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.
- Philip Aminoff, Chairman of the Board, Electrosonic Group Oy Ab
- Kenneth Blomquist, Head of Transaction Services, KPMG Oy Ab
- Ursula Blässar, Vice President, Lumene Marketing
- Anders Ekholm, Chief Investment Officer & Partner, Eufex Bank Ltd
- Ilkka Brotherus, Managing Director, Sinituote Ab
- Markus Fabricius, Partner, Operaria
- Carl Haglund, Member of the European Parliament
- Marit Holmlund-Sund, Senior Manager, Wärtsilä Corporation
- Patrik Hertsberg, Partner, Merasco Capital
- Satu Huber, Managing Director, Tapiola Pension
- Jussi Laitinen, Managing Director, Aktia Plc
- Caroline Lilius, VP Marketing, Helsingin Sanomat, Sanoma News
- Hannu Ryöppönen, Chairman of the Board
- Niklas Lindholm, Vice President, HR, Paulig Group
- Veronica Lindholm, Marketing Director, The Walt Disney Company Nordic
- Benita Öling, Auditor, Ernst & Young
- Camilla Sellberg, International Operations Manager, UpCode Ltd.
- Mikael Still, CFO, Ahola Transport
- Heidi Schauman, Economist, Bank of Finland
- Karsten Slotte, President, Fazer Group
- Sten von Troil, Recruitment Consultant, Randstad Professionals
Philip Aminoff, Chairman of the Board, Electrosonic Group Oy Ab
Philip Aminoff graduated from Hanken in 1986 with a M.Sc. (Econ.). He also holds an MBA from INSEAD, Fontainebleau. Besides his position as working Chairman of the Board of Electrosonic, Philip is member of the board of Finnish family businesses Veho, Fastems, Helvar and Paulig as well as member of the supervisory board of the Tapiola insurance company. Philip is also President of European Family Businesses-GEEF, Finland's representative in the EU's Enterprise Policy Group, and member of the board of the Hanken Foundation.
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.
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.
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.
Ilkka Brotherus, Managing Director, Sinituote Ab
Ilkka Brotherus graduated from Hanken in 1975 with a B.Sc. (Econ.). Today Ilkka is the CEO of Sinituote, a family business he has managed since 1988. Before Sinituote, Ilkka Brotherus worked for Mestarikustannus, Havi and Hackman. Ilkka is Chairman of the Board of the YIT Group and vice Chairman of the Board of Amer Sports Plc.
Markus Fabricius, Partner, Operaria
Markus Fabricius completed Hanken's MBA programme in 2007, his MBA specialization was marketing. Markus Fabricius made a long and impressive career at Silja Line. He started working for the company in 1986 and, among others, held positions like Harbour and Terminal Manager, Operational Manager and Line Director. In 1998-2005 Markus was the VP of Silja Line's hotel and restaurant business. In 2005 Markus Fabricius was appointed CEO of Director's Cut, a company of 55 employees that was a result of MTV3's outsourcing of TV technology. Markus has also worked as country manager at Intip recruitment. Today Markus Fabricius is working at Operaria as Partner.
Carl Haglund, Member of the European Parliament
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 advisor 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 today he has reached the European parliament where he is an active legislator in economic, budget and monetary affairs.
Marit Holmlund-Sund, Senior Manager, Wärtsilä Corporation
Marit Holmlund-Sund graduated from Hanken in Vaasa in 1997 with a M.Sc. (Econ.). Since 1995 he has worked at Wärtsilä with market communication, focusing on international press relations and events. She came in contact with Wärtsilä already when she was studying at Hanken and worked part time for Wärtsilä and also wrote her thesis on the company's business opportunities in Indonesia. Previous to her career at Wärtsilä Marit worked for Vasa Andelsbank and is today elected official in the bank's council.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Niklas Lindholm, Vice President, HR, Paulig Group
Niklas Lindholm graduated from Åbo Akademi in 1994 with a M.Sc. (Econ.). He completed his doctoral degree from Hanken in 2000. Today Niklas Lindholm is Vice President within HR at the Paulig Group. He is also a member of the company's managerial group. Since 1996 Niklas has worked in HR for Nokia in several different countries.
Veronica Lindholm, Marketing Director, The Walt Disney Company Nordic
Veronica Lindholm graduated from Hanken in 1993 with a M.Sc. (Econ.). Her major was political science and her minor was accounting. Upon graduation Veronica Lindholm worked in exports and later on in marketing for Fazer in Finland, Germany and Sweden. In 1999 she became Nordic Marketing Director of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. Over the years she has held different positions at Disney, for example responsible for digital downloading in EMEA. Since 2009 Veronica works as Marketing Director for TWDC Nordic. Veronica Lindholm is also member of the board at the Electra Group. She lives in Stockholm, Sweden.
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.
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.
Mikael Still, CFO, Ahola Transport
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 in charge of the financial department at Ahola Transport. He used to work in 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).
Heidi Schauman, Economist, Bank of Finland
Heidi Schauman graduated from Hanken in 2003, her major was economics. In 2006 she received a Ph.D. from Hanken for her doctoral dissertation Empirical studies on labour market matching. Already during her master's studies Heidi Schauman worked as assistant at the department of economics. She continued at the department, later on as researcher until she received her doctoral degree. During her time at Hanken Heidi was active in the Student Union. Since 2006 Heidi Schauman works as economist at the Bank of Finland's department for monetary policy and research at the bureau for economic analysis. Heidi is still an active lecturer at Hanken.
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.
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.