Suzanne Elizabeth Innes-Stubb (born 25 January 1970) is a British-Finnish attorney and the wife of Alexander Stubb,

President of Finland The president of the Republic of Finland ( fi, Suomen tasavallan presidentti; sv, Republiken Finlands president) is the head of state of Finland. Under the Constitution of Finland, executive power is vested in the Finnish Government and the p ...

. She is the first person of overseas origin to become the spouse of the President of Finland. Innes-Stubb works as Head of Global Compliance at

KONE Kone Oyj (; officially stylized as KONE and trading as KONE Corporation) is an elevator engineering company employing over 60,000 personnel across 60 countries worldwide. It was founded in 1910 and is now headquartered in Espoo near Helsinki, F ...

Early life

Suzanne Innes was born in

Solihull Solihull (, or ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in West Midlands County, England. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe i ...

, England. Her mother is from

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

and her father is of

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

descent. Both of her parents were teachers. Her brothers still farm their mother's family farm near Stansted Airport. Innes studied law, French and German at the

University of Surrey The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its royal charter in 1966, along with a number of other institutions following recommendations in the Robbins Report. The institut ...

and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in 1992. She went on to study

European Union law European Union law is a system of rules operating within the member states of the European Union (EU). Since the founding of the European Coal and Steel Community following World War II, the EU has developed the aim to "promote peace, its valu ...

at the College of Europe in

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the countr ...

, Belgium. She earned her LLM degree in 1995.

Career

While living in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, Innes-Stubb worked for the law firm White & Case since 1999. When the family moved to

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, she started working for the firm's Helsinki office. In 2014 Innes-Stubb started working as Head of Legal for the Finnish media group Sanoma. Innes-Stubb began working for the Finnish elevator engineering company

as the Head of Global Compliance. In March 2024, she resigned in order to start in a new position at Aalto University starting September 2024.

Personal life

Innes met Stubb while studying law at the College of Europe in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

in 1994. They were engaged in 1997 and married in 1998. The couple has two children (born in 2001 and 2004). The family lives in

Westend Westend may refer to: * Westend (Trevilians, Virginia), an historic house in Virginia listed on the NRHP * Westend (Berlin), a locality of Berlin in Germany * Westend (Frankfurt am Main), a borough of Frankfurt am Main in Germany * Westend, Espoo, ...

Espoo Espoo (, ; sv, Esbo) is a city and municipality in the region of Uusimaa in the Republic of Finland. It is located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordering the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, Kirkkonummi, Vihti and Nurmijärvi ...

. In addition to English, Innes-Stubb speaks French, German, Finnish and Swedish.

Honours

National decorations

* : Commander Grand Cross of the Order of the White Rose of Finland

Foreign decorations

EST Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana - 1st Class BAR

: Member 1st Class of the

Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana The Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana ( et, Maarjamaa Risti teenetemärk, sometimes translated as the Order of the Cross of St. Mary's Land) was instituted by the President of Estonia, Lennart Meri, on 16 May 1995 to honour the independence of ...

(23 May 2024) * : Commander Grand Cross of the Royal Order of the Polar Star (23 April 2024)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Innes-Stubb, Suzanne 1970 births Living people Finnish lawyers English lawyers English emigrants to Finland Naturalized citizens of Finland Alumni of the University of Surrey College of Europe alumni Finnish people of English descent Finnish people of Scottish descent English people of Scottish descent First ladies and gentlemen of Finland