Mrs Sari
ESSAYAH

Master of Science degree in business administration, University of Vaasa (Finland) (1995)

Town Councillor, Lapinlahti, and member of the Inspection and Culture Committee (1996-2000, 2017-); Auditor, SVH PricewaterhouseCoopers Oy, Kuopio (Finland) (1997- 2000); Business Controller, TeliaSonera Finland Oyj/Auria Oy/Turun Puhelin Oy, Turku (Finland) (2000-2007); Member of the Finnish Parliament (2003-2007 and 2015-); Chair of the Christian Democratic Group in the Finnish Parliament (2004-2007); Member of the Council on Ethics, Finnish National Lottery Veikkaus (2004-2008); Member of the Body of Delegates, Kaleva insurance company (2005-); Party Secretary, the Finnish Christian Democrats (2007-2009); Member of the Supervisory Board, Kemijoki Oy (Hydropower Company (2015-), Member of the Supervisory Board, Finnish State Railways (VR) (2008- 2009); Councillor of the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities (2008-2012); Member of the Body of Delegates, Turku Cooperative Society (2008-2012); Town Councillor, Paimio (Finland) (2008-2012) and member of the Paimio Municipal Executive (2009); Councillor of the Regional Council of Southwest Finland (2009); Member of the European Parliament, EPP-group (2009-2014); Chairperson of the Finnish Christian Democratic Party (2015-); Minister of Agriculture and Forestry (2023-)

Race walking

World Championships, 10 km: 19th, Rome (Italy) (1987); 3rd Tokyo (Japan) (1991); 1st, Stuttgart (Germany) (1993); 4th, Gothenburg (Sweden), (1995)

Universiade: 5,000m, 3rd, Duisburg (Germany) (1989); 10km, 1st, Sheffield (Great Britain) (1991)

European Championships, 10 km: 5th, Split (Croatia) (1990), 1st, Helsinki (Finland) (1994)

World Race Walking Cup, 10 km: 16th, San Jose (United States of America) (1991); 2nd, Monterrey (Mexico) (1993); 12th, Beijing (People’s Republic of China) (1995)

Olympic Games, 10km: 4th, Barcelona (Spain) (1992); 16th, Atlanta (United States of America) (1996)

Board member, Finnish Athletics Association (1997-1999); Member, IAAF Race Walking Committee (1998-2015); Member, Economic and Marketing Committee and Race Walking Committee, Finnish Athletics Association (1998-2009); Member of the Ethics Committee, Finnish Association for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities (2004-); Chair, sports development aid NGO Liike (2007-2009); Board member, Athletics Support Foundation (2007-); Member of the Ethics Committee, Finnish Athletics Association (2014-)

Finnish Sportswoman of the Year (1993 and 1994); Alumnus of the year 2004, University of Vaasa; Member of the Honorary Board, Helsinki World Championships Games (2005); Honorary Medal of the Finnish Sport Culture (2009)

Member of the following Commissions: Sustainability and Legacy (2016-), Digital and Technology (2017-2021),Technology and Technical Innovation (2022-), Olympic Solidarity (2017-2021), Sport and Active Society (2018-2021) and Chair (2019-2021), Coordination for the Games of the XXXIV Olympiad Los Angeles 2028 (2019-), Chair of the Coordination Commission of the XXV Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 (2019-2023)