Jukka Matti Juusti (born 16 May 1955) is a Finnish Engineer

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

( special officer), retired, and he holds a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

degree in technology. When appointed as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence as of 1 January 2016, he followed

Arto Räty Arto Tuomas Räty (born 25 October 1955 in Parikkala, Finland) is a Finnish retired military officer with the rank of lieutenant general. He was promoted a brigadier general in 2004 and lieutenant general in 2010. During his career, Räty served e ...

in this post. Prior to the appointment, he acted as the Director of the Resource Policy Department in 2012–2015. Juusti was born in

Oulu Oulu ( , ; sv, Uleåborg ) is a city, municipality and a seaside resort of about 210,000 inhabitants in the region of North Ostrobothnia, Finland. It is the most populous city in northern Finland and the fifth most populous in the country after: ...

. He took his matriculation examination at the

upper secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

of Riihimäki in 1974 and went on to study at Helsinki University of Technology where, in 1979, he completed his master's degree in the department of electrical engineering. He also completed the master's degree in Defence Administration in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

in 1989. Jukka Juusti has a long career in the defence administration and he has also held various international positions. His career in the defence administration includes the positions as Deputy Chief of Staff, Logistics and Armaments (2011-2012); Chief Engineer of the Finnish Defence Forces (2006); and Chief of Armaments of the Finnish Defence Forces. He has also worked as a defence adviser at the Mission of Finland to Nato in Brussels from 1999 to 2003 and as Armaments Director in the European Defence Agency from 2008 to 2010. There was a political debate on the proposal to appoint Juusti as Permanent Secretary; this also raised a lot of public discussion as the National Coalition Party and a number of experts wished that Arto Räty would continue in the position. The then

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

Alexander Stubb (National Coalition Party) requested referral of the matter. According to expert public servants, both generals were equally qualified for the task. The Government made a decision in line with the proposal of Minister of Defence Jussi Niinistö ( True Finns) and Juusti was appointed. According to Niinistö, Juusti combines military and civilian competences, technical expertise and financial skills.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Juusti, Jukka 1955 births Living people People from Oulu Finnish major generals