President of the Republic of Finland 1.3.2000 -

Born December 24, 1943
Married

Master of Laws, MP
Trade union lawyer



Social Affairs Secretary and General Secretary of the National Union of Finnish Students 1969-1970
Lawyer with the Central Organization of Finnish Trade Unions SAK 1970-1974
Prime Minister's parliamentary secretary 1974-1975

Member of the Helsinki City Council 1977-1996

Member of the Representative Body of the Cooperative Retail Company Elanto since 1975, Member of the Supervisory Board 1980-96
Member of the Board of Directors of the International Solidarity Foundation
Chairman of the TNL Theatre Organization.

Minister at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health 1987-1990
Minister of Justice 1990-1991
Minister for Nordic Cooperation 1989-1991
Minister for Foreign Affairs 1995-2000

Member of Parliament 1979 - 2000
Chairman of the Parliamentary Social Affairs Committee 1984-1987

World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization (ILO), Co-Chair, 2002-2004

Honorary degrees:
University of Helsinki, Faculty of Law, 2000
Helsinki School of Economics, 2001
Ewha Womens University, Republic of Korea, 2002
University of Kent, U.K., 2002
ELTE University, Hungary, 2002
Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, 2002
Finlandia University, USA, 2003
University of Turku, Faculty of Law, 2003
University of Bluefiels, Nicaragua, 2004


Her interests include the history of art and she enjoys drawing and painting. Among her other interests are theatre and swimming.