Core team
- Rolf Olsen
- Danièle Castle
- Ingrid H. Warner
- Lukasz M. Bochenek
- Kristin Nilseng
Leadership
Consultants
Project Management
Research
Client Contact and Event Management
Leadership
Rolf Olsen is the principal consultant for the centre for StoriesThatRock, and the CEO for Leidar, a communications and leadership consultancy. Previously he was CEO, Continental Europe, for Weber Shandwick, the world’s leading public relations company and part of IPG (NYSE). In this role Rolf managed subsidiaries on the European continent, Middle East and Africa, and was the primary leader of a team involving more than a thousand professionals. Over the last ten years he has spent most of his time on long term consulting engagements with clients such as Siemens, Nestle, StatoilHydro, Telenor, Yara, Honeywell and MasterCard. He joined Weber Shandwick in July 2001 from Motorola where he was vice president of corporate marketing, communications and public affairs with responsibility for EMEA. Prior to Motorola he spent thirteen years at Digital Equipment Corporation where he managed all aspects of communications at local, regional and global levels.
Rolf gained unique senior international experience in international communications management, executive coaching and crisis management both at Digital and Motorola. During his career he lead some of the most dramatic restructuring processes in corporate history. He developed broad level senior management experience early on as member of the European Management Boards both at Digital and Motorola.
He began his career as a PR officer in the Norwegian Parliament and held leadership roles in newspapers, private ventures and NGO's before joining Digital. He enjoys working with C-level executives and being a trusted partner to Chief Communications Officers at large corporations. Today he also lectures regularly at various executive programs at the Graduate Institute in Geneva and he sits on the Advisory Committee at the Management of Technology and Entrepreneurship Institute at EPFL in Lausanne.
Danièle Castle leads StoriesThatRocks´ offer to French speaking clients and to the healthcare industry. Daniele began her career in the European headquarters of Burson-Marsteller, where she worked on pan-European industrial accounts (B2B), then joined the multinational biotechnology company, Ares-Serono International, where she was Director of the Corporate Public Relations department. She ran media trainings for KOLs worldwide and patient groups alike, in the fields of infertility and immunology. As such she supported the launch of two products, Rebif and Serostim. She also set up a media training programme for the General Managers within Serono.
In 1999, she founded the healthcare communications consultancy, Genevensis Healthcare Communications. Her first client was the International Aids Conference, where she ran the French and German language media centre and media trained the executive board. Danièle has set up and run several media centres for conferences, including AIDSVaccine 2004. Her clients include top ten pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology companies as well as international organizations and start-ups. She has put many start-ups on the media map. Danièle has run media training in sensitive fields such as GMO technology and has coached many CEOs in start-ups on how to handle media.
Danièle teaches communications and media relations at the University of Geneva (HEC Entrepreneurship), the Fondation Suisse de Microtechnique, VentureLab and the EPFL in Switzerland. She sits on the jury of VentureKick, a seed funding mechanism for start-ups in Switzerland. She has published in several industry journals and enjoys writing.
Project Management
Ingrid Helsingen Warner is a Norwegian American PR professional with multinational experience from agency and in-house. Ingrid has profound knowledge of the energy business. She works on project management and renewable energy within the group.
Ingrid worked for Weber Shandwick Switzerland from 2006-2009 on strategic and tactical communication efforts. She worked with global clients in the energy and technology sector on a range of activities, including communication strategies, content development, strategic messaging, speakers bureaus, media and presentation skills, and monitoring key issues and developments in the media.
Since Statoil and Hydro’s merger in 2007, Ingrid was seconded from 2007-2008 to an on-site role in Norway as communication manager Africa and Latin America. In this role, she managed seven communication managers across two continents and advised the region’s management team on communications. Ingrid also supported media relations, internal communications and brand management, while working with the global exploration team and business development.
Prior to joining Weber Shandwick, Ingrid conducted research and consulting on the creative industries at the British Council and the British Embassy in Norway. Ingrid holds a BA in Politics and International Studies at Warwick University. As coordinator of One World Week, the world’s largest student-run international event, she led a team of 200 students and 20,000 visitors. Ingrid founded and runs Warwick Alumni in Switzerland.
Research
Lukasz M. Bochenek is a consultant and Ph. D candidate in management studies at the University of Neuchâtel working on a thesis about the role of corporate social responsibility in the corporate communications strategies. Lukasz‘s focus is on research, trend analysis, stakeholders management and new communication technology. Lukasz is a wizard on the web and commands several techniques of analysis and research.
Lukasz started his career at the age of 18 in the Warsaw offices of McCann Erickson where he was an intern in the Client Service Department working on the General Motors and Microsoft accounts. He has completed various research projects for such institutions as Polkomtel, University of Warsaw and European Broadcasting Union.
He has been researching actively since the beginning of his BA studies, participating in the field laboratory about political discourses regarding integration to the European Union structures. Since he began his Ph.D. studies, he participates regularly in international conferences in France, Switzerland, and Canada and publishes the articles in the scientific journals. He writes and speaks in English, French and Polish. He has intermediate knowledge of Italian.
Client Contact and Event Management
Kristin Nilseng is Norwegian and has lived in Switzerland since 1991.
She was Office Manager and PA to the CEO at Weber Shandwick in Geneva from 2007-2009.
Kristin works in French, English, Norwegian, German, Italian and Spanish.
Having worked 16 years for Tecnochem, a liquid processing chemicals producer with operations worldwide, Kristin has significant experience within international logistics, sales and marketing, customer care programs, ISO quality systems, business development and web design.
During the same period, Kristin managed the administrative, commercial and diplomatic services of the Norwegian Consulate in Lausanne. She was also president of the Norwegian Club in Lausanne for many years.
Before settling in Switzerland, she lived, studied and worked for several years in Australia, Spain, Greece and France and worked as a consultant for Swiss Télévison Suisse Romande during the winter Olympics in Lillehammer. Today she is active in the marketing of "La Patrouille des Glaciers".
Kristin's educational background includes studies in computer science, creative web design, communication and journalism in Fribourg, English and French literature in Lausanne, and a MA degree in international marketing from Oslo, Grenoble and Nantes.