Mr, Lilliberg,

Thank you for your comments.  Permit me to make a few points.

First, Nordic pay levels and standards are not relevant to this discussion.  Your country agreed long ago that host country, in this case U.S., pay standards are the relevant benchmark for executives working in the United States.  My salary and bonus pay were modest and competitive by U.S. standards.  Higher U.S. productivity levels, treatment of social needs, and many other cultural factors are among the reasons why compensation practices are different between our countries.

Our U.S. team created great value for all to share in the U.S.  Our Nordic partners realized great value in the U.S. economy under U.S. standards.  Your side claimed all the benefits of U.S. standards.  Your side tried to use Nordic standards to set our compensation.  Now, your side seeks to use Nordic standards to justify the wrongful taking of our team’s share of the great results we produced in the U.S.  That’s just plan wrong.  It violates all of the moral, ethical and legal standards Nordic business and political leaders claim to stand for. 

Nordic leaders promised us a share of any results we produced in the United States to engage and encourage us to give our best efforts.  We delivered great results, great gains.  Your leaders took all, 100% of the results we produced, including our small 3% share.  Other similarly situated but money losing executive teams received retroactive protection of their interests.  Our successful money winning team did not.  Where is the fairness and justice in your leaders’ actions?  We protected your interests.  Who protected our interests?

Nordic business and political leaders caused this problem.  Nordic leaders failed to agree on incentive schemes on a timely basis.  Meanwhile we delivered exceptional gains in the U.S.  Granting our team the promised share of those gains, doing the right thing, was politically risky.  So Nordic leaders seized our small share of the great result we produced by switching us to a future incentive scheme.  Sonera got a great result, a great harvest from our work.  Then they switched us to a future harvest already made worthless by their failures.  Why should anyone in the United States trust Nordic leaders who support such self-serving actions.

Today all of the people of Finland and Sweden own a part of the results we produced though State ownership of TeliaSonera shares.  At some point, they all will benefit when the State uses the proceeds from selling its TeliaSonera shares to help pay for healthcare, education, retirement and other benefits.  Our team will never benefit from any of those Nordic schemes.  Frankly, my colleagues’ and I earned better treatment for our families.  The bottom line is that your children and grandchildren will benefit from our work and results.  Ours will not.  And that is just plain wrong!

Moreover, your leaders have stolen opportunities from all Americans.  My plan is to contribute one-third of the incentive we earned to support Diabetes research and programs for disadvantaged elderly in the United States.  Another one-third or more will go to pay U.S. income takes.  Our team will share the remaining one-third of the incentive we earned.  Our shares will most probably go to pay for healthcare, education and retirement security.  So, as in your country, most of our 3% share of the great results we produced will go to provide benefits for others. 

I hope this helps you to understand, if not agree with, my point of view.  The main problem appears to be that your side earned a lot of money with our help and guidance in our economy and our culture.  Yet your culture makes it difficult to share that bounty with us.  I look forward to the time when Nordic leaders respect our team and all U.S. citizens enough to bring fairness and justice to this matter. 

Meanwhile, I would look for decreasing U.S. sales of Nordic goods as your side’s self-concerned attitudes and actions become more widely known in our country.