Our purpose is your success!
THE FOUNDERS
Dr. Lauri Tuomi
has more than 25 years of experience in the Finnish education system. He has worked as teacher, trainer, manager, and vice president in the vocational and higher education.
During his career he has worked as administrator and later as director in The Finnish National Agency of Education (a subsidiary of Ministry of Education and Culture). Moreover, he has worked as an independent consultant on strategic management. Today he is the CEO of the Finnish Lifelong Learning Foundation. He is a member of the board in several organisations in Finland and Europe e.g. the Vice President of European Association for the Education of Adults (EAEA).
He holds a PhD in the strategic management. He is an author and co-author of numerous books and articles on strategic management, change management, competence management, lifelong learning and innovation. He has acted as
panelist and he has given numerous key notes on international conferences in Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia.
Dr. Ritva Laakso-Manninen
has 30 years of experience in the management of higher education, IT services and banking. She was the president and CEO of Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences for 16 years. She has acted as the Chair of the UAS Rectors’ Conference and as the chair or a member of several other boards.
She has extensive experience working on an international university council in German and in higher education quality development projects in different countries like South-Africa, Colombia and Ireland.
She holds a PhD with specialization in management. She has written books and articles on strategic and competence management as well as sustainable renewal.
An official member of Education Finland programme
Education Finland is a governmental cluster programme supporting the best education providers in their growth on the international market. The programme is coordinated by the Finnish National Agency for Education and funded by Ministry of Education and Culture. To become a member, companies must meet our high standards.
WRITERS AND COLLABORATORS
Tapio Lahtero, Ph.D. (Adjunct Professor)
has been making his career both in the education departments of municipalities and at the universities. He graduated as a primary teacher at the University of Turku in 1993 and made his doctoral theses at the University of Jyväskylä in 2015 with the topic “Leadership culture at schools”. He finished his eMBA exam in Leadership in the public management in 2015 at the University of Tampere.
He has worked for over twenty years as a principal, as a regional principal and as the superintendent of the comprehensive schools in the education department in City Vantaa, Finland. Since 2015 he is the Director of Department of Teacher Training Schools of the University of Helsinki – Viikki Teacher Training School and Helsinki Normallyceum. He has been educating principals and leaders of education departments of municipalities at the Universities of Jyväskylä, Turku and Helsinki.
He is currently Director of the Rector Training Program at the University of Helsinki and a sought-after lecturer and consultant at international context. He has also held management positions in several continuing education projects funded by the Finnish National Board of Education. Tapio Lahtero has supervised theses and dissertations on educational leadership, and has published several research articles about leadership culture, distributed leadership, and pedagogical leadership.
Mikko Salonen, MA (Ed.)
has an extensive experience in the pedagogical field. During the first years of his career he worked as a teacher and later as a principal of an elementary school in Espoo, Finland for a period of nearly 20 years. The school was specialized in mathematics and science and it worked in an innovative network with other schools in Finland and Europe and thereby created a successful working community and a high reputation.
Currently he works in his own company Konsulttipaja Oy. He is highly valued consulting partner in various long- and short-term educational leadership projects both in Finland and abroad. His consulting assignments range mainly from assisting different kind of educational organizations to supporting individual schools in their development and transformation. He has also experience in helping and supporting organizations in crisis.
Apart from organizational consultation Mikko also works as a personal mentor and coach for principals and educational leaders. Ever since he started working as principal, he has worked as a trainer and planner for national development programmes for principals and educational leaders and this work continues.
Mika Kamensky
M.Sc, management consultant LJK Mika Kamensky has extensive experience developing corporate and leadership competencies. He has consulted hundreds of companies, thousands of leaders, and tens of thousands of people through his Kamensky Consulting company, which has operated for 40 years. He has served as a board member and chairman of the Training Managers Association, Management Consultants, and the Finnish Strategic Management Society, where he is one of the founding members and honorary members.
Mika has published 15 professional management books, the most famous bestsellers of which have been the strategy books "Strateginen johtaminen” (Strategic Management) and ”Menestyksen timantti” (The Diamond of Success). He has applied the proven teachings of strategy, leadership, and competence to the management and development of one's own life in his latest work ”Ihmisen elämän timantti” (The Diamond of Human Life).
Anneli Valpola
Anneli has a background in Human Resources and Change Management. She has worked in top positions at Wärtsilä, and as a business consultant for a long time. Her focus is and has been on Executive and Leadership Development, Human Resource Strategies, and Transformation processes. She has cooperated with MIL Institute in Sweden and Ashridge Management Consultants in the UK.
She has a vision of working life, where people encourage each other and innovate for outcomes. She motivates herself with the motto: let’s put the overall on and get started!
Anneli has authored a pile of books, some are in English, some in Swedish. However, the main portions are available only in Finnish.
Peter Johnson
Peter Johnson is Ph.D. (education) and the subject of his dissertation was the
development of unified basic education in the municipality's school organization.
Johnson worked in Kokkola as a class teacher for 10 years and for 17 years as principal
of Torkinmäki school, and from 2008 to 2020 as the Director of Education and Culture in the city of Kokkola. Since then, he has worked as a Senior Advisor in his company License to learn Ltd.
Johnson has worked as a trainer, auditor, mentor, and coach in the field of teaching and education leadership since 2000. He has written umerous educational articles as well as professional literature and reports in the field. From 2021, he has been the chairman of the Editorial Board of the OPPIVA network's
Pore publications.
His areas of interest are sociology of education, educational management,
cooperative learning and management, action research and sustainable
development of education. He has been a speaker at several domestic and
international seminars and conferences in Europe, the United States, and Australia.
Peter Johnson was Vice-President of the Finnish Principals' Association SURE
2004–2006 and President 2007–2009. He was Vice-President of OPSIA ssociation, leaders and experts of education in Finland from 2016 to 2022. He received the Direction of Education -award in 2015 and the title of Kouluneuvos (Finnish honorary
title in the field of education, granted by the President of Finland) in 2017.
Kimmo Tanttu
Master of Education Kimmo Tanttu has graduated as a class teacher from the University of Joensuu and as a mathematics subject teacher from the University of Jyväskylä.
Tanttu was a class teacher in Varkaus 1985-1986, after that he moved to Anttola elementary school in Mikkeli as a school principal in 1986. In 2000, the school started as a unified school (grades 1-9), where Tanttu continued as principal. From 2011 to 2021, he was the principal of Mäntyharju Unified School.
Since then, he has continued as a trainer in his company KTConsultation, and trained management teams and staff of unified schools. International experience has been gained from cooperation between schools in Germany.
Tanttu has co-authored several publications and lectured at national seminars on unified school pedagogy and school well-being. In addition, he has been in the steering groups of several national projects related to unified schools or school well-being.
Tanttu was a member of THL's School Health Survey steering group in 2013–2015. He was the President of the Finnish unified school network SYVE Association 2004–2015 and the President of the Principals of Etelä-Savo 2018–2021. In 2016, Kimmo Tanttu received the OAJ educational influencer of the year honorary mention. Since 2022, Tanttu has been a member of the board of the Otavia Company of the city of Mikkeli.
Hanna Maunumäki
Master of Education Hanna Maunumäki has graduated as a dual qualified teacher, specializing as a class teacher and in Finnish mother tongue (language) and literature. She worked in Kokkola as a class teacher for three years and since 2008, she has been the principal of Torkinmäki school.
Torkinmäki school operates as a training school for class teacher training at Kokkola University Consortium Chydenius, and in connection with the principal's role, Maunumäki has participated in the guidance of teaching training, its management and development, and student selection for 15 years.
Maunumäki participated in the negotiation and planning processes of the life-cycle procurement of Torkinmäki unified school and early childhood education, preparing, among other things, the pedagogical plan together with the staff and the criteria for evaluating the quality of school building design solutions. The new building of the early childhood education and the unified school, implemented as a life-cycle project, was taken into use in 2017.
She has gained international experience from the cooperation between schools in the United States and Lithuania.
Maunumäki is interested in the development of co-teaching, unified school pedagogy, educational management, and school building planning based on pedagogy. She has developed unified school pedagogy and joint management of school and early childhood education in cooperation with her colleagues.
Timo Raikaslehto
Timo Raikaslehto, Partner, Board Partners Helsinki, M.Sc. (Econ.). Timo has more than 20 years of experience working with the top management and boards of directors of various companies, both as a usinessmanager and as a management consultant, including numerous strategy projects, and the management and development of practical strategy work. He also serves as a board professional and board advisor and is a respected mentor to senior management.
Seppo Mansukoski
Seppo Mansukoski, M.Sc. (Econ.) has worked for more than 30 years in training and management positions related to management and leadership development at Savings Banks College, SKOPBank, SEFEK Oy, Ministry of Finance, and HAUS (Finnish Institute of Public Management Ltd). He has had several trustee positions: Chairman, Finnish Training Managers’ Association; Chairman and President, International Federation of Training and Development Organisations; Vice chairman, Finnish Association of Business graduates Helsinki; Board member, Aalto University Executive Education, and Chairman, Finnish reserve officers` federation, education committee. He has authored several books on themes like performance management, mentoring, practical management team work and human resource management in Finland.
Lasse Mitronen
Lasse Mitronen, Professor of Practice, D.Sc. (Econ.),
University of Tampere (2022–). Prior to this, he worked at Aalto University as a Professor of Practice (2013-2022) and as a professor and director of the Tampere Service Innovation Centre at the University of Tampere (2008–2013). He has long-term experience in trade (at Kesko from 1984 to 2008) and international business research and development activities. He has published his writings on network management, customer relationship management and strategic management in various books as well as in domestic and international articles. He works as a management trainer and lecturer in several leadership training programs.
Minna Mattila-Aalto
Minna Mattila-Aalto yhteiskuntapolitiikan alalta
väitellyt valtiotieteiden tohtori sekä aikuiskasvatustieteen ja työn kehittämisen maisteri, neurologiseen fysioterapiaan erikoistunut työfysioterapeutti ja tuotekehittäjä. Lisäksi hän on johtamiskysymyksiin
erikoistunut ammattiopettaja, henkilöstökouluttaja, työyhteisövalmentaja ja
-sovittelija. Hän on toiminut opetustehtävissä kaikilla koulutusasteilla sekä kehittänyt niin palvelujärjestelmien, yritysten, työyhteisöjen, johdon kuin asiantuntijoiden toimintaa systeemisen yhteiskehittämisen periaatteella. Nykyisin hän toimii tutkimus- ja kehittämispäällikkönä sekä jo 25 vuoden ajan
työelämän kehittämiseen panoksensa tuoneen Wappu Welfare -yrityksensä
moottorina. Hän tarkastelee työtä moninäkökulmaisesti asiantuntijuuksien kautta
syntyvänä yhteistoimintana keskeisenä intressinä työn kokonaiskestävyyden
parantaminen. Hän peräänkuuluttaa työelämäsivistystä, jonka avulla ihmiskunta osaa ja haluaa huolehtia omasta ja ympäristönsä kuormituksesta toiminta- ja kantokyvyn varmistamiseksi.
Työ on ihmisen omiin tarkoituksiinsa kehittämä luomus, jolla ihmiskunta
tuottaa niin hyvää kuin pahaa. Valinta siitä, mitä tuotamme, on meidän.
Anneke (Anne) Leinonen
Anneke (Anne) Leinonen, FT, on opiskellut pääaineinaan puhetieteitä ja on koulutukseltaan opettaja, erityisopettaja ja kielitieteilijä. Hän on opiskellut myös johtamista ja on innostunut valmentavasta johtajuudesta. Hän on opiskellut NLP:tä (Prac., Mast. ja Trainer Ass.) ja käyttänyt siihen pohjautuvaa ajattelua omassa opettamis- ja esihenkilötyössään. Hän on perehtynyt ammatilliseen
koulutukseen opettajana, erityisopettajana sekä opettajakorkeakoulun lehtorina. Hän on myös kouluttanut asiakaspalvelua ja viestintää teleoperaattorilla.
Nykyisin hän työskentelee kansalaisopiston rehtorina. Hänen keskeisiä ajatuksiaan työyhteisöjen hyvinvoinnista on arvostus.
Ihmisten tulisi arvostaa itseään, osaamistaan, kohtaamiaan ihmisiään ja työtä, jota tekee. Työelämässä on paljon ristiriitaisia asioita, joiden kanssa on mahdollista elää ja niistä voi jopa pitää. Tervehdi jokaista, jonka tapaat työssäsi ja muista, että virheet ovat kehittymisen kannalta välttämättömiä.
Nora Kärkkäinen
Liiketoiminnan kehitysjohtaja, Valona Intelligence Oy, VTM,
EMBA. Nora on edistänyt yli 15 vuotta tiedolla johtamisen parhaita käytäntöjä
erityyppisissä organisaatioissa. Valonalla Nora vastaa globaalisti Intelligence
Best Practices -palveluista ja auttaa yrityksiä tekemään parempia
liiketoimintapäätöksiä markkinatiedon ja ennakointityökalujen avulla. Nora
julkaisee säännöllisesti strategisesta ajattelusta ja ennakoinnista
blogitekstejä ja whitepapereita sekä kouluttaa aiheesta luentojen ja työpajojen
muodossa.
Kimmo Mäki
Kimmo Mäki työskentelee korkeakoulupedagogiikan ja pedagogisen johtamisen yliopettajana Haaga-Helian ammatillisessa opettajakorkeakoulussa. Kimmo toimii kouluttajana, tutkijana ja kehittäjänä pedagogisen johtaminen, työhyvinvoinnin, työkulttuurien ja korkeakouluopettajuuden parissa. Hänellä on monipuolinen kokemus opettajan työstä, koulutusorganisaatioiden tutkimisesta ja kehittämisestä. Erityisintressejä ovat koulutusorganisaatioiden monimuotoiset työkulttuurit, asiantuntijoiden ja johtajien henkilökohtaiset työorientaatiot, niiden vaikutus johtamiseen sekä yhteisöllisyyteen. Kimmo julkaisee aktiivisesti blogeja, artikkeleita ja vertaisarvioituja tutkimusartikkeleita sekä toimittaa kirjoja
korkeakoulutyön ja työyhteisöjen kehittämisestä. Kimmo on väitellyt
korkeakouluopettajien työkulttuureista. Hän on koulutukseltaan kauppatieteiden
tohtori ja kasvatustieteiden lisensiaatti.
Annastiina Mäki
Annastiina Mäki on organisaatiokehittäjä ja johtajuustutkija. Hän työskentelee Psyconilla johtavana konsulttina sparraten johtoa ja organisaatioita erityisesti johtamiskulttuurin ja -käytäntöjen kehittämisessä. Annastiina toimii johdon coachina, johtoryhmien ja johdon kehittämisohjelmien vetäjänä, niin yritys- kuin julkisorganisaatioissa. Hänellä on monipuolinen kokemus asiantuntija- ja palveluorganisaatioiden johtamistehtävistä. Erityisinä tutkimus- ja kehittämisintresseinä ovat osallisuuden johtaminen, johtamispuheen vaikuttavuus, asiantuntijatyön johtaminen, vastuuttavan ja fasilitoivan johtamisen käytännöt sekä johtajuus kompleksisissa työympäristöissä. Annastiina on koulutukseltaan filosofian tohtori ja kasvatustieteiden lisensiaatti. Hän on väitellyt johtajuuskulttuurin kehittämisestä. Annastiina tekee tutkimustyötä ja julkaisee edellä mainittujen teemojen äärellä kirjoja, artikkeleita ja blogeja.