Johanna Sumuvuori was appointed State Secretary to Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto on 4 July 2019. As State Secretary, she assists the Minister in matters relating to political steering and preparatory work. She also assists the Minister and represents him in the drafting of policy papers and in inter-ministerial coordination. Her responsibilities include participation in the harmonization of policy positions, the implementation of the Government Programme in the Minister’s administrative branch, and the handling of EU and international affairs.
Sumuvuori deals with matters relating to public relations and she also deputises for the Minister. She has previously been Press Counsellor at the Embassy of Finland in London. Sumuvuori has a wide experience of politics, communications, culture, and civil society organisations. She has previously been a Member of Parliament and a city councillor, and she has held leading positions in civil society organisations as well as in different kinds of positions of trust. She holds the degrees of Master of Social Sciences and Master of Arts.
Charlotta Benedek is the Head of the UNEP/OCHA Joint Environment Unit, located in Geneva. She has been working with OCHA for the past 15 years, carrying out a wide range of functions within the organization, in policy, in private sector engagement as well as in response, preparedness and disaster risk reduction. Before joining OCHA, she worked for four years with the UN in Bangkok, Thailand.
Petteri Taalas has been the Secretary-General of World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) since 1 January 2016. He was appointed by the World Meteorological Congress in 2015 for a first four-year term. Previously, he worked as Director General of the Finnish Meteoroligical Institute (2007–2015 and 2002–2005), Director of the WMO Development and Regional Activities Department (2005–2007), research professor in remote sensing (2000–2002) and Head of research, Scientist, leader of ozone research unit (1986–1999). He is also the author of around 50 peer-reviewed papers on satellite technology, global change, and climate & atmospheric chemistry.
Antti Häikiö works since 2017 as Senior Strategic Advisor in the European External Action Service related to the CSDP, common security and defence policy of the EU. His main areas are strategic and capability development of the EU’s external action. His permanent post in Finland is Ministerial Advisor in the Ministry of the Interior, international affairs unit. His main responsibilities have been crisis management, strategic and capability development, and participation of Finnish experts to the operations of the EU, OSCE, UN, Nato and the Council of Europe. He is a co-founder of the Crisis Management Centre Finland (www.cmcfinland.fi).
Jaana Husu-Kallio has been the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland since February 2012. Previously her roles included Director-General of the Finnish Food Safety Authority (from 2006) and Deputy-Director General of DG Health and Consumer Protection of the European Commission (from 2002). Before she joined the European Commission, she worked in the Ministry as a Chief Veterinary Officer.
Dr. Husu-Kallio graduated as a veterinarian from the University of Helsinki (1984) and attained a PhD in veterinary microbiology in 1990 and a specialization degree in infectious animal diseases in 1992. She has been a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry since 2004 and received a Doctor Honoris Causa by the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry of the University of Helsinki in 2008. She acted as a member of the Management Board of the University of Helsinki 2010–2013 and as the Chairman 2014–2017. From October 2016 until June 2020, she was a chair of the management board of European Food Safety Authority, EFSA, and a member since 2012.
Johanna Tuukkanen, curator, PhD, works as the artistic director and senior manager of ANTI – Contemporary Art Festival in Kuopio, Finland. ANTI is an international site-specific contemporary art festival that works with innovative artists on projects that explore and expand urban space. With a focus on participation, dialogue and exchange, ANTI began life in 2002. Since then,19 editions of ANTI Festival has been produced and a year-round programme of cultural projects and the ANTI Festival International Prize for Live Art (in 2014) established. Held annually in Kuopio, the city hosts the festival, projects by artists from around the world inhabit the spaces of public life and directly engage communities and audiences in the making and showing of their work. Tuukkanen is one of the founders of ANTI and has worked as a freelance artist, curator and art expert in diverse specialist positions in arts management nationally and internationally.
Chief Mumena of the Kaonde people of North Western Province, Zambia, is a senior chief of the Kaonde people, who live along Zambia’s border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. Chief Mumena is one of his country’s most respected traditional leaders. Kaonde people are referred to as “the lion people”. Chief Mumena has been praised by Bill Gates for his great leadership.
Markku Tervahauta is the Director General of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL). Tervahauta is a Doctor of Medical Science, specialized in Public Health, and he has a doctoral degree (PhD) in Epidemiology from the University of Eastern Finland (former University of Kuopio). Dr Tervahauta’s main working career has been in leadership positions in municipal and national public health organisations.
Tervahauta has served as Director General of the Department for Wellbeing and Services at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health since February 2018. Before that, he worked at the local government level as Director of Health and Social Services, first in the City of Lahti since 2009 and then in the City of Kuopio since 2010. He worked as chief executive of the Municipality of Leppävirta from 2005 to 2009. Director General Markku Tervahauta is Executive Board member of The International Association of National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI). He is vice chairman of the Board of Directors of the Alko Inc., the Government owned limited company. Director General Markku Tervahauta is also chairman of the National Nutrition Council.