Esko Aho

Esko Tapani Aho [ ɛskɔ ɑhɔ ] ( born May 20, 1954 in Veteli / Finland) is a Finnish politician and Prime Minister ( 1991-1995), former Prime Minister of Finland.

Aho has a Master of Social Science degree from the University of Helsinki and from 1983 was a member of parliament. From 1990 to 2000 he served as Chairman of the Finnish Centre Party, one of the three major political parties. He is known to have led Finland as Prime Minister in the European Union.

From 1994 to 2002 he was Vice - President of the Liberal International from 1996 to 2000, President of the Finnish Ski Association Suomen Hiihtoliitto and 1997-2000 Vice - President of the Finnish Olympic Committee.

In early 2000 he applied for the post of Finnish President, but was defeated in the popular vote in the second round of the then Foreign Minister Tarja Halonen. Thereupon Aho withdrew from active politics. He settled first release for a year from all party posts to keep at Harvard University lectures.

In the following years Aho worked as a private consultant. In 2004 he was appointed President of the Finnish Innovation Fund SITRA. Fortum is a member of the Supervisory Board since 2006. From 2007 he was a director in 2006, launched by the Russian government Russian Venture Company ( RVC ).

On 15 August 2008, the telecommunications giant Nokia announced that Esko Aho, Executive Vice President, Corporate Relations and Responsibility considered to be successor of Veli Sundbäck in January 2009. Since 2009 he is also Vice - President of the Federation of Finnish Technology Industries ( Teknologiateollisuus ry).