Contributors – Finland Works

Regina Casteleijn-Osorno is a Senior Program Manager for the ITP Summer School minor at Aalto University with a long history in teaching and a passion for pedagogy. She has been teaching in higher education and companies for the last two years and has a keen interest in developing entrepreneurship. She has also had her own small business for many years. Regina is about to embark on her PhD journey at the University of Turku School of Economics in the Department of Entrepreneurship. Work-life balance is essential to her, and it is always worth mentioning she is a mother of three lovely active and curious children. Regina recorded all Finland Works podcasts.

Peter Kenttä (D.Sc.) is a visiting lecturer at Aalto University and a management educator at Filosofian Akatemia. He has a decade of private sector experience in educating management teams and middle managers in leadership and organisational development. At Aalto University, Peter teaches Leading as Practice, Leadership Theory and Advanced Personal Leadership. His typical research topics include leadership, well-being at work, and interpersonal communication. He is currently researching how management education and research could be made more impactful and relevant considering the grand challenges of our time. He lives in Singapore.

Tanja Makkonen is a Senior Manager in Career Services at Aalto University School of Business. She has been planning, implementing and developing the services related to Aalto University students’ career planning and job hunting for more than ten years. She is an experienced career coach and trainer. Tanja has been working closely with students, employers and the School’s alumni. She has also contributed to many career-related projects within the university as well as at the national level. Tanja is an active member in national collaboration networks related to career services, career design, and employment & career monitoring.

Kaisa Paasivirta is a Manager of the International Talent Program at Aalto University. Her work focuses on helping international students to connect with industry and build meaningful careers in Finland. Kaisa has extensive experience in designing and delivering career services for international students. She collaborates closely with Aalto’s partner companies and alumni. Kaisa has led a Talent Boost project for Aalto University, contributing actively towards international talent attraction and retention activities in the Finnish capital region.

Niina Pitkänen is a Work-Life Specialist who has worked at top Finnish Universities for over ten years. She has been designing, developing and teaching numerous work-life courses from life design and job hunting to mentoring skills, entrepreneurship and multidisciplinary project work with companies. In leading, expert, and coordination roles, Niina has also participated in many national initiatives concerning work-life pedagogy and entrepreneurship in higher education. In addition to specialising in work-life pedagogy and company collaboration in higher education, she is an educated business advisor, mentor, and life skills instructor. Regarding work-life balance, Niina is a mother of three lovely boys. 

Saku Tihveräinen is a professional recruiter with ten years of experience. The recruitment career has taken Saku to in-house roles both in the public and private sectors. Saku has worked in IT recruitment for the last four years, gradually shifting focus from in-house to consultant roles. Concurrent to work, Saku works on his PhD research at Helsinki University, collaborating with Edinburgh Business School. His research focuses on recruitment and how people choose jobs, especially in the so-called shortage occupations.

Laura Sivula is Head of Summer School and Program Director at Aalto University School of Business. Her current work focuses on future skills, life-wide learning and higher education development. Laura has worked with companies and partners with co-learning initiatives at Aalto University and witnessed the intertwining relationship of business and higher education.

Audrey Poudrier Tremblay is an Operational planning manager in Global Maintenance at KONE Corporation. She is an analytical and solution-driven industrial engineer passionate about continuous improvement and organizational design. Audrey is among the many foreigners who came to Finland for her studies and fell in love, both with the country and with a Finnish person. Aware of the challenges that internationals face in Finland, Audrey wants to raise awareness on the subject and on the untapped potential of international talents.

Mikko Mäkirinne is a seasoned sales leader with over 20 years of experience in international sales and management. Educational background is in Helsinki School of Economics majoring in International Business and Strategy. Organisations Mikko has worked with include Salesforce, Dell EMC and Cisco, among others. To balance the rewarding and hectic work, a family of four and high adrenaline sports and hobbies are the lifestyles to enjoy.

Bhavya Omkarappa is currently working as an Integration Engineer at Ericsson, Finland. Bhavya is originally from Bangalore, India. Apart from Bhavya’s interests in technology, her passion lies in food and nutrition. Spending time in the Finnish forests is Bhavya’s go-to way to replenishing her energy.

Beatriz Ramírez is a Circular Economy Specialist at the City of Espoo. She started her career in advertising agencies in her home country, Spain. After a few years, she moved to Finland and started to work in the automotive industry, where she worked to develop the market for used electric vehicles in the Nordics. Finally, she decided to reorient her career to fully focus on sustainability and took a study leave which led her to her current position in Espoo’s Sustainability team. 

Adithya Varadarajan is a Design Strategist who has been immersed in the design domain for over a decade, with experiences across Product, UX and Service Design, as well as two masters degrees including the International Design Business Management (IDBM) programme at Aalto. He is currently a Design Lead at Scope Impact, leading projects to leverage interdisciplinary skills to deliver creative solutions for social impact in the space of health, gender, climate and equality. He is also a co-founder of the Danish Design Award winning Nordic Rebels, focused on creating transformative learning experiences and empowering change-makers with the skills to tackle the complex challenges of our time.

Johanna Fagerström is a Marketing Specialist at Aalto University. Her current work focuses on life-wide learning marketing and communications, and strengthening global partnerships. Johanna has a background in both the start-up world and higher education.

Hilla Semeri is a graphic designer and illustrator studying BA at Aalto University. At the moment she is working full-time on versatile commissions as a freelance designer.

Unigrafia is a provider of learning, research and communication services.