August 2015
Mikael Angesjo ’08
Three Lions walked into a bar in London …
Sounds like the start of a bad joke, but in this case it was a great reunion. Sam Luedke ’07, Scott Stefanek ’11, and Mikael Angesjo ’08 met up recently when Stefanek and Luedke were on holiday in Europe. The three former men’s soccer players reconnected, shared a laugh, and caught up on the adventure Angesjo has been living since leaving Saint Leo. He has been in London for several years and is currently the youngest to hold his position in one of the largest Chambers of Commerce in Europe.
Following Mikael’s time at Saint Leo University, he went on to work for sports company Adidas and its marketing strategies both in New York and Manchester, England. Next, he made the move to London to earn a master’s in marketing management while simultaneously representing one of London’s top fashion agencies as a professional model. It was by coincidence, in 2011, that Mikael came in contact with the Swedish Chamber of Commerce for the United Kingdom in London, one of the largest and most active chambers in Europe. Mikael started as a coordinator and four years later was appointed the assistant director; at 30 years old, he is the youngest to hold this position in the organization’s 110-year history.
“While at Saint Leo, I always saw the institutions’ core values printed on the wall and wondered if they could be applied and not just act as a marketing strategy,” said Angesjo. “Today, I know they have, and that can certainly not be said by all universities. Saint Leo builds character, it plants the idea of excellence, and it produces confident graduates with spirit.”
Mikael acts as the first point of contact for 400 companies represented by the chamber today, spanning over 50 industries, from Skype and Spotify to IKEA and Volvo to H&M and Tetra Pak. A chamber of commerce is a nonprofit organization, put in place to strengthen ties between countries. The resulting network, because of its corporate diversity and size, becomes very powerful, nationally as well as internationally. As head of membership, Mikael has recruited 75 percent of the companies in this Anglo-Swedish network that is the third largest chamber network in the UK today, beating both the Americans and the Chinese. Through organizing close to 300 networking events in the business hub of Europe, Mikael has become somewhat of a “networking guru” speaking about the importance of successful networking for business growth in front of universities, corporations, and governmental institutions.
“ ‛Communication is key’ is a statement I always deliver to entrepreneurs and young start-ups, and Saint Leo is in a league of its own in teaching this,” Angesjo said. “I use knowledge obtained from Dr. Stephen Baglione’s Personal Selling class when selling face-to-face with the leading European business leaders; Professor Frank Arnold’s business skills for the perfect first impression when greeting government representatives; and Mrs. Shannon Greer’s Learning Resource Center services when business writing needs to be enticing and alive to overturn the toughest of policies. I will be eternally grateful for what Saint Leo gave me, and the results speak for themselves. When I meet fellow alumni around the world, the character is there, in everyone. That is what Saint Leo has given us all, along with the confidence to dare and be successful, and doing so not through foul play, but through excellence. It stays with you not for the four years on campus, but for life.”
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