Full Name
Esko Aho
Job Title
Chairman of the Board / Former Prime Minister of Finland
Speaker Bio

ESKO AHO

Chairman of the Board

Former Prime Minister of Finland

Mr. Aho was a Member of the Finnish Parliament for 20 years, from 1983 to 2003. He chaired the Centre Party from 1990 to 2002 and was Prime Minister of Finland 1991 –1995.Under his leadership, Finland joined the European Union.

After his political career, between 2004 –2008, Esko Aho served as President of the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra. From 2008 –2012 he served as Executive Vice President for Corporate Relations and Responsibility at Nokia Corporation and was a member of its Executive Board.

Esko Aho served as Executive Chairman of the Board at East Office of Finnish Industries 2013 -2019. At present he is Senior Advisor at East Office. Furthermore he served as elected member of the Executive Board at the International Chamber of Commerce 2013 -2019. He acted as Chairman of the Board at ICC Executive Board Policy and Commissions Committee for four years.

Currently Esko Aho is Chairman of the Board of Cinia Oy. In February 2019 he was appointed to the JP Morgan Advisory Council for Europe, Middle East and Africa. Esko Aho is Strategic Advisor for European Forest Institute (EFI). He also is an advisor to several international and domestic companies and communities. Esko Aho ́s domestic and international activities are coordinated through his private consulting company Verbatum Oy.

Mr. Aho is an invited member of Club de Madrid, an independent organization of former heads of state and government dedicated to strengthening democracy. Throughout his career, Esko Aho has been active in the world of academia. He has been a Resident Fellow and later Senior Fellow at Harvard University. Esko Aho is Executive in Residence at Aalto University, where he works at the Department of Management Studies at the School of Business. Additionally,he is a member of the International Advisory Board, NTU Institute of Science and Technology for Humanity, Nanyang Technologia University, Singapore. Esko Aho holds honorarydoctorate degrees from the University of Vaasa, Finland, and the University of Alberta, Canada.                                                                                                                 

Esko Aho