The Joint Technical Secretariat (JTS) assists project preparation and implementation and is located in 5 locations: Turku/Finland (main office), Mariehamn/Åland, Tallinn/Estonia, Riga/Latvia and Stockholm/Sweden.

Presentation of the staff

MAIN OFFICE TURKU

Philipp Schwartz
Head of Secretariat
Philipp has been actively involved in Baltic Sea Region co-operation since the end of the 1990ies. Before taking over the position as Head of Secretariat, he has lived and worked in Latvia, Estonia and Sweden. His former employments include positions as Head of the Co-operation Office of the German Land Mecklenburg-Vorpommern for co-operation with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in Tallinn as well as Senior Adviser for Civil Security and Cross-border Co-operation at the Permanent International Secretariat of the Council of the Baltic Sea States in Stockholm. In his current position Philipp is responsible for the overall management of the JTS activities including the development and co-ordination of the workflow and processes of the JTS at and between all locations including the allocation of the tasks to the individual employees of the JTS.

Bo Storrank
Programme Manager
Central Baltic Programme
Bo has worked with international projects in the Baltic Sea Region, especially within the framework of the Nordic Council of Ministers. His work experience includes assignments mainly at the Finnish environmental administration including the Ministry of Environment, Metsähallitus and most recently The Finnish Environment Institute. In 2005-2007 he worked at the Joint Secretariat of the INTERREG IIIB Baltic Sea Region programme located in Rostock, Germany. In his current position Bo is responsible for the implementation of the Central Baltic Programme which includes e.g. support to project applicants and the running projects as well as assessing the project applications.

Tiina Keinänen
Project Coordinator
Central Baltic Programme
Tiina has previously worked in the Baltic Region Healthy Cities Association which is a WHO Collaborating Centre for Healthy Cities and Urban Health in the Baltic Region as a project coordinator for international projects operated in the Baltic Sea Region. Before she joined the Central Baltic JTS she worked at the Development Centre of Salo Region/Finland, i.a. with international issues. At the JTS Tiina supports Bo Storrank in the implementation of the Central Baltic Programme which includes e.g. support to project applicants and the running projects as well as assessing the project applications.

Leena Telkkinen
Project Coordinator (substitute)
Southern Finland-Estonia and Archipelago and Islands Sub-programmes

Leena is substituting Sonja Palhus as Project Coordinator. Her previous working history includes teaching in an upper secondary school as well as working in the Southern Finland – Estonia INTERREG IIIA programme. At the JTS she supports Programme Managers Liina Tuulik and Fernando Dubra García in the implementation of the Southern Finland - Estonia and the Archipelago and Islands Sub-programmes, which includes e.g. support to project applicants and the running projects as well as assessing the project applications.

Jenni Nuppula
Information and Communications Officer (substitute)

Jenni is substituting Linda Talve as Information and Communications Officer. Previously Jenni worked as freelance communicator and as Communications Officer for a logistics project co-ordinated by Turku School of Economics in Finland. She was responsible for the internal and external communication of the project, funded by the EU through the Baltic Sea Region Programme 2007-2013. For a number of years, Jenni worked in communications, marketing and events organisation roles at charitable organisations in the environmental, cancer care and homelessness fields, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Briefly she also worked in the private sector there. At the JTS Jenni is responsible for the internal and external communication and publicity measures of the Programme assisted by the Info Points in Stockholm and Riga.

Maria Pikkarainen
Financial Officer
Before joining the JTS staff, Maria has worked as a researcher in the Institute of Migration as well as in the Finnish Refugee Council. Her main task was to do research on migration issues, e.g. immigrant employment and the need for immigrants in the Finnish labour market in the future. For the first years in the JTS Maria was responsible for general administrative tasks of the JTS as the Administrative and Financial Assistant. In her current position she assists Financial Officer Kairi Jõesalu in monitoring the financial reporting of the projects.

Tero Kesäläinen
Financial Officer

Before accepting the new challenges in JTS Tero worked as an accountant in a shared service center of a big international stock market quoted firm. His responsibilities consisted of netting, reconciliation and other bookkeeping tasks. In the past Tero has also worked in the Bank of Finland in Helsinki, where he was liable for the equipment accounting and development of the configuration management database. In his current position he assists Financial Officer Kairi Jõesalu in monitoring the financial reporting of the projects.

Marika Bogel-Leino
Financial and Administrative Assistant
Before Marika joined the JTS, she worked as an executive assistant in Olkiluoto 3 construction site. She was dealing with general administration as well as financial and human resources issues. Prior to that, she was an assistant in the authorization team in Nokia Oyj, Salo. At the JTS, Marika is responsible for general administrative tasks.

SUB-SECRETARIAT MARIEHAMN

Fernando Dubra García
Programme Manager
Archipelago and Islands Sub-programme
Fernando has lived, studied and worked in Uruguay, Argentina, Sweden and Germany. Before taking up the current position he has worked e.g. at Nordbanken (today Nordea) in Sweden and at Tillväxtverket with the European Regional Development Fund in North and Mid North Sweden. In the latter he e.g. assessed project applications and gave support to project applicants and running projects. At the JTS Fernando is responsible for the implementation of the Archipelago and Islands Sub-programme which includes e.g. support to project applicants and the running projects as well as assessing the project applications.

Kairi Jõesalu
Financial Officer
Kairi has previously worked on project proposal preparation, implementation and reporting issues on the municipality level as well as in non-governmental organisations. Kairi has also worked at the Estonian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Estonian Ministry of Finance dealing with monitoring. In her current position at the JTS Kairi deals with the monitoring of and reporting on the financial implementation of the Programme. She is also responsible for monitoring the financial reporting of the projects.

SUB-SECRETARIAT TALLINN

Liina Tuulik
Programme Manager
Southern Finland - Estonia Sub-programme
Liina has gained experience in developing and implementing Phare and structural funds projects both in public and private sector institutions in Estonia. On the programme level, she has worked for the Estonia-Latvia-Russia IIIA programme's JTS Riga office as a project manager responsible for supporting the projects and the programme's Steering Committee. At the JTS Liina is responsible for the implementation of the Southern Finland - Estonia Sub-programme which includes e.g. support to project applicants and the running projects as well as assessing the project applications.

Artyom Ushnichkov
Project Coordinator
Southern Finland - Estonia Sub-programme
Artyom received education in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, specialising his studies in Public Policy. He has worked, lived and studied in UK, USA, Estonia and Russia. Before taking over the current position as Project Coordinator he has been involved in the mass media sector as a journalist, a Development Manager in an architectural company, as well as provided legislative assistance (internship) to a California State Senator. At the JTS Artyom supports Programme Manager Liina Tuulik in the implementation of the Southern Finland - Estonia Sub-programme, which includes e.g. support to project applicants and the running projects as well as assessing the project applications.

INFO POINT STOCKHOLM

Annika Claesson
Info Point Manager / Project Coordinator
Annika has worked with international projects and training programmes for several years for instance at the Swedish Standards Institute and the Stockholm County Association of Local Authorities. Before joining the JTS, Annika worked at the Union of the Baltic Cities, Commission on Environment, coordinating a European wide project on local sustainability management. At the JTS, Annika supports Jenni Nuppula in the information and communication activities. She also supports Programme Manager Bo Storrank in the implementation of the Central Baltic Programme which includes e.g. support to project applicants and the running projects as well as assessing the project applications.

Micaela Tonndorf
Info Point Coordinator

Before Micaela joined the JTS she was working for the County Administrative Board of Stockholm. There she worked with regional international cooperations with St Petersburg and the Baltic countries, labour market issues and business related issues. Previously she has worked for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe with information and communication and for the Swedish Environmental protection Agency with climate investments programmes. At the JTS Micaela supports Jenni Nuppula and the Info Point Managers in the information and communication tasks.

INFO POINT RIGA

Ilze Gerina
Info Point Manager / Project Coordinator
Ilze joined the Central Baltic JTS after three years experience at the Joint Technical Secretariat of the Latvia-Lithuania Cross Border Cooperation Programme 2007-2013. For several years she had also worked as a programme coordinator for European Commission programme Fiscalis 2003-2007 at the State Revenue Service of Latvia. In her current position Ilze supports Jenni Nuppula in the information and communication activities. She also supports Programme Manager Bo Storrank in the implementation of the Central Baltic Programme which includes e.g. support to project applicants and the running projects as well as assessing the project applications.