Reform of Sitra’s Board of Directors

The final line-up of Sitra’s Board of Directors was decided on by Sitra’s new supervisory board, separate from the Parliamentary Supervisory Council. The following persons were appointed as members of Sitra’s Board of Directors:

• Tarja Halonen, former President of the Republic of Finland.
• Keijo Hämäläinen, Rector, University of Jyväskylä.
• Anita Lehikoinen, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education and Culture.
• Päivi Nerg, Permanent Under-Secretary, Ministry of Finance.
• Jorma Ollila, M.Sc. in Engineering Physics, M.Sc. in Political Science.
• Petri Peltonen, Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.

The supervisory board elected Anita Lehikoinen as the chairperson and Päivi Nerg as the vice-chairperson. The term of office of the Board of Directors is 1 April 2020–31 December 2021.

“Sitra plays a strong and increasingly important role as an actor for social change, operating under the supervision of the Parliament. Within the supervisory board, we considered it important for the Board of Directors to represent expertise from diverse sectors of society, thereby supporting Sitra’s extensive work in change projects essential to Finland’s future,” says Tarja Filatov, chairperson of the supervisory board.

Sitra’s work is guided by the Act on Sitra. In accordance with it, five to seven members are elected to the Board of Directors of Sitra, of whom a maximum of three represent ministries while the rest are expert members. Sitra’s President is not a member of the Board.

“With this line-up, the Board has astonishing insight into building a fair and sustainable future, and thereby leading our work,” says Sitra’s President Jyrki Katainen.

Work of a parliamentary working group in the background

Underlying the amendment to Sitra’s governance structure is the work of the parliamentary working group that assessed Sitra’s role and tasks in early 2019. In its final report, the group stated that Sitra’s functional needs would have to be addressed in the governance structure and that the parliamentary and extensive control of the fund needs to be strengthened. Based on this, the working group proposed further specifications to the regulation of Sitra.

The amended Act on Sitra was adopted on 30 December 2019 and the amendments entered into force on 1 January 2020.

More information:

Tarja Filatov, Chair of Sitra’s Supervisory Board, +358 (0)50 511 3112
Veera Heinonen, Director, Communications and Public Affairs, Sitra, +358 (0)50 372 5244