Esko Aho
Former Prime Minister of Finland and President of SITRA, the Finnish National Fund for Research and Development

Mr. Esko Aho served as the Prime Minister of Finland 1991 – 1995. He became a Member of the Parliament in 1983 and continued as an MP until 2002. Aho led the Centre Party in 1990 – 2002. During that period Mr Aho spent academic year 2000 – 2001 at Harvard University as a fellow and adjunct lecturer. In Finnish political history, Aho is remembered as a strong prime minister who led the country through the hardest recession in the postwar period. He led the nation through many changes in its external relations, e.g. to the membership of the European Union. Aho became the President of the Finnish National Fund for Research and Development, Sitra on July 1, 2004.