It isn’t every day that you meet a gentleman whose business card says he’s Keeper of the Privy Purse.

When you learn that he is the treasurer to the King of Sweden, you know you’re in special company.

In this case, you’ve met Gustavus Board of Trustees member Jan Lindman, who hopes to bring a special Swedish perspective to Gustavus while also serving as a liaison between Gustavus and other Swedish contacts.

Lindman has been in Sweden’s royal court for the past eight years.

He describes his job as a trio of responsibilities.

“One is I’m the CFO for the royal court, which is an organization with 300 employees,” Lindman said.

“The other part is that I’m managing the wealth of the royal family, their financial wealth and real estate holdings. I’m also the head of the royal foundations, which mainly consists of about 30 endowment funds. As part of that, I’m also the representative in different boards at the University in Stockholm and here.”

To handle these significant responsibilities, Lindman meets with the King in Stockholm about once a week, or as needed.

Lindman joined Gustavus’s Board of Trustees in June 2016.

After his royal court predecessor introduced him to Tom Young, Vice President for Institutional Advancement, Lindman,and Youngy struck up a connection that has grown in many ways.

“Jan is the third person from Sweden in the College’s history to serve on the Board of Trustees. The College enjoys a very strong network of friends in Sweden and he came highly recommended. Jan’s predecessor at the Royal Court, Mr. Bengt Telland was kind enough to introduce us to Jan, and His Majesty, the King supported and encouraged Jan to accept the College’s invitation to join the Board,” Young said.

When Gustavus invited Lindman to be a member of the Board, he had to ask the King for permission.

He received an enthusiastic reply from His Majesty, the King.

“The king was very positive,” Lindman said.

“He thought that it was a good idea. He has been here four or five times. He likes Gustavus and said that they do good things and that it would be a learning process for [me]. It was very true, and is very true.”

Lindman is an expert in endowments.

Before he worked for the King, Lindman was an endowment and non-profit organization specialist at a commercial bank.

He shares his financial investment and endowment expertise as a member of the Gustavus Board’s Investment Committee.

His favorite part of working with the Board is its members’ ability to cooperate and remain open to the ideas of others, even if those ideas are different than their own.

“I like the ambitious conversations and the willingness for others to listen, the open discussions with a positive attitude,” Lindman said.

Lindman tries to come to visit Gustavus twice a year, for the biannual Board meetings.

Although he doesn’t always make it due to schedule conflicts, he makes sure to stay up to date on all board actions and discussions.

For a man who has extensively traveled the world and spent time in many of its most magnificent buildings, it’s interesting to note that he says his favorite place on campus is the Borgeson Swedish Cabin in the Linnaeus Arboretum and admires the compactness of campus, compared to the often spread-out layouts of universities in Sweden, like Uppsala and Stockholm Universities.

“I hope to be able to, through the network I have in Sweden, help Gustavus in Sweden and their activities in Sweden,” Lindman said.