Mika Lintilä, The Minister of Economic Affairs
Minister of Economic Affairs 10 December 2019 to present
Bachelor of Administrative Sciences, Member of Parliament
Centre Party of Finland
Political career
Minister of Economic Affairs 10 December 2019 to present
Minister of Finance (Rinne), 6 June 2019–10 December 2019
Minister deputising for the Prime Minister (Rinne), 6 June 2019–12 September 2019
Minister of Economic Affairs and ownership steering (Sipilä), 29 December 2016–6 June 2019
Member of Parliament, 1999 to present
Peter Reelfs, Sustainability Advisor, Lecturer, Northflash
Peter is an elected board member of Green Destinations, chairman of the GD Training Committee and head of the GD expert group for sustainable events. He is the Scandinavian representative of the Travelife certification initiative for tour operators and travel agents. Peter helped develop the Swedish event certification system Hållbart Evenemang (sustainable events) and works as an independent lead-auditor for this scheme. Peter also supports and audits destinations and advises tour operators. In addition, Peter teaches sustainable tourism and sustainable event management at various vocational colleges. Before Peter moved to the tourism and event industry he worked for many years as a journalist, translator and project manager. Peter lives in Sweden and is the founder and owner of the consultancy Northflash.
Kimmo Ohtonen, Broadcaster, Naturalist
Kimmo Ohtonen is a Finnish journalist, writer, tv-personality and nature photographer. His TV career started in the UK in 2005 working for BBC and ITV on programmes centered around social topics and current affairs (eg. To Catch A Paedophile, Tonight with Trevor McDonald, Inside Killer Sharks with James May, Blackpool Paramedics Season 1 and 2).
With Kimmo’s images the story always comes first. When he is in the nature with his camera, it’s the story and the emotion captured that matter. The images need to be honest and technically masterful potrayals of nature with an underlying conservation message, and be beautiful enough to be hung on your wall.
Both Kimmo’s professional and personal life is centered around nature. His spare time is exceedingly spent with his wife Laura and their dogs Alma and Romy in the nature near their current hometown of Helsinki or deep in the wilderness of Finland.
Marika Nöjd, Communications Director, Tallink Silja Oy
Marika Nöjd has 20 years’ experience of communications. She has been working 9 years in Tallink Silja Oy, which is a leading provider of high-quality mini-cruise and passenger transport services in the Baltic Sea region. Nöjd is in charge of communication in Finland. Her specialties are crisis communications, media and social media influencer relations, PR activities and CSR and environmental communications. Nöjd has also worked 10 years in various roles at Finavia’s communications. Her passion is to make Youtube videos of her business trips whenever possible.
@MarikaNojd
Anne Larilahti, VP Sustainability, Finnair
Anne Larilahti is VP Sustainability at Finnair since 2019. Her role consists of leading the company’s sustainability efforts on a broad range of topics from accessibility and diversity to climate and material management, contributing to the company’s strategy of sustainable, profitable growth.
Larilahti has been working in several leadership roles in strategy, sustainability, marketing, and business development, mostly in the ICT industry, but also with four years in sports and tourism. She is also the chairwoman of the board of Finnish Business and Society, Nordic’s largest sustainability network and a member of the board of Veikkaus, a government owned gaming company. She holds a MSc(econ) degree from the University of Tampere.
Topi Simola, Senior Vice President, VR Group
Topi Simola is Senior Vice President of the Passenger Services at VR. He has strong experience in consumer business and development of digital services. In prior to his current role he was the CEO of Cabonline Finland and before that he worked five years as Vice President of the Commuter Traffic and Corporate Development Director at VR. The whole industry of public transport is changing dramatically due to climate change, digitalization and urbanization. VR’s goal is to create compelling and safe option for private car.
Pål Thjømøe, CEO, Director of Magma UG Geopark, Norway
Pål Thjømøe established Magma Geopark Company in 2006 and has been the director of Magma UNESCO Global Geopark since 2008. He holds a master’s degree in geology and pedagogy. He has strong management and economic skills: he has successfully run more than 30 national, international and regional projects. He won the prize as best manager for the tourist business of the County in 2018. He is a UNESCO evaluator and the Coordinator of the Norwegian Committee for Geoparks and Geoheritage. Both Sara and Pål have been voluntarily mentoring many territories aspiring to become UGG.
Sara Gentilini, Project Manager, GEOfood, Norway
Sara Gentilini has worked as project manager in Magma UNESCO Global Geopark since 2010, being involved in more than 20 international projects. She is a member of the European Geoparks Network Committee and a UNESCO appointed evaluator. She holds a master’s degree in Ancient history, with a post degree specialization in Classical archaeology, and a bachelor in Law and Administrative Studies with focus on European policies. She is now a PhD candidate on assessment indicators for abiotic ecosystem services linked with geodiversity in Magma and Sesia UNESCO Global Geoparks.
Heikki Mäkinen, CEO, Lake Vesijärvi Foundation
PhD Heikki Mäkinen has been working as a CEO of Lake Vesijärvi Foundation since 2008. The foundation enables and coordinates water management actions in the region of Lahti. His educational background is in planning geography and political sciences with special interest in communicative planning issues. Heikki Mäkinen has a long experience in water management planning at local, national and EU level. He is an active player in the Finnish Water Restoration and Management Network, an open platform promoting co-operation between administration, researchers, local actors, entrepreneurs, operators and financiers.
Liisa Kokkarinen is Visit Finland’s leading expert in sustainable development, and she is passionate about Arctic issues and responsible tourism. In addition to working as the Regional Manager for destination Lapland, the largest and the northernmost region of Finland, at Visit Finland Liisa heads the national Sustainable Travel Finland program, a low tress-hold development program to assist Finnish travel companies and destinations to adapt sustainable practices. Liisa’s approach to sustainable development is caring. We must preserve, nurture and conserve Finland’s pristine natural environment and protect Finnish way of life, which are deeply rooted in the pure nature and the culture that celebrates equality.
Experienced and educated in Arctic matters and sustainable tourism development, Liisa has been working in travel industry for 20 years in both private and public sector.