Mr. Esko Aho, Senior Fellow, Harvard University; Consultative Partner, Nokia Corporation; and Former Prime Minister of Finland (Helsinki, Finland)

As a Senior Fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University Esko Aho pursues research on the changing role of the state in maintaining welfare and global competitiveness.

From 2009 to 2012, Mr Aho was the Executive Vice President of Corporate Relations and Responsibility at Nokia Corporation. In this position, he headed Nokia’s government and public affairs function, and oversaw the company’s global policies and activities regarding sustainable development and social responsibility. As of Sept 2012
Mr Aho has represented Nokia as a consultative partner.

Before joining Nokia in 2008, Mr. Aho enjoyed a long and distinguished career in government service. He served as a member of Finnish parliament for 20 years, from 1983. He was elected to the Prime Minister’s Office in 1991. During his premiership, Mr. Aho chaired the Science and Technology Policy Council of Finland. Under his leadership, he also brought Finland into the European Union. After leaving office in 1995, Mr. Aho spent one year as a Fellow of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University in 2000, leading a weekly study group on the European Union and its political and economic implications for global relations. He then served as the president of Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund, from 2004-2008.