Aalto University alumni network board
Board chair
Hannu Martola, M.Sc in engineering and an EMBA from Aalto University is President & CEO of Detection Technology Plc. Previously he has worked as President & CEO of VTI Technologies Inc. and in various managerial positions. He has served in a number of startup and scaleup companies Board of Directors as a member and a chairman. Hannu has a long time link to Aalto University network through his earlier positions at Helsinki University of Technology student union, HOAS housing foundation, PTK Guild and KAUTE foundation.
Board members
Esa Arola holds an M.Sc. (Tech.) in Chemical Engineering from Aalto University. He advances the circular economy of plastics at Borealis as a research engineer and is actively involved in the steering committees of several public research projects. His research focuses particularly on renewable and recycled feedstocks for the chemical industry. During his studies, Esa served on the board of the Association of Process Engineering Students as Head of Freshmen, and before that as an ISO (peer tutor) and a sports tutor. Today, he supports the Aalto community by mentoring international students.
Ari Bertula, M.Sc. Tech. from Aalto University School of Engineering, has a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He brings work experience from his 8-year tenure at the Konecranes group, where he currently holds the position of Innovation Specialist in R&D. Ari is actively involved in course collaboration with Aalto University's side courses and is a participant in the AIIC Aalto Industrial Internet Campus group. Previously, he served as a steering group member on the Digitally project and was a stakeholder panel member for the School of Engineering in the Aalto University Teaching and Learning Evaluation Exercise 2020.
Ossi Leikola, MSc. in Tech (Engineering Physics) from Aalto University and MBA from INSEAD. He is Deputy Chief Executive Officer at Luminor Bank since end of 2023. Before that he held various leadership positions at Nordea, most lately as Head of Operations. Earlier in his career Ossi has been Managing Director at Metos NV and a consultant at McKinsey & Company. During his studies Ossi was Fuksi Captain at the Guild of Physics as well as the chairman of Helsinki University of Technology Student Union and National Union of University Students in Finland.
Eila Lindroos serves as Business Development Director at Aalto University Executive Education (Aalto EE), where she is responsible for client relationship and business development in Europe. She has extensive experience in executive education, client development, and collaboration with organizational leadership. Eila graduated from the Aalto Executive MBA program in 2025 and serves as a board member of Svenska Finlands Idrottsförbund (SFI). She is particularly interested in lifelong learning, leadership development, and the role of alumni networks in sharing expertise and building meaningful connections.
Katja Soini, Doctor of Arts (Design) from Aalto University, is the Strategy and Sustainability Director at AFRY, creating sustainable business ventures for the built environment. Previously, she has held several business development leadership roles at Innolink and Vahanen, preceded by a decade of research and teaching at Aalto. Honoured as Alumna of the Year by Aalto ARTS, Katja is acclaimed for driving collaborative design practice within the built environment sector. Currently, Katja is also the President of Ornamo Art and Design Finland, championing design-driven innovation for a sustainable future.