Kari
AALTO

Mr Kari Aalto, holds the position of Director of the East & North Finland EU Office in Brussels, representing the 7 regions of East and North Finland. He is following relevant EU policies, including Arctic issues and responsible for interest promotion of the region he represents. Currently he is also the Chair for the NSPA Coordination Group between NSPA EU Offices in Brussels.

Before this, Mr. Aalto was Manager of International Affairs in the Council of Oulu Region for more than 10 years. There his tasks were EU policies and programs, Barents Cooperation in which he was the Chair of the Barents Regional Committee 2007-2009, and international cooperation of the Council of Oulu Region in general.

Mr Aalto’s work experience covers the whole spectrum of regional, Arctic and cohesion policy issues for over 20 years; from management to strategic planning, from regional international networks to cooperation between regions in EU and neighbouring states, national programme planning and implementation, EU and other International Financing instruments. Before his career in public sector Mr. Aalto was Vice President for Sales and Marketing in Finnish / US based ICT Company.

Mr. Aalto has a Master of Social Sciences in International Relations and graduated from the University of Lapland.