Elina Valtonen

Minister for Foreing Affairs

Elina Valtonen is a fourth-term Member of Parliament, deputy chair of the National Coalition Party, and mother of two children.

In Parliament, she has served as vice chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee and in the Defence Committee, Finance Committee and Grand Committee. Valtonen has chaired the Finnish delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and served as deputy member of the Finnish Delegation to the Council of Europe.

Before entering politics, Valtonen worked abroad in the private sector in various countries, including for ten years in the financial sector in Copenhagen and London. A former computer programmer, she has been involved in setting up several growth companies.

Valtonen's first book Vapauden voitto (‘Freedom’s Victory’, Otava 2018) was the most sold non-fiction book in Finland for several weeks. In addition to Finnish, Valtonen speaks Swedish, English, German and French.

Aino Bergius

CEO of Slush

Aino Bergius, the CEO of Slush, rose from volunteer to the top position at the world’s leading startup event and the largest gathering of venture capital globally. Now leading Slush, she manages an extensive network that includes 1,600 volunteers, 50 full-time staff, and thousands of attendees, all while fostering innovation and collaboration within the global startup ecosystem. She holds a Master’s degree in Economics and Business Administration from Aalto University.

Suzanne Innes-Stubb

Executive in Residence of Aalto University School of Business

Suzanne Innes-Stubb is the spouse of the 13th President of the Republic of Finland, Alexander Stubb.

Innes-Stubb graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Surrey, where she studied law, French and German. Innes-Stubb is qualified as solicitor in England and Wales. She earned her Master of Laws (LLM) degree in European Law at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium, in 1995. 

After graduation, Innes-Stubb worked in London, as a solicitor for the UK Government Legal Service. She then moved on to the law firm White & Case, working in its offices both in Helsinki and Brussels. She focused particularly on issues related to competition law and data protection. 

In 2014, Innes-Stubb joined the Sanoma Group, where she was responsible for tasks related to competition law, ethics and compliance. In 2017, she started working at KONE Oyj, where she led and managed the global compliance team (Vice President, Global Compliance). Since 2024, she has been working as Executive in Residence at Aalto University.

Siamäk Naghian

CEO of Genelec

Siamäk Naghian (D.Sc) is currently CEO of Genelec, the leading global brand in professional monitoring audio. He joined Genelec in 2005 as Director of Research and Development. In 2010, he was appointed the company's vice president and since 2011 he has served as the company's CEO. 

He holds an M.Sc. in Engineering, a Licentiate of Engineering, and a Doctor of Science in Technology, all from the Helsinki University of Technology, now known as Aalto University. In 2018, Naghian was nominated as the Enterprise Executor of the Year in Finland. He was also nominated as the Alumni of the Year at Aalto University School of Electrical Engineering in 2020. Before joining Genelec, and in the early phase of mobile systems, he worked for a long time at Nokia in various positions, including research and development, business development, and leadership. 

Building collaboration between universities and industry as well as leading innovation have been essential parts of his working history in all positions. He is also a current member of the Board of the University of East of Finland (UEF) and Chair of the advisory board of the International Business Network of Confederation of Finnish Industries.