The Alum of the Year Juha Jolkkonen Has Built an Impressive Career as a Leader, Physician and Reformer

Aalto EE selected Juha Jolkkonen, Executive Director for the Social Services, Health Care, and Rescue Services Division at the City of Helsinki, as the Alum of the Year 2025. Jolkkonen has a long and diverse career both as a physician and as a leader. 

"I never wanted to specialize in a narrow field. The skill of encountering people develops when you see the full spectrum of life and meet a lot of people with different situations and needs. That has also been a solid foundation for leadership," Jolkkonen says in an interview with Aalto Leaders' Insight. 

The Alum of the Year recognition is awarded to a person who has completed Aalto EE's program and is passionate about lifewide learning. This person has also contributed positively to Finnish society and working life, demonstrating exceptional achievements in their respective field. The award was granted for the second time.

Jolkkonen graduated from the Aalto Executive MBA program, designed for professionals with significant work experience, in 2014. Since then, he has actively contributed to developing the program and building a close-knit alumni network as an active member. 

"Juha Jolkkonen is a strong advocate for continuous education and development. As an alum of the first-ever Aalto EMBA for the City of Helsinki program and a member of the program's steering group, Juha's long-term contribution to the development of the program has been invaluable. His active support for program candidates and alumni alike has advanced the creation of a strong and versatile alumni network," says Kerttu Kuokkanen, Director of MBA Programs at Aalto EE. 

After his EMBA studies, Jolkkonen has remained an active advocate for learning, especially in training programs for senior and middle management at the City of Helsinki. The city's EMBA alumni network serves as a strong community of change agents. 

"Through these programs, we've built a network of up to 150 agents across the city who are driving renewal forward," Jolkkonen says. 

"Juha has had an integral role in developing the EMBA program together with Aalto EE in a direction where the insights can immediately be turned into action. He has enabled the implementation of learnings from the program and its Business Strategy Projects into practice within the City of Helsinki, supporting the development of the city and society at large. In his role as the Executive Director of Social Services, Health Care and Rescue Services Division, he has played a key role in implementing the social services, health care, and rescue services organizational reform and related changes in the City of Helsinki. Juha has also promoted interaction between society, alumni, and Aalto EE, for example, by re-joining the Aalto EMBA program as a keynote speaker and a mentor for various projects," Kuokkanen says. 

The Alumni of the Year from Aalto University's schools were announced at the Aalto Alumni Weekend on October 25. 

Further information

Kerttu Kuokkanen
Director, MBA programs, Aalto EE
+358 10 837 3754
kerttu.kuokkanen@aaltoee.fi