Olli-Pekka Heinonen (born 25 June 1964) is a Finnish politician and public servant. During his career as a politician he represented the

National Coalition Party sv, Samlingspartiet , leader1_title = Chairman , leader1_name = Petteri Orpo , leader2_title = Deputy chairs , leader2_name = Antti HäkkänenElina ValtonenAnna-Kaisa Ikonen , merger = Finnish Party, Young Finn ...

.Olli-Pekka Heinonen
Parliament of Finland. Retrieved January 27, 2017.

Career

Heinonen was born in

Eurajoki Eurajoki ( sv, Euraåminne) is a municipality of Finland located in the region of Satakunta in the province of Western Finland. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The m ...

. He graduated as Master of Laws from the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

in 1990. From 1994 to 1999, he served as the Minister of Education in the

Aho cabinet The cabinet of Esko Aho was the 65th government of Finland. The cabinet existed from 26 April 1991 to 13 April 1995. The cabinet’s Prime Minister was Esko Aho. The Aho Government started its term when Finland was in the midst of its history’s ...

and

Lipponen I Cabinet The first cabinet of Paavo Lipponen was the 66th government of Finland, which existed from 13 April 1995 to 15 April 1999. The cabinet’s Prime Minister was Paavo Lipponen. It was a majority government, and one of the longest-running governments ...

after being assistant to

Riitta Uosukainen Riitta Maria Uosukainen (née Vainikka; 18 June 1942, Jääski, Viipuri Province, Finland (now Svetogorsk, Leningrad Oblast, Russia)) is a Finnish politician and former Member of Parliament. She is one of the eight people to gain the highest ho ...

, the previous Minister of Education. In 1995, Heinonen was elected to 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 ...

, representing

Satakunta Satakunta (in both Finnish and Swedish, ) is a region ( / ) of Finland, part of the former Western Finland Province. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland, Pirkanmaa, South Ostrobothnia and Ostrobothnia. The capital city of the region ...

. In the second Lipponen Cabinet, he served as the Minister of Transport and Communications from 1999 to 2002.Olli-Pekka Heinonen Opetushallituksen pääjohtajaksi
Finnish National Agency for Education. September 29, 2016. Retrieved January 27, 2017. Heinonen left politics in 2002 when he was appointed a manager at

Yleisradio Yleisradio Oy (Finnish, literally "General Radio Ltd." or "General Broadcast Ltd."; abbr. Yle ; sv, Rundradion Ab, italics=no), translated to English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founde ...

, the public broadcasting company of Finland. He was responsible for the transfer from analog television to

digital television Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an innovative adva ...

in Finland. In 2012, he was appointed state secretary of Prime Minister

Jyrki Katainen Jyrki Tapani Katainen (born 14 October 1971) is a Finnish politician who served as the European Commission's Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness from 2014 until 2019. Katainen was previously Prime Minister of Finland fr ...

, and in 2015 Heinonen became state secretary of all National Coalition Party cabinet ministers. In September 2016, he was appointed general director of the Finnish National Agency for Education. Since 1 May 2021 Heinonen has held the role of Director-General of the

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB D ...

. This is the first time the International Baccalaureate has appointed a Director-General who previously held a political position.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heinonen, Olli-Pekka category:1964 births Living people People from Eurajoki National Coalition Party politicians Ministers of Education of Finland Ministers of Transport and Public Works of Finland Members of the Parliament of Finland (1995–99) Members of the Parliament of Finland (1999–2003) University of Helsinki alumni