Tuomas Auvinen has built his career in the field of creativity and cultural leadership and has broad experience in demanding leadership roles at arts institutions.

He has worked as the CEO of The Association of Finnish Theatres, as Administrative Director of the Finnish National Theatre, and as the Principal and Dean of the Sibelius Academy, amongst other positions. In addition, Auvinen has extensive experience in creative leadership training and consultancy and has held several chairman and board member positions in cultural and creative industries companies. 

He is the leader of Kristiania’s Center for Arts Management and Leadership Research, and he has conducted research on relationships between autonomy and value creation across the creative industries, the digitization of entertainment industries and published on topics such as digitization and diversity in the film industry, new channel strategies, project strategy, and the economic efficiency of copyright enforcement. He is also responsible for Kristiania’s executive program in Strategic Storytelling. 

In addition to his academic work, Terje Gaustad is an associate partner in Menon Economics, a consultancy operating at the interface of economics, politics, and the market, and he has a professional entertainment industry background that includes producer credits for theatrical feature films such as the British comedies “Save Angel Hope” (2007) and “Nasty Neighbours” (1999). 

Terje Gaustad holds a PhD in Strategic Management from the BI Norwegian Business School and an M.A. in Communication Management from the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Southern California.

He is also Director of the IDBM Master's Program (the Aalto International Design Business Management program for future transdisciplinary professionals) and involved in developing Network University Fitech (a transformative education endeavor of the seven biggest Finnish universities, Technology Industries of Finland, and TEK, the trade union for academic engineers and architects in Finland).

Dr. Ville Eloranta is an expert in design management (connecting design paradigms to management practice), business model innovation (especially platform business models), and distributed ledger technologies (especially open blockchain implementations). He has a solid track record of publications in top-level management journals.

Besides a strong academic track record, Dr. Ville Eloranta has 20 years of experience in design and entrepreneurship solving digitalization challenges, especially for big B2B customers.

Ville Eloranta holds a PhD in Industrial Engineering and Management from Aalto University School of Science and Technology.

Astrid Huopalainen is a qualitative researcher who studies the connections and possible conflicts between art and organization, leadership in creative organizations, and creative work in the post-industrial era. Her multidisciplinary research interests include organizational aesthetics, leadership for creativity, and interactions between art and management.

Professor Malmi specializes in management systems, strategy implementation, and cost and profitability accounting. He teaches frequently in a variety of Executive Programs and has served as an advisor to a large number of companies from various different industries: IT, electronics, energy, finance, food, health care, media, metal and engineering, paper and pulp, pharmaceuticals, rental services, retail, telecom and transportation/logistics and the public sector.

Teemu Malmi holds a Ph.D. in Accounting and Finance from The Helsinki School of Economics, which was merged into Aalto University in 2010.

Nothnagel's focus is on encouraging individuals and organizations to excel by increasing self-awareness, creating understanding of the individual diversity of performance and results, enhancing influencing-skills and building high-performance leadership teams.

Nothnagel’s current research focus on three main areas: neuro-leadership (practical lessons that leaders can learn from neuro-science), cognitive decision-making and emotional-intelligence.

Nothnagel teaches periodically in Aalto Executive MBA programs at various locations in Europe and Asia. He is the owner of Benna Oy and is a Senior Advisor at Aalto EE. He works as a consultant and executive-coach all over the world, including the Nordic-countries, Germany, the United States and Asia. His clients include companies such as ABB, Basware, Cargotec, Danfoss, Daimler, Fazer, Finnair, GE, Hewlett-Packard, HKScan, Michelin, Ruukki, Vaisala and Yahoo.

Nothnagel is an Attorney at Law, Myers-Briggs Certified Interpreter and Certified Emotional-Intelligence Practitioner.

He has a colorful history overlapping design, business, technology, and society. The common denominator between these three roles is his endless enthusiasm to figure out how technology and society are intertwined: as a culture, in politics, in business, as well as in everyday life.

His research, teaching, and service design work have received several awards and much popularity.

Risto Sarvas holds a doctorate in Media Technology from the Helsinki University of Technology (now Aalto University).

Professor Timo O. Vuori is a strategy consultant and professor at Aalto University. His research on the psychological aspects of strategic management has been published in leading international journals and won several international awards. He has taught and presented his research at leading universities like Harvard and INSEAD. 

Professor Vuori's research and teaching focus on how companies formulate and execute strategies. He has written two books with senior business executives on these topics. "Living Strategy" describes scenario-based strategy making in an ever-changing world. "Platform Strategy" describes how incumbent firms should and can renew themselves in the digital era. The books detail both the "hard" factors, such as technology and business models, and "soft" factors, such as people and psychology, influencing strategy and renewal.  

Professor Vuori works extensively with companies, often collaborating with a leading strategy consulting company. Vuori helps the client organization formulate and evaluate several strategic options in strategy formulation projects. He uses advanced psychological techniques to help leaders unleash their strategic creativity and overcome thinking myopias and personal biases. This approach is based on his cutting-edge international research, also described in the Platform Strategy. 

In strategy execution projects, Professor Vuori specializes in helping the client firm optimize the psychological engagement of the whole organization. He analyses the psychological impact of the intended strategy execution program and modifies it to maximally leverage the emotions of the organization's members' for effectiveness.

Anders Byriel has worked for over 30 years at Kvadrat, a company founded by his father Poul Byriel and Erling Rasmussen, and has overseen it since 1998. During Anders Byriel’s leadership, Kvadrat has grown from USD 16 mill. to USD 258 mill. in revenue.

Kvadrat produces high-quality textiles and textile-related products worldwide for private and public spaces and has won several significant international design awards. Those collaborating with the company include highly esteemed designers such as Peter Saville, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, architect David Adjaye, and many more.

The company was established in Ebeltoft, Denmark, in 1968 and has deep roots in Scandinavia’s world-famous design tradition. The word “kvadrat” means “square”, the primary design unit of all textiles.

Anders Byriel was ranked in the Top 20 influencers by Wallpaper magazine in October 2015, and in November 2015, he received the Owner/CEO of the Year Award from PricewaterhouseCoopers in Denmark. In 2018, he received the ‘Årets Ildsjæl’ award (the most passionate entrepreneur of the year) from Design Awards, and in 2019 he received the EY- Entrepreneur of the Year, Denmark award.

While working for Kvadrat, Anders Byriel was chairman of the Danish Design Council 2007 – 2012 and has also been chairman of various innovative companies such as ReD Associates. Anders Byriel also served as vice chairman of Aarhus 2017 European Capital of Culture.

Anders Byriel is a member of the board of the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, the Museum Foundation, and the Louisiana Foundation (voted one of the ten most beautiful museums in the world). Byriel has also served as a member of the board of JP/Politikens Hus, one of Scandinavia’s leading media companies.

He has a master’s degree in law from Aarhus University and an Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) degree from Copenhagen Business School (CBS). From 2020 to 2023, he attended the YPO Gold Harvard Presidents’ Program at Harvard Business School, Boston.

With a background in strategic communication, but with multiple award-winning CEO-experience from content agencies, start-ups, and collaborative digital platforms.

Kasper Holten (born 1973 in Copenhagen) was Artistic Director of the Royal Danish Opera 2000-2011 and Director of Opera at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden 2011-2017.

Holten has directed opera, drama, musicals and operetta in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Finland, Latvia, Germany, UK, France, Austria, Hungary, Spain, Italy, Israel, Argentina, Russia, China, Australia, Japan and USA.

Kasper Holten made his feature film debut in 2009 directing and co-writing Juan – a radical, fast-paced contemporary take on Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni, which was praised at film festivals from Korea to Germany and the US.

Kasper Holten has directed more than 70 productions, including many at leading opera houses such as Covent Garden, Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro alla Scala, Deutsche Opera Berlin and Teatro Real. His productions include: Der Ring des Nibelungen (Copenhagen), Carmen (Bregenz Festival), Eugene Onegin, Don Giovanni and Meistersinger (Covent Garden), Der Rosenkavalier (Lyon), Idomeneo (Vienna) and Lohengrin (Berlin), as well as a number of new commissions. Several of his productions are available on DVD.

He is a sought-after motivational speaker on leading and developing extraordinary talents, and he has worked as a teacher at schools and Young Artists Programmes in Denmark, Sweden and the UK.

He is former Vice President of Opera Europa, has been a member of the Danish Radio and TV Board and the Danish Arts Council, and is an honorary professor at Copenhagen Business School. He has received a Knighthood and the medal ”Ingenio et Arti” from HM Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and is a Commander of Romania.

For further information, please go to www.holten.com

Since taking up the post in 2017, Dr. Hunt has prioritized support for design education in UK schools, expansion of the photography department, and encouraging debate around the history of the museum’s global collections.

Dr. Hunt’s priorities are focused on the transition to a multi-site museum, with V&A Dundee, the redesign of the Museum of Childhood, and the development of a new museum and open access Collections and Research Centre in Stratford, East London.

Prior to joining the V&A, Dr. Hunt was Member of Parliament for Stoke-on-Trent Central and Shadow Secretary of State for Education.  He has a doctorate in Victorian history from Cambridge University and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.  In addition to numerous radio and TV programmes for the BBC, he is the author of Building Jerusalem: The Rise and Fall of the Victorian City (2005); Friedrich Engels: The Frock-Coated Communist (2009); and Ten Cities That Made an Empire (2014).

Kaitue is currently the Chairman of the Board of Alexandria Bank and holds several different board positions internationally. Kaitue has been a Director at Ekokem Ltd and Deputy Managing Director at Outokumpu Ltd.

Kaitue’s current positions of trust are Chairman of the Board at Marinetek Group Ltd since 2021, Emilie Capital Ltd since 2018 and Filtra Group Ltd since 2020, and Board member in Elcoline Group Ltd since 2020, Suomen Messut Ltd since 2021, and Off Counsel in Nunziante Magrone, Rome, Italy, since 2021.

His former key positions of trust have been the Chair of CapMan Oyj, Destia Oyj, and Feon Oyj, and a Board member of Okmetic Oyj and Cargotec Oyj. Additionally, he has chaired the Finland University of the Arts. Among his extensive experience in manufacturing, technology, financial industries, and legal fields, he has a close experience and interest in the arts.

Previously regional CEO of Publicis Communications, the world’s 3rd largest advertising and digital communications network, after selling Reputation, which he co-founded and grew as CEO. Alexander is represented on various boards, is a busy speaker at many corporate engagements, and combined his M.Sc in biochemistry (Copenhagen University) with an executive MBA degree.

Dr. Pettersson is also an Adjunct Professor in Museology at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, and an Associate Professor at the Reinwardt Academy in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Before moving to Stockholm, she worked as Director of the Ateneum Art Museum, Finnish National Gallery.

Dr. Pettersson has worked for more than twenty years in museums. Her posts have included Director General at the Nationalmuseum, Sweden, Director of the Finnish Institute in London, Director of the Alvar Aalto Foundation and Museum, and Director of Development at the Finnish National Gallery.

Dr. Pettersson’s research interests include museum history, collection studies, history of art history, and 19th-century and modern art, and she publishes widely. Her positions of trust include Board Membership of Aalto University (Finland), and she is President of the Board of the Finnish Institute in Japan.

Remlov was Artistic Director at Den Nationale Scene (The National Stage) in Bergen from 1986 to 1996, Managing Director and Executive Producer at the publicly-owned studio and production company Norsk Film AS until 2001, CEO at Den Norske Opera & Ballett (The Norwegian Opera & Ballet) from 2008 to 2014, and Artistic Director at Riksteatret (The Norwegian National Touring Theatre) for a fixed tenure ending in 2020.

Throughout his professional life, Mr. Remlov has been active as a public speaker, educator, translator, and writer and has served on a wide range of committees and boards. Apart from several directorships, he is today Adjunct Executive in Residence at BI Norwegian Business School at the Department of Leadership and Organizational Behaviour.

Ingrid Røynesdal made early contact with classical music because her father was a musician in the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra. She studied piano at the Barratt Due Music Institute and the Norwegian Academy of Music with Jens Harald Bratlie, Jiří Hlinka, and Einar Henning Smebye as teachers. She graduated from the two-year soloist diploma program at the Norwegian Academy of Music in the spring of 2005, the same year she completed her master's degree in political science with a thesis on cultural policy.

Previously, she was director of the Edvard Grieg Museum Troldhaugen in Bergen 2011–2013, chair of the board of the Ultima festival, and a commentator and reviewer in Aftenposten 2009–2011. She took over as director of the Oslo Philharmonic from Odd S. Gullberg in 2013.

She has expertise in building creative concepts and partnerships, developing private funding and business, and creating innovative approaches.

He is known as the founder, CEO, and chairman of the board of capital investment company CapMan Oyj. Tolppanen is the owner and chairman of the board of the film production and distribution company Aurora Studios, Finnish Impact Filmfund, and Kulttuurikasarmi Oy. Tolppanen is a member of the steering group of the new Architecture and Design Museum and a member of the board of the Kiasma Support Foundation. Tolppanen is a long-term collector of Finnish contemporary art.  

Prior to that, she was the 7th and longest-standing Artistic Director of Phoenix Dance Theatre.

Trained at the London School of Contemporary Dance, she was one of the first female Principal Dancers invited to join the all-male award-winning Phoenix Dance Company, touring with the company from 1989 to 1997, where she choreographed Never Still and Shaded Limits. Having left Phoenix to pursue a number of other ventures, including setting up her own company ABCD, Sharon returned in 2009 as the new Artistic Director.

During her tenure at Phoenix Dance Theatre, Sharon has received a number of awards and accolades: In 2010, she was named as one of the Cultural Leadership Programme’s ‘Women to Watch,’ a list of 50 influential women working in arts and culture in the UK. She recently received the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts’ Companionship Award from Sir Paul McCartney and was recognized as one of the ‘100 faces of a vibrant economy 2017’ by Grant Thornton. 

Watson’s recognitions are a testament to her continued passion and drive to contribute to the local and national creative industries through the medium of dance. She is committed to improving diversity within the arts by supporting the creative voices of women and black and ethnic minority artists.