Marilyn Carlson Nelson is First Woman to Receive Prestigious Lucia Trade Award

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. October 14, 2008

MINNEAPOLIS, December 5, 2005. Marilyn Carlson Nelson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Carlson Companies, will receive the 18th Annual Lucia Trade Award from the Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce, New York, on Tuesday, Dec. 6, in New York.

Mrs. Nelson will receive the honor in recognition of her efforts to promote amity through trade and personify the service values that have become a part of Carlson Companies and its employees worldwide.

"Marilyn Carlson Nelson, the first woman to receive this award, has successfully managed and grown one of the world's largest companies, often promoting her Swedish roots while at the same time displaying a healthy dose of American can-do spirit," said Ambassador Lyndon L. Olson, Jr., chairman of the Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce, New York.

Each year the Lucia Trade Award is presented to a person who has significantly contributed to fostering free trade between Sweden and the United States. The recipients, in alternating years, are either American or Swedish citizens in leadership roles. The first recipient was President Ronald Reagan. In recent years, Ingvar Kamprad, founder of Ikea, and William Clay Ford, Jr. of Ford Motor Company also have been honored.

Forbes magazine has regularly named Mrs. Nelson one of "The World's 100 Most Powerful Women." She is on the World Economic Forum's International Business Council, and in 2004 co-chaired the Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

Mrs. Nelson recently completed duties as chair of the National Women's Business Council, an advisory group to President George W. Bush and Congress, and in November, she was named vice chair of the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board.

Mrs. Nelson is a past national chair of the Travel Industry Association of America, has served as a delegate to the White House Conference on Tourism and on the board of the U.S. National Tourism Organization. She also serves on the Singapore Tourism Board.

Outside of her industry, Mrs. Nelson serves on the boards of Exxon-Mobil and the Mayo Clinic Foundation, and she is a member of the Business Roundtable.

In 2003, she received the Swedish-American of the Year Award from the King and Queen of Sweden.