The Board of Directors of the Finnish Society of Crafts and Design
The Board of Directors for 2011
The board of directors of the Finnish Society of Crafts and Design consists of six leading decision-makers in the corporate and design sectors. Important objectives for the board are to promote the internationalization of Finnish design expertise, to encourage enterprises, particularly small and middle-sized firms, to apply design in product development, and to arouse the interest of the public in design. It is chaired by Tero Vähäkylä, with Heikki Allonen, Dan Colliander, Jorma Savolainen, Salla Heinänen and Ulla Uimonen as members.
Chairman of the Board
Tero Vähäkylä
Tero Vähäkylä, MSc (Econ.) has worked as President of Home Business Area of the Fiskars Brands company and earlier as CEO of the Iittala Group. He also has a great deal of previous international experience in executive-level sales and marketing positions, with the Leaf corporation in England, Holland and the United States, among other organizations. He is the chairman of the board in the Orthex Group Oy Ab and in the internatinal design foundation which is responsible for the Helsinki World Design Capital 2012.
Board members
Heikki Allonen
CEO of Patria Holding Plc, Heikki Allonen MSc Engineering, has many years of experience in the Finnish and international industries through executive posts in Fiskars Corporation, SRV Group and Wärtsilä Corporation. Mr Allonen is associated with the arts and design through his memberships on the boards of the Sibelius Society and Design Museum of Finland.
Dan Colliander
Dan Colliander, BSc, was CEO of the Suunto company 2000-2005, having previously served in executive duties in Finland and abroad with the Gillette company and Braun Inc, among other organizations. He is the chairman of the boards of the Vantaa Wellness Forum and the Finnish Federation of the Technology Industry.
Jorma Savolainen
Designer Jorma Savolainen is Senior Partner and a member of the board of the Desigence design agency and the founding member of Muodos. Savolainen has served in numerous teaching and expert duties and positions of trust in the design sector. He has also been a member of Design Round Table and the Design 2005! monitoring group.
Salla Heinänen
Salla Heinänen (M.Pol.SC.) is Secretary General of the Finnish Association of Designers Ornamo, representing Finnish designers and artists of industrial arts. She has long experience in national and international supervision of interests and public affairs. Among other positions, Salla Heinänen has sat in EU Commission advisory committees, in the European Economic and Social Committee and in the Trade Advisory Committee to the OECD.
Ulla Uimonen
Nokia's Head of Packaging Design Ulla Uimonen is a designer who graduated from Lahti’s Design Institute and has specialized in sustainable packaging design throughout her career. She heads global packaging design functions at Nokia, being responsible for designing the packaging portfolio and global R&D of packaging.