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    Professor Bård Berg was born in Finnmark, the northernmost county of Norway, and has been employed by the University of Tromsø since 1998, and currently part of the Department of Philosophy, where he teaches history and philosophy. He is a Sámi scholar from the University of Tromsø.

Berg has published several books and articles over the years, in particular on Sami issues. In 1992-1998 he was a researcher at the Nordic Sami Institute in Kautokeino, Finnmark. In the late 1990s he was a member of the Norwegian Sami Rights Commission. In 2000-2009 he chaired the Board of the Center of Sami Studies at his university. In 2001-2007 he was a member of the executive committee and the secretary of the University of the Arctic, a cooperative group of about 150 circumpolar universities and other institutions. Until 2009 he was also chair of the Indigenous Committee of this organization.

In 2006-2007 Bård and his wife Benny lived in Seattle for a year while he was a Fulbright scholar at University of Washington Department of Scandinavian Studies, doing research on the immigration of Sami people to the Pacific Northwest. Benny and Bård grew very fond of Ballard and its strong Norwegian community, and they return as often as possible to visit with friends and for business.

Bård A. Berg has been a member of Sons of Norway Leif Erikson Lodge 2-001 since 2007.

    Randi Aulie Originally from Lofoten, Norway, Randi has always been active in community, cultural, and governmental organizations that further the opportunity for others to become aware of their community. At age 27, she became President of Husmorlaget (Women’s Group). When she moved to Ski, Norway, she was elected as the county’s leader of Heimstellnevnda (Ski County Home Economy) and organized homemaking skills courses such as cooking, decorating, and sewing.

Randi became involved in local politics and became a speaker of the Nye Folkepartiet, but her political ambitions ended when she immigrated to the USA in 1974. She immediately started taking English and business classes at Shoreline Community College, which helped her to teach people here about her home culture and country.

Randi’s first involvement in the USA was to become a Board Member of the Nordic Festival in 1980. She later joined the Board of the Norwegian American Chamber of Commerce. In 2001, she became the second woman elected as President of Leif Erikson Lodge of the Sons of Norway. For the last six years, Randi has been Treasurer of Leif Erikson Lodge. She also dedicates time and energy to the Scandinavian Department at the University of Washington as an Advisory Board member.

Her steadfast community service and dedication to promoting Norwegian culture makes her a natural choice for this year’s Honorary Marshal for syttende mai.

Randi also has two sons, one stepdaughter and seven wonderful grandkids.

    Bernt O. Bodal Bernt Bodal has been American Seafoods Group (ASG) Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since January 2000 and President of ASC Management, Inc., the general partner of ASLP and as a director of ASG Management, Inc. From 1990-98, he served as President / CEO of ASG’s predecessor companies ASC/RGI. In 2000 Mr. Bodal joined with Centre Partners to acquire the US assets of ASC/RGI and created American Seafoods Group. In May 2010, upon completion of the buyout of another major equity holder, Mr. Bodal became American Seafoods’ majority equity holder.

Under Mr. Bodal’s leadership, American Seafoods increased annual sales from $90 million to over $500 million, achieved greater economies of scale and greatly improved higher processing and product recovery rates. He has also been a forceful advocate for progressive fisheries management in the groundfish fisheries of the Pacific NW and Alaska. He was instrumental in the 1997 creation of the Pacific Whiting Cooperative Agreement – an arrangement that rationalized the Pacific Whiting Fishery and strongly advocated for the passage of the American Fisheries Act of 1998 – the legislation that allowed for the creation of the Pollock Conservation Cooperative.

Mr. Bodal’s other business and civic responsibilities reflect his accomplishments as a jet pilot and avid musician. He serves on the board of directors of Skuld Insurance, the Museum of Flight, Ross Aviation and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum.