The Hanken Ambassadors
The Ambassadors can be met at the Career Evenings hosted by Hanken's Career Centre Ekonomforum. The Career Evenings provide a unique opportunity to meet and discuss a range of issues with some of Finland's top executives with a Hanken background. The Ambassadors also take part in the introduction day, graduations and the solemn conferment of degrees.
Marjo Berglund, Quaestor, Helsinki University
Marjo Berglund has a MBA degree from Hanken in 2009. Today she works as as Quaestor (CFO) of Helsinki University. Before this position she was the CFO (CIO) and vice president of HYY Yhtymä since 2003. She has worked for HYY Yhtymä in several areas; financial, funding, budgeting, IT, startups, investments (especially on responsible investments) and has additionally been a member of different boards. Marjo Berglund is the chairman of the board of board of FINSIF - Finland's Sustainable Investment Forum ry (since 2012) and a member of Hanken MBA Advisory Board.
Kenneth Blomquist, Head of Transaction Services, KPMG Oy Ab
Kenneth Blomquist graduated from Hanken in 1995 with a M.Sc. (Econ.). Today he works as Head of Transaction Services at KPMG.
Satu Huber, Managing Director, Tapiola Pension
Satu Huber graduated from Hanken in 1982 with a M.Sc. (Econ.). Since 2008 she works as Managing Director of Tapiola Pension. Before that, for about two years, she was the Managing Director of the Federation of Finnish Financial Services. Satu Huber has previously held management positions in the State Treasury, Merita and SYP. She is also Member of the Board at Finnair Oyj, YIT Oyi and a Member of the Expert Group on State Ownership Steering.
Ursula Blässar, Vice President, Lumene Marketing
Ursula Blässar graduated from Hanken in 1991 with a M.Sc. (Econ.). Ursula Blässar has over 20 years of experience in international branded consumer goods business. Upon graduation she worked in different marketing and sales tasks for Hackman for almost 10 years. Most recently she has been a member of Iittala Group's executive board and responsible for the brand portfolio including brands such as Arabia, Iittala and Hackman. Her responsibility has been to lead the value chain from NPD to marketing and retail. Ursula Blässar has extensive experience of working with the most appreciated brands in Finland and in the Nordic countries. Today Ursula Blässar is working as Vice President for Lumene Marketing.
Nella Ginman-Tjeder, Managing Director, Ifolor Nordic
Nella Ginman-Tjeder graduated from Hanken in 1983 with a M.Sc. (Econ.). Ginman-Tjeder has over 20 years of broad international experience in operational management, marketing strategy, brand building, creating and maintaining customer loyalty and in recent years also experience in e-commerce and online marketing. Now Ginman-Tjeder holds the position as CEO of ifolor since 2007 with responsibility for the Nordic region. Previously she has worked as Vice President and Country Manager of American Express, 2004-2007, as Marketing Director at Indmeas Oy 1996-2004 and as Director of Marketing Communications, Finpro 1995-96. Ginman-Tjeder is also a board member of Siftelsen Arcada and Indmeas.
Anders Ekholm, Chief Investment Officer & Partner, Eufex Bank Ltd
Anders Ekholm works as Chief Investment Officer and founding partner at Eufex Ltd. He earned his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in financial economics at Hanken in Helsinki. In addition he has completed the Computational Finance master's program at Hanken in Vaasa. Anders also works as researcher at Hanken and adjunct professor at Lappeenranta University of Technology. He has published his research in several science journals and won two international research prizes. Amongst others Wall Street Journal and Financial Times have reported about his research. Anders enjoys outdoor activities and travelling in addition to financial economics.
Carl Haglund, Minister of Defence
Carl Haglund graduated from Hanken in 2007 with a M.Sc. (Econ) and was elected into the European parliament in 2009. He started his engagement in politics already before he graduated from Hanken. He has worked as political adviser in the Finnish government and in 2008 he was the youngest ever to be appointed State secretary in the government. Over the years Haglund has also had time for business and journalism. He was the editor in chief of the Swedish speaking student magazine, Studentbladet, and later he founded the Swedish speaking pop culture magazine Papper. For a couple of years Haglund was an entrepreneur in the field of graphical design and print. He left both journalism and business behind when he decided to work full time within politics and where he reached the European parliament as an active legislator in economic, budget and monetary affairs. Now Carl serves as the Minister of Defence.
Malin Groop, Executive Director, Brand Development, Grow
Malin Groop graduated from Hanken in 1997 and has broad experience in brand development for many Nordic companies with a strong focus on international expansion. She has worked as a brand and communication strategist at leading agencies in Helsinki and Stockholm for more than ten years, and for four years as Global Marketing Director for Marimekko where she also was a board member. Today Malin works as Brand Development Director and General Manager at Grow.
Hannu Ryöppönen, Chairman of the Board
Hannu Ryöppönen graduated from Hanken in 1976 with a B.Sc. (Econ). Hannu Ryöppönen joined Stora Enso in 2005 and in 2007 was appointed Deputy CEO and CFO of Stora Enso Oyj, based in London, where he worked until he retired in 2009 During 1977-1985, Hannu held various management positions at Chemical Bank in the US and the UK and Alfa Laval in the US and Sweden. In 1985 Ryöppönen was appointed Executive Vice President of the IKEA Group, based in Denmark. From 1999, Mr Ryöppönen served as Finance Director of the Private Equity firm Industri Kapital Group (London) before joining Royal Ahold (Netherlands) as Executive Vice President and CFO in 2003. He is also Chairman of the Board of Altor private equity funds and Tiimari Oyj. Hannu Ryöppönen lives in the UK.
Caroline Lilius, VP Marketing, Helsingin Sanomat, Sanoma News
Caroline has had a career in media and marketing since her graduation from Hanken in 1983. Currently she holds the position of Vice President Marketing of Helsingin Sanomat, Sanoma News. Sanoma is the leading media company in Finland and Scandinavia. She has worked for Sanoma for almost 30 years having held various positions in marketing, research, sales and development. Today she is in charge of brand and marketing for the Helsingin Sanomat multimedia portfolio of newspapers, magazines, online, mobile and radio. She is also a member of the divisional board of Sanoma News responsible for branding and brand development.
Jussi Laitinen, Managing Director, Aktia Plc
Jussi Laitinen graduated from Hanken in 1983 with a M.Sc. (Econ.). Today he is the Managing Director of Aktia Plc. Jussi Laitinen has over 30 years of international experience from the banking and finance industry. He has for example been Investment Director at Ilmarinen and has held different managerial positions at Nordea Bank. Among his most important positions of trust are: auxiliary in the Finance Committee of Sigrid Jusélius Stiftelse, expert member of Asset Management of the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, member of the board of the Finnish Cancer Foundation and Finnish Foundation for Cancer Research, member of the Finnish Cultural Association and member of the board of the Federation of Finnish Financial Services. Jussi Laitinen is, since 2010, the Chairman of the Hanken Ambassadors.
Mikael Still, Owner, VisionWorks Ab Oy
Mikael Still graduated from Hanken in 1985 with a M.Sc. (Econ.). He also has a degree in engineering (boat design) from the Southampton College of Technology (UK). Mikael is since 2012 owner of Transportation company VisionWorks. He has aslo been in charge of the financial department at Ahola Transport, Financial Advisory Services at KPMG and previous to that he worked as Investment Director at Oy Wedeco Management Ab, a capital investment company. Before that he worked as economic director and business area director at Oy Nautor Ab. These posts followed a period of about 10 years in economic administration at Wärtsilä. In 1976 he became world champion in ocean racing (¾ ton class).
Patrik Hertsberg, Partner, Merasco Capital
Patrik graduated from Hanken in 1989, with a major in Finance. He is also an alumnus of Harvard Business School where he graduated from an advanced management programme in 2008. After over 20 years in "bigger" organizations, including merchant banking, private banking, investment banking and asset management Patrik became a partner in Merasco Capital in the beginning of 2010. Merasco is an independent partner owned investment banking firm that specializes in advisory services in corporate transactions.
Camilla Sellberg, International Operations Manager, UpCode Ltd.
Camilla Sellberg graduated from Hanken in Vaasa in 2007 with a M.Sc. (Econ.). She studied entrepreneurship and management as her major. Camilla has for example worked as project assistant at the Levón Institute, as research assistant at Hanken as well as worked with team leading at the amusement park Wasalandia. Today she is Operations Manager at UpCode, a cutting edge company and technology within Mobile IT solutions.
Gunilla Ohls, Director of Strategy, Yle
Gunilla Ohls graduated from Hanken in 1980 but has also studied media research at Stockholms journalisthögskola 1993-94. Gunilla has been working within public service media in both Finland and Sweden since 1980. She has had different director positions within media during the past two decades. Gunilla is a member of the board of Suomen Strateginen Seura, chairman of the board of Nordvisionen during 2005-2008 and Nordvisionsfonden during 2010. Gunilla Ohls has been working as Director of Strategy and member of the board of directors since 2011.
Sten von Troil, Recruitment Consultant, Randstad Professionals
Sten von Troil has made an international career both during studies at Hanken and after graduation. He has worked with different tasks in Buenos Aires, Germany, Spain and England. Nowadays Sten von Troil is working as recruitment consultant at Randstad Professionals in Stockholm. Sten von Troil studied economics and finance at Hanken and graduated 2004.
Karsten Slotte, President, Fazer Group
Karsten Slotte graduated from Hanken in Helsinki in 1978 with a B.Sc. (Econ). He has held positions as commercial attaché at Finland's General Consulate in Hamburg, export advisor at the Finnish foreign trade association, export director at Vasakvarn, managing director of Leipurien Tukku/LT Tukku, managing director of Vaasamills/Cultor an President of Cloetta Fazer. Today Karsten Slotte is President of the Fazer Group. He is also active on the Boards of Onninen, Fiskars, Cloetta Fazer and the Finnish-Swedish Chamber of Commerce.
Michael Swanljung, Chairman and Founder, Picnic companies
Michael Swanljung graduated from Hanken in 1977 and is also a graduate from Cornell University School of Hotel Administration in 1981. Swanljung has previously served at Hyatt Hotels 1981-1983 In Singapore and Seoul, Korea in the food & beverage industry, the Vuoristo-Yhtiöt 1983-1986 as Director of Restaurant Group and at Fazer catering and Amica Restaurants 1986-1989 as Director and Vice President. In 1990 Swanljund found Picnic companies which today consists of Picnic Finland, including PICNIC cafe-restaurants and Euro Picnic. Swanljung also holds many directorships, including Mary & George C. Ehrnrooth Foundation, Ella and Georg Ehrnrooth Foundation and Magnus Ehrnrooth Foundation. He was also a board member of the Helsinki Börs Club from 2002-2012.
Annika Tidström, Research Doctor, University of Vaasa
Annika Tidström graduated from Hanken in 1999 with a M.Sc. (Econ.). She also holds an Ph.D. degree from Hanken in Vaasa in 2006. Tidström is also Docent at Åbo Akademi University, Department of International Marketing in 2011. She has previously worked as assistant at the Department of Management at Hanken in Vaasa and since August 2007, as a postdoctoral researcher at johtamisen yksikkö at Vaasa University. Annika is the program manager for the International Master's program in Strategic Management. To her areas of expertise include business networking, collaboration and competition between companies and conflicts between companies. She has published several scientific papers in many international journals. In 2011 she received the Finnish Economics Association award for best tutoring practices. Tidström has regularly, for over ten years, lectured on conflict management for companies and organizations.
Stefan Törnqvist, CEO, Oy Etsmo Ab
Stefan Törnqvist graduated from Hanken in 1989, with a major in Finance. He is also an alumnus from Tekniska Högskolan. Stefan has 23 years of experience from the finance industry, of which 17 years from Asset Management. He has previously worked as partner at Gyllenberg Asset Management, CEO at Erik Selin Fond Ab, and placement specialist at Industrialiseringsfonden Ab. He is also a member of many boards. Stefan created Ålandsbanken Asset Management in 2000 and has been co-owner, CEO and member of the board since that. Now he is the founder and CEO of Etsmo.
Benita Öling, Auditor, Ernst & Young
Benita Öling graduated from Hanken in 1988 with a M.Sc. (Econ.). Benita's major was accounting. Ever since she has worked in internal and external audit. Since 1993 she has been an authorised auditor and today works for Ernst & Young. Her area of expertise is change of ownership and business arrangements.