Claes Ekman, Chairman of Walhallen ED, graduated cum laude from University of Göteborg with an emphasis on Swedish company establishments in the U.S., external-internal accounting, management control and commercial law.
In 1984 Claes received a scholarship from the Marcus Wallenberg Fund for International Industrial Management regarding research at Handelshögskolan in Göteborg concerning "Swedish Industrial Joint Ventures in the Far East", mainly China and Japan. The report, published in 1985, received large contemporary attention, in industrial as well as academic circles.
Claes has since 1986 been periodic Nordic/Swedish Chairman/Director of Transearch, Translink, Manpower, EIU (The Economist Intelligence Unit), Société Générale TR, as well as main board Chairman/Director of parent/subsidiary companies in Sweden, Norway, England, Poland, Romania, Russia, Ukraine and China.
Claes has/has had membership in Göteborgs Börssällskap, International Society of Financial Analysts, Association of Investment Management and Research (AIMR) and Financial Analysts' Federation (US).
Trained as an air artillery aviator in Sweden, later rated both an instrument and multi-engine/jet pilot in the U.S., Claes is now a resident of NYC.