The Ambassador of Finland to Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia was  born in Helsinki in 1959 and completed his law studies at Helsinki University in 1988. He started his career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland in 1989, first as a lawyer and then from 1993 to 1995 as a Senior Programme Officer at the Unit for International Financial Institutions. From 1995 to 1997, he served as a Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Finland in Caracas, Venezuela, while from 1997 to 2001 he was a Counsellor at the Embassy of Finland in Tallinn, Estonia. From 2001 to 2002, he was a Special Adviser to the Under-Secretary of State and then a Director at the Department for Development Policy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 2005 to 2010, he served as a Minister Counsellor and Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Finland in Copenhagen, Denmark. Before his arrival in Serbia, he was an Ambassador of Aid for Trade and Information Society at the Department for Development Policy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland. He is married and is the father of a daughter and a son.