Risto Erkki Juhani Penttilä (born 17 March 1959,

Pori ) , website www.pori.fi Pori (; sv, Björneborg ) is a city and municipality on the west coast of Finland. The city is located some from the Gulf of Bothnia, on the estuary of the Kokemäki River, west of Tampere, north of Turku and north ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...

) is a policy expert, former member of the

Finnish parliament The Parliament of Finland ( ; ) is the unicameral and supreme legislature of Finland, founded on 9 May 1906. In accordance with the Constitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that power is vested in the Parliament. The ...

, Secretary General of European Business Leaders’ Convention, former Director of the Finnish Business and Policy Forum (EVA) and current CEO of the first pan-Nordic think tank Nordic West Office. In the

2009 European Parliament election The 2009 European Parliament election was held in the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected to represent some 500 million Europeans, making th ...

, Penttilä, representing the

National Coalition Party The National Coalition Party (NCP; fi, Kansallinen Kokoomus ; '; sv, Samlingspartiet; ') is a Liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative List of political parties in Finland, political party in Finland. Ideologically, the National Coalition Par ...

, got 50,858 votes and earned a deputy candidacy.

Education

* Doctor of Philosophy (International Relations),

University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the unive ...

1989 * Master of Philosophy, University College, Oxford 1986 * Bachelor of Arts, Saybrook College,

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

1984 Penttilä was the first Finn to receive a Bachelor's degree from Yale. At University College, Oxford, he lived in the same room as

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (Birth name, né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 ...

before him and

Chelsea Clinton Chelsea Victoria Clinton (born February 27, 1980) is an American writer and global health advocate. She is the only child of former U.S. President Bill Clinton and former U.S. Secretary of State and 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clint ...

after him.

Career

Penttilä was the CEO of Finland Chamber of Commerce from 2010-2017. He has also worked for

McKinsey McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm founded in 1926 by University of Chicago professor James O. McKinsey, that offers professional services to corporations, governments, and other organizations. McKinsey is the oldest and ...

, the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

and

Oxford Analytica Oxford Analytica is an international consulting firm providing strategic analysis of world events. It was founded in 1975 by David Young (Watergate), David Young, an American employee of the United States National Security Council, National Secur ...

. He has been a columnist in the International Herald Tribune, the

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nikke ...

, and

Taloussanomat ''Taloussanomat'' is the largest business online daily newspaper in Helsinki, Finland. History and profile ''Taloussanomat'' was first published on 18 November 1997. The final printed number (the 2537th) was published on 28 December 2007 when it ...

. He won the

Finnish Cup The Finnish Cup ( fi, Suomen cup; sv, Finlands cup) is Finland's main national cup competition in football. This yearly competition is open for all member clubs of the FA of Finland and has been played since 1955. The winner qualifies for the ...

football championship in the

Lahden Reipas Reipas Lahti is a sports club based in Lahti, Finland. It is involved in various of ball games and also other sports. The club emerged in the late 1940s, when the inhabitants of Viipuri had mostly been relocated in Lahti, after evacuation during ...

team in 1978. In Yale, Penttilä was selected to the

Ivy league The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schoo ...

football team. In 1994, he and several other people founded the Nuorsuomalaiset, a reform-oriented liberal political party. He was elected to the parliament in the 1995 elections. The party failed in the 1999 elections and was discontinued. In the

, he was a

candidate. Penttilä was endorsed by people such as former socialist leader

Suvi-Anne Siimes Sini Maaria Suvi-Anne Siimes (born 1 June 1963, in Helsinki) is a former chair of the Finnish Left Alliance. She quit the party in 2006 because she did not want to support the party's former taistoists (orthodox pro-Soviet communists). Before h ...

, business leader

Björn Wahlroos Björn Arne Christer Wahlroos (born 10 October 1952 in Helsinki, Finland) is a Swedish-speaking Finn, best known as a banker, investor and the chairman of the Board in Sampo Group and UPM-Kymmene. Before switching to banking Wahlroos worked a ...

, ice-hockey coach

Juhani Tamminen Manu Juhani Tamminen (born May 26, 1950) is a Finnish retired professional ice hockey player who played in the SM-liiga and World Hockey Association. He played for TPS, HJK, HIFK, Cleveland Crusaders, and Phoenix Roadrunners. He represented F ...

, and Finnish design leader

Lenita Airisto Hymmi Lenita Aulikki Airisto (born 1 January 1937 in Helsinki, Finland) is a Finnish business leader, promoter of Finnish industrial and cultural exports, TV journalist and author. Biography Maiden of Finland Airisto began her public career in ...

. He was one of the most popular candidates, receiving 50,858 votes and the first deputy seat. Penttilä has proposed English as an official "auxiliary language" in Finland. He has said: "A separate statute would specify for those foreigners who are living here - and those foreigners and companies who are moving to Finland - such areas, for instance of public administration, services, and taxation, in which documentation would also be printed and made available in English". Penttilä has encouraged open discussion about pension reform in Finland.EVA:n johtaja haastaa ennakkoluulottomaan keskusteluun eläkeiästä
MTV3 Penttilä has argued that Finland should join

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

Books

* Risto E. J. Penttilä: Historian roolipeli (Otava 2006) * Risto E. J. Penttilä: The Role of the G8 in International Peace and Security (Oxford University Press 2003). * Risto E. J. Penttilä & al.: Ultimatum isänmaalle. Nuorsuomalainen näkemys Suomen mahdollisuuksista (Otava 1994) * Risto E. J. Penttilä: Finland’s Search for Security through Defence 1944-89 (Macmillan 1991) * Risto E. J. Penttilä: Puolustuslinjat : puolustuspolitiikka Suomen kansainvälisen aseman vakauttamisessa 1944-67 (Otava 1988)

References

External links

Official website

Risto E. J. Penttilä: Suomen ulkopolitiikan idea
(Taloustieto 2008)
Nordic West Office
{{DEFAULTSORT:Penttila, Risto Living people 1959 births Finnish businesspeople National Coalition Party politicians Yale University alumni Alumni of University College, Oxford Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 4th Class