Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, 10 December 2019 to present
Deputy Party Leader, Lawyer (Master of Laws), BBA, BA Hons
Member of Parliament
Social Democratic Party
Date and place of birth: 21 February 1974 Lahti
Place of residence: Lahti

Political career

Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, 10 December 2019 to present
Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade (Rinne), 6 June 2019–10 December 2019

Social Democratic Party, Board, Member 2014–2017, 3rd Deputy Party Leader 2017 to present

Member of Parliament, 2015 to present
Parliament work

Lahti City Council, Member 2012 to present
Päijät-Häme Joint Authority for Health and Wellbeing, Board, Chair 2017–2019
Joint Authority for Päijät-Häme Social and Health Care, Council, Chair 2013–2017

Other work experience and societal responsibilities

Lexia Attorneys, Specialist Counsel 2012–2015, Special Advisor 2015–2019
Trailmaker Oy, Senior Advisor 2013–2019
Miidia International Oy, small business owner 2010–2015
Naturpolis Oy – Nordic Business Center, Business Development Director and Programme Director 2005–2009
Miidia Ltd, Lawyer 2002–2005
Starcut Oy, Regional Development Manager/Apac 2000–2001
MatchON Sports Ltd, London 1999–2000
ICL Data Oy, Market Analyst, Helsinki 1998
Marubeni Corporation, corporate training Tokio 1997
Freelance Journalist, Japan, the Netherlands, United Kingdom 1995–1999

Finnish Federation for Recreational Fishing, Vice Chair 2015–2017, Chair 2017–2019
Hockey Unlimited, Board, Member 2014–2019
Lahti Energia Oy, Board, Vice-Chair 2013–2017

Other information

Spouse: Tea Skinnari
Language skills: Finnish, English, Swedish
Interests: sports and culture, spending time at summer cottage and recreational fishing

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Profile

Ville Skinnari was born in Helsinki on 21 February 1974. He went to school in Lahti and completed his general upper secondary education at the Salpausselkä upper secondary school specialised in sports in 1993. In 1999, he earned the Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree in the Netherlands and in 2001 the Master of Laws (LLM Law) degree at the University of Brunel in the UK.

Sports have always played a major role in his life. He played ice hockey as a junior and in the men’s team until 1995, and continued to play both in the Netherlands and UK. Last season Skinnari was the captain of the Parliament’s football team and chaired the Finnish Federation for Recreational Fishing. In his free time he enjoys sports and culture in many forms, as well as fishing. His wife is a Physical Education Instructor, and they have three children.

What attracted him to international business life and to promoting the internationalisation of Finnish companies was a corporate training period in Japan. Since then he has worked in various positions in the field of international trade, including in developing Nokia’s service business for the Asian and European markets and serving as the Business Development Director for Koillismaa. He has run a small company of his own and worked as a specialist in international law.

Skinnari has served as Member of Parliament since 2015. At the Parliament he has been a member of the Constitutional Law Committee, Commerce Committee and Transport and Communications Committee. He has also been a member of the Finnish Delegation to the Nordic Council.

He has served as the vice-chair of the Social Democratic Party since 2017 and member of the Lahti City Council since 2012.

Further information

Photos of the minister

Twitter
Instagram
villeskinnari.fi

sdp.fi

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