January 3, 2005: SACC Mississippi Up and Running On January 3, 2005, SACC Mississippi officially opened its doors in Madison. Located on Solleftea Drive named in honor of Madison Swedish sister city, the Chamber is housed in the Mississippi Scandinavian Enterprise facility. The "MSE" building is an incubator for Scandinavian Companies desiring to establish a presence in the North American Marketplace. In 1997, Madison established an economic development relationship with Solleftea. In 1998, Sister Cities International voted the project, "Best First Year program Worldwide", for cities under 100,000 population. Madison Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler joined officials from Solleftea in July, 1998 in Miami, Florida to accept the award. The newly- hired Executive Director for SACC Mississippi Inc. is Steve Vassallo, a Madison resident. Steve has an economic development background and is a certified economic and community developer as well as an economic development finance professional. He has previously held economic development positions in the states of Tennessee; Kentucky; Texas; and Mississippi. He was the first chairman of the sister city committee that established Madison's relationship with Solleftea." We knew from the very beginning dating back to 1996 that we had a very special relationship with Sweden. When Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler met Ingvar Haglof for the first time, the chemistry between Madison and Ingvar's company, Haglof Inc. became a " win - win" scenario. These two individuals wanted to accomplish the same goals and objectives for U.S. and Swedish companies, and with each year since, there have been new and exciting developments", stated Vassallo. SACC Mississippi will serve the five states of Alabama; Arkansas; Louisiana; Mississippi; and Tennessee. In the first two weeks of operations, twenty - four Chamber Members came on the board to support the Chamber and to send a strong signal that SACC Mississippi is going to be a major force in Swedish - American business relations. "Our Board will consist of twenty - five individuals from the five state region," added Vassallo. " We are looking for business people who have an interest as well as the expertise in advancing Swedish - American economic ties. Already, we have commitments from six individuals who each have outstanding backgrounds. Sometime in March, we will be announcing the entire board." To get in touch with SACC Mississippi email Steve Vassallo at SOVassallo@aol.com or call at: 601-853-2647.