Anne-Mari Virolainen (born 5 December 1965) is a Finnish politician of the National Coalition Party who has been a member of the

Parliament of Finland The Parliament of Finland ( ; ) is the unicameral and supreme legislature of Finland, founded on 9 May 1906. In accordance with the Constitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that power is vested in the Parliament. The ...

since 2007, representing

Finland Proper Southwest Finland, calqued as Finland Proper ( fi, Varsinais-Suomi ; sv, Egentliga Finland), is a region in the southwest of Finland. It borders the regions of Satakunta, Pirkanmaa, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Uusimaa, and Åland. The regi ...

Early life and career

Virolainen was born in

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

. She graduated from Turku School of Economics as Master of Economics in 1990. She has worked as an executive in Telia InfoMedia,

Sonera Telia Company AB is a Swedish multinational telecommunications company and mobile network operator present in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Telia also owns TV4 Media which includes TV4 in Sweden, MTV Oy in F ...

and ICT Turku.

Political career

Virolainen chaired the municipal council of

Lieto Lieto (; sv, Lundo) is a a city and municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Southwest Finland region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The p ...

from 2005 to 2012. She has been elected to the Parliament four times: with 6,812 votes in 2007, with 10,041 votes in 2011, with 7,169 votes in 2015 and with 7,246 votes in 2019. She served as vice president of the National Coalition Party from 2010 to 2016. Since 2015, Virolainen has chaired the Grand Committee of the Parliament. On 6 February 2018, after a reshuffle of the ministerial portfolios by the National Coalition party, Virolainen took over as the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development in the Sipilä Cabinet.

Personal life

Virolainen resides in Lieto. She is married to

Docent The title of docent is conferred by some European universities to denote a specific academic appointment within a set structure of academic ranks at or below the full professor rank, similar to a British readership, a French " ''maître de conf ...

Petri Virolainen with whom she has three children, the oldest of which died in 2005 due to the rare

Jansky–Bielschowsky disease Jansky–Bielschowsky disease is an extremely rare autosomal recessive genetic disorder that is part of the neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (NCL) family of neurodegenerative disorders. It is caused by the accumulation of lipopigments in the body ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Virolainen, Anne-Mari 1965 births Living people People from Turku National Coalition Party politicians Government ministers of Finland Members of the Parliament of Finland (2007–11) Members of the Parliament of Finland (2011–15) Members of the Parliament of Finland (2015–19) Members of the Parliament of Finland (2019–23) 21st-century Finnish women politicians