infrastructure, housing, transport, trade, and international education signals to watch.

Sun, Fun, and the Full Nine Yards

Summer in New England, much like back home in Finland, has a way of making life feel wonderfully full.

Boston Harbor fills with boats, our campuses quiet down but never really go still, and conversations move from classrooms and boardrooms to terraces, docks, cafés, community events, and long evenings by the water. It is the season when professional and personal life overlap in the best possible way. I love those moments when business, education, culture, diplomacy, and friendship intertwine, often far from official structures.

I have to admit, our yacht Blue & White has been standing in the marina far too much this summer. Executive education and strategy advisory work have taken me around the U.S. and Europe, while summer electives have filled the calendar from Boston to New York and beyond. It has been busy, perhaps too busy for proper sailing, but also deeply energizing. The kind of season where every trip, class, dinner, and delegation seems to add another thread to the same larger story.

For the Nordic community, summer carries special meaning. We appreciate light because we know darkness. We enjoy warmth because we know winter. Perhaps that is why Nordic summer energy feels so generous: it is not only about taking time off, but about reconnecting with people, place, purpose, and possibility.

This issue of NEF captures that spirit. Finnish and Nordic activity across Boston and New England has not slowed down. If anything, it has taken on a sharper summer rhythm: quantum delegations, executive education, student-led market work, policy shifts, business bridges, cultural moments, and community gatherings. Some of it is formal. Much of it is relational. All of it matters.

The phrase “the full nine yards” feels right because building meaningful Nordic–New England connections is rarely one thing. It is not only a meeting, a visit, a class, a reception, or a policy update. It is the whole fabric: people showing up, making introductions, opening doors, sharing judgment, following through, and turning goodwill into something more durable.

That is also what makes New England special. This region rewards presence. It rewards curiosity, seriousness, and the willingness to engage beyond the obvious. For Finnish and Nordic companies, institutions, students, and leaders, the opportunity is not just to visit Boston. It is to understand how the ecosystem works, become part of the right conversations, and build enough local trust for opportunities to become real.

And that rarely happens from a distance.

So here’s to summer: to sun, fun, and the full nine yards. To boats waiting patiently in the marina, classrooms full of energy, executives crossing the Atlantic, students stepping into real challenges, and relationships developing quietly in the background.

And, as Steve Jobs might have said: one more thing.

Happy Fourth of July to our fellow Americans — and this year is a big one: 250 years since 1776.

For those of us building bridges among Finland, the Nordics, and the United States, it is a meaningful reminder that countries are not built solely through declarations. They are built through people, communities, institutions, courage, compromise, and constant renewal.

So here’s also to the Fourth of July, to New England summer, and to the relationships that keep carrying this story forward.

Dr. Henrik Totterman

Honorary Consul of Finland to the City of Boston and the New England States of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont

Feet on the Ground in Boston

As Finnish and Nordic companies look more seriously at the U.S. market, one question keeps coming up: how do you build presence before you are ready to build a full organization?

For many firms, the answer may be fractional leadership — trusted, experienced representation on the ground that can open doors, interpret the ecosystem, and keep momentum alive between visits.

This connects to a broader shift I have been writing about biweekly for Forbes: the rise of portfolio professionals, fractional executives, advisors, and bridge-builders. My newest article in Business Impact looks at what this means for leadership, careers, and business education — especially as more professionals create value across organizations rather than inside just one.

Boston is a natural place where this model matters. The region is rich in universities, investors, research labs, corporate partners, and innovation platforms, but it can be difficult to navigate from a distance. For Nordic companies looking toward New England, local presence can make all the difference. It helps translate curiosity into relationships, relationships into trust, and trust into practical next steps.

In that sense, fractional roles are not just a workforce trend. They may become one of the most practical ways to build Nordic–New England collaboration: flexible enough for companies taking early steps, but serious enough to create trust, continuity, and execution.

Finnish Quantum Delegation in Boston: From Visits to Real Pathways

Boston recently hosted a Team Finland Trade & Innovation Mission focused on the Boston quantum ecosystem and the Quantum Tech Boston conference. Led by Fikriye Selen-Okatan from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland in New York, the delegation brought together Finnish quantum companies and Team Finland actors to strengthen U.S.–Finland collaboration in one of today’s most strategic technology fields.

The company delegation included representatives from IQM Quantum Computers, QMill, and Quanscient, with participation from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Business Finland / Invest in Finland, and the Honorary Consulate of Finland in Boston. The timing was especially meaningful as IQM has now begun trading publicly on Nasdaq, becoming the first European quantum computing company to list on a major U.S. exchange — a major milestone for Finland’s quantum ecosystem.

Over several intensive days, the delegation engaged with key parts of the Boston and Cambridge ecosystem, including the Harvard Quantum Initiative, MassTech Collaborative, QuEra Computing, MIT’s quantum ecosystem, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab, and the Quantum Tech Boston conference.

The visit was also connected to my Harvard Summer School entrepreneurship course, designed this year as a live Entrepreneurship Advisory Studio. Student teams are working with real executive challengers — including Team Finland, QMill, Quanscient, and the Richi Foundation — to turn ambiguity into practical recommendations.

A warm thank you to Fikriye Selen-Okatan, the participating Finnish companies, Team Finland colleagues, student volunteers, and the many Boston-based partners who helped make the visit possible.

The bigger message is clear: Finland has a serious and growing quantum story to tell. Boston and New England offer one of the world’s strongest environments to test that story — through research, industry, capital, policy, and trusted relationships. This is where “feet on the ground” matters: not simply for arranging meetings, but for turning promising visits into real pathways.

A Week With Hanken EMBA Exploring Boston

The Hanken EMBA Boston residency brought together executive learning, strategic leadership, and real-world engagement across Harvard, Hult, M&T Bank, Richi Foundation, Arthur D. Little, and the broader Boston ecosystem.

The week began at Harvard University and Harvard Extension School, with Laura Wilcox guiding the group through the world of Harvard with energy and insight. The afternoon continued at Harvard Business School, where Patrick Mullane took the cohort deep into curiosity, critical thinking, and the leadership judgment needed in uncertain times.

At Hult International Business School, the group explored strategic leadership, customer value creation, and the U.S. political and business landscape. Through negotiations and board-level proposal work, participants examined the tensions and opportunities companies face when operating in the American market. Thanks Robert Neer and Paul Nunes for making the days go from great to incredible.

A memorable evening at M&T Bank brought together Hanken executives, Boston partners, Nordic friends, and local leaders. Thank you to Pedro Arce, Alex Berger, Andy Tseng, Ricardo Garcia and the Richi Foundation team, our panelists, Jeevan Ramapriya from Mass. Office of International Trade and Investment and everyone who helped create such a warm and meaningful gathering.

Later in the week, executive teams entered the “acid test” at Arthur D. Little, consulting the consultants on the future of management consulting in the era of AI and emerging technologies. The connection was especially fitting, as Hult traces its roots to the Arthur D. Little School of Management — creating a unique bridge between consulting practice and management education. Thanks, Emilio Lapiello and Craig Wylie for your hospitality.

The week closed with reflections on what foreign companies need to understand when entering the U.S. market. The strongest takeaway was simple: succeeding in the U.S. is rarely about having the perfect product or plan. It is about curiosity, courage, customer focus, and the ability to learn quickly in a market that rewards initiative and action.

A powerful week — and a wonderful reminder of what Boston can offer Nordic executives when learning, networks, and real-world challenges come together. Thanks, Hult and Hanken colleagues, Salla Laasonen, and everyone else who enabled the executive week in Boston.

Experiential Learning in New York With Pitney Bowes

Another outstanding weekend of New Product Development at Hult International Business School in New York brought students together with corporate challengers from Pitney Bowes.

At first glance, this may seem like a New York Hult International Business School story rather than a Nordic one. But the Finnish connections were everywhere.

In one of my very first summer jobs in our family business in Finland, one of my tasks was operating the Pitney Bowes franking machine. Now many years later, I found myself in New York working with Pitney Bowes executives on real innovation challenges — alongside students, alumni, and colleagues.

The weekend was also personally meaningful because Pitney Bowes Vice President Jan Aalto and I started first grade together in Finland 43 years ago. Four decades later, we were back in a classroom together, this time helping students tackle live business questions. Life does have a wonderful way of coming full circle.

A huge thank you to Jan Aalto and Chris Beaton for bringing four real strategic challenges into the classroom. It was especially rewarding to hear how applicable the students’ recommendations were — and how many ideas could potentially be taken forward.

A special thank you also to Lionel Pailloncy for co-teaching, and to Sara Abou Fakher and Naazneen Gill for keeping everything running smoothly behind the scenes.

This is exactly what Nordic–New England and transatlantic learning can look like in practice: old relationships becoming new bridges, industry meeting education, and students creating solutions that matter.

Monthly US policy update for New England and Finland

Core essentials: what has changed from late May through June

Security and defense moved up another level. Congress enacted the Secure America Act, providing roughly $70 billion for border and immigration enforcement through FY2029. At the same time, the House advanced a $1.072 trillion FY2027 defense bill, including $25.9 billion for the Golden Dome missile defense initiative, $56.7 billion for 21 ships, and $2 billion for Taiwan. This is a clear sign that Washington is shifting from temporary security measures to longer-horizon capacity building.

AI is no longer just a technology story — it is now an energy and infrastructure story. In June, pressure increased on AI data centers and their impact on electricity systems. A bipartisan Ratepayer Protection Act would require large data-center developers to absorb 100% of the cost of new generation and transmission upgrades, while some lawmakers even called for a national moratorium. The pressure matters especially for New England because ISO New England was one of the grid operators drawn into federal scrutiny over interconnection bottlenecks.

Housing became one of the few areas of real bipartisan progress. Congress gave final approval to the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, widely described as the most comprehensive federal housing package in decades, combining more than 50 housing measures. For New England, where affordability and workforce retention remain structural concerns, this is one of the most concrete domestic policy developments of the period.

Transport and infrastructure moved from broad discussion to hard numbers. The House surface transportation bill advanced with about $580 billion over five years, including more than $50 billion for bridges and $10.355 billion for Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor. At the same time, the Congressional Budget Office warned that the Highway Trust Fund will be exhausted by 2028, just two years away. That makes transport reform no longer optional, but fiscally urgent.

Trade and cost pressures remained elevated. By May, U.S. import prices were up 6.7% year over year, while export prices were up 11.2%. Import fuel prices had surged 47% from February to May. The message is that U.S. trade conditions are still being shaped as much by energy and supply-chain stress as by tariff policy.

Higher education became more uncertain for international talent. The White House completed review of the proposed rule ending “duration of status,” meaning DHS can finalize a system that would limit many international students to four years before needing extensions. That is especially relevant for New England’s universities and research institutions. The economic stake is large: international students contributed roughly $42.6 billion to the U.S. economy and supported more than 355,000 jobs in the 2024–25 academic year.

Bottom line

For Finland, the clearest themes are these: the U.S. is investing more heavily in defense and security capacity, AI is increasingly constrained by grid realities, housing reform has gained rare bipartisan momentum, and international education is becoming more tightly regulated. For New England, the most relevant numbers remain the $10.355 billion Northeast Corridor allocation, the final passage of the federal housing package, and the growing pressure on regional power systems from AI-linked demand.

THE NEF - NEW ENGLAND FINNS NEWSLETTER

NEXT ISSUE: #28, end of August, 2026.

Past Issues:

ISSUE #1: January 23, 2024, Setting Sails for a New Adventure - The NEF – The New England Finns monthly newsletter was launched on January 25, 2024, with well over 1200 subscribers on Linkedin a week later.

ISSUE #2: February 25, 2024, Sailing the Northeast Shores - 1776 on Linkedin.

ISSUE #3: March 31, 2024, Nordic Sailors Sharing Joy, Experiences, and Knowledge- 1900 on Linkedin.

ISSUE #4: April 28, 2024, Nordic Sailors and the New England Summer Season! - 2100 on Linkedin.

ISSUE #5: June 7, 2024, The Nordic Midsummer Magic - 2200 on Linkedin.

ISSUE #6: July 9, 2024, The Legendary Nordic Vacation - 2300 on Linkedin.

ISSUE #7: August 31, 2024, The Nordic Night of the Ancient Fires - 2400 on Linkedin.

ISSUE #8: September 29, 2024, Nordic Values At Work - 2450 on Linkedin.

ISSUE #9: November 3, 2024, Embracing the Northeastern Winds - 2500 on Linkedin.

ISSUE #10: December 8, 2024, Shining Bright under the Northern Lights - 2542 on Linkedin.

ISSUE #11: January 5, 2025, A Nordic Cheer for a Resilient New Year - 2584 on Linkedin.

ISSUE #12: February 2, 2025, Nordic Hockey Flair in the Garden Air - 2640 on Linkedin.

ISSUE #13: March 2, 2025, Nordic Hockey Flair in the Garden Air - 2680 on Linkedin.

ISSUE #14: April 5, 2025, Nordic Happiness in New England - 2703 on Linkedin.

ISSUE #15: May 4, 2025, Sauna, Summer, and Sisu — Stronger Ties, Brighter Skies - 2746 on Linkedin.

ISSUE #16: June 14, 2025, From Nordic Flag Raisings to Finnish-American Alliances - 2779 on Linkedin.

ISSUE #17: July 15, 2025, Nordic Summer: Rest, Reflect & Reimagine - 2793 on Linkedin.

ISSUE #18: September 15, Nordic Leadership in Action - 2820 on Linkedin.

ISSUE #19: October 15, Nordic-American Two-Way Bridge - 2876 on Linkedin

ISSUE #20: November 20, Gratitude from Nordic New England - 2903 on Linkedin.

ISSUE #21: December 21, Nordic Yuletide and New Year Wishes - 2928 on Linkedin.

ISSUE #22: January 20, Nordic Calm and Clarity in Uncertain Times - 2962 on Linkedin.

ISSUE #23: February 20, New England Finns and Nordics: Building Continuity, Deepening Impact - 2993 on Linkedin.

ISSUE #24: March 20, From Happiness to Hard Tech: Finland in Motion Across the Atlantic - 3012 on LinkedIn.

ISSUE #25: April 16, Nordic Presence in Practice: Community, Culture, and Execution - 3043 on LinkedIn

ISSUE #26: May 18, Why This Nordic Spring Feels Different - 3070 on Linkedin