Happy New Year!

Posted by Keith Severson on Jan 5th 2015

Hello LUG Ambassadors,

I hope everyone had a great end of the year!  My wife and I decided to stay home this year rather than flying all the way back to Minnesota, USA to be with family.  This really worked out well for us as it allowed us to relax and catch up on things, especially with our newborn son.  

Micah is 3 years old, Kai is 3 months Old.  Our Dog (an Alaskan Malamute) Luna is 4 years old.

I did get to have some fun though, I have a friend who works at a company in Denmark which produces water survival gear.  So one day we went down to the freezing Kolding fjord and test out a typical survival water suite which is used, this suite would often be found on fishing or freight vessels.  You would be surprised how comfortable and warm these suites keep you (see the picture)!  Of course if you are in the middle of the sea and your ship just sank it probably might not be very comfortable, but you will survive!  This was a great personal experience!

So 2015 is finally here!  2014 was a very fast year which really set our direction and focus for many years to come.  We established the new LAN and updated all of the support programs.  The entire year was dedicated to how to create a stronger, more relevant, and sustainable relationship with the AFOL community.  Arguably it has been one of the biggest adjustments to how we work with the community for many years, and we feel excited about this new direction.

Additionally I have 3 exciting internal changes that I want to share.

1. Kevin Hinkle promoted to Community Manager .  Over the past years Kevin has taken the lead at developing a large Adult Fan of LEGO community across the region and successfully been connecting them with both the market and global opportunities. Kevin’s communication and organization skills are just some of the areas, which have supported the department’s strategic goals. His stakeholder management has been also been essential to working with over 100 LEGO User Groups as well a wide range of internal partners.

2. Kim Ellekjær Thomsen promoted to Associate Community Manager. I am happy to announce that Kim Ellekjær Thomsen is being promoted to Associate Community Manager for the European region and the online AFOL community.  He has also delivered great results in our support programs (LUGBULK, LUGSUPPORT, ect.) in managing and supporting the delivery of over 10 million elements out to the AFOL community. Finally, his expertise in the online fan community has become a strong asset in the departments’ interests to expand and explore the AFOL community in new and unique ways.

3. Jan Beyer’s role is expanded to support the new LEGO HOUSE.  Jan has been paving the way in creating new communities around the world for many years.  With the new LEGO house in Billund coming up the management team approached us asking for help to better connect the AFOL community into this awesome house.  Of course we felt there was no one better to take on this challenge other than Jan.  So Jan will be taking the lead in helping LEGO house on this journey and you will hear more about LEGO house and how Jan will connect the AFOL’s at a later stage.  He will continue in his current role in supporting Asia, eastern Europe, and Pacific.

I am very proud of the entire team on their promotions and new opportunities!  I have a couple additional initiatives which I am hoping to share with you later this month as well.

Thank you for your time.