Risto E. J. Penttilä
Risto Erkki Juhani Penttilä (born 17 March 1959, Pori, Finland) is a policy expert, former member of the Finnish parliament, Secretary General of European Business Leaders’ Convention, former Director of the Finnish Business and Policy Forum (EVA) and current CEO of the first pan-Nordic think tank Nordic West Office. In the 2009 European Parliament election, Penttilä, representing the National Coalition Party, got 50,858 votes and earned a deputy candidacy. Education. Penttilä was the first Finn to receive a Bachelor's degree from Yale. At University College, Oxford, he lived in the same room as Bill  Clinton before him and Chelsea Clinton after him. Career. Penttilä was the CEO of Finland Chamber of Commerce from 2010-2017. He has also worked for McKinsey, the World Economic Forum and Oxford Analytica. He has been a columnist in the International Herald Tribune, the Financial Times, and Taloussanomat. He won the Finnish Cup football championship in the Lahden Reipas team in 1978. In Yale, Penttilä was selected to the Ivy league football team. In 1994, he and several other people founded the Nuorsuomalaiset, a reform-oriented liberal political party. He was elected to the parliament in the 1995 elections . The party failed in the 1999 elections and was discontinued. In the 2009 European Parliament election, he was a National Coalition Party candidate. Penttilä was endorsed by people such as former socialist leader Suvi-Anne Siimes, business leader Björn Wahlroos, ice-hockey coach Juhani Tamminen, and Finnish design leader Lenita Airisto. He was one of the most popular candidates, receiving 50,858 votes and the first deputy seat. Penttilä has proposed English as an official "auxiliary language" in Finland. He has said: "A separate statute would specify for those foreigners who are living here - and those foreigners and companies who are  moving to Finland - such areas, for instance of public administration, services, and taxation, in which documentation would also be printed and made available in English". Penttilä has encouraged open discussion about pension reform in Finland. Penttilä has argued that Finland should join NATO.