BSAG - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Project Manager, Marine Biodiversity Communications Specialist
Job Titles:
- Project Manager, Regenerative Agriculture
Job Titles:
- Multilingual Communications Specialist
Job Titles:
- Project Director, Regenerative Agriculture
Job Titles:
- Project Director, Marine Traffic
Job Titles:
- Project Manager, Regenerative Agriculture, International Soil Collaboration
Elisa works as Project Manager in the FIN SOIL ACTION project and her core responsibility relates to regenerative farming and international collaboration on soils. The aims of the project are to strengthen the impact and visibility of Finnish soil know-how, to enhance the networking of experts in the field nationally and internationally, and to increase co-operation with key international networks.
Job Titles:
- Communications Specialist
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Member of the Board, Co - Founder
Job Titles:
- Corporate Relations Manager
Job Titles:
- Planner, Regenerative Agriculture
Job Titles:
- Project Manager, Regenerative Agriculture, New Initiatives
Kaj's main focus at the BSAG is international cooperation and the policy interface especially in the thematic area of sustainable agriculture. The international community around the Baltic Sea has been Kaj's professional home base for more than fifteen years. Kaj has managed large and small projects and coordinated the work of multidisciplinary teams on the intergovernmental platform at HELCOM as well as in the academic environment. He has also worked as an independent consultant, providing support to projects as well as large international partnership programmes at all stages of the process.
At BSAG, Kaj's work includes project management, collaboration in international networks, policy monitoring, and advocacy. Kaj's portfolio also covers new initiatives and his experience in project funding is an asset for BSAG being fully dependent on external funding and operating with a thin administration.
"In order to succeed in our mission for a healthy Baltic Sea, you need to connect different sectors and motives. Sustainable solutions are only found through dialogue and cooperation. I'm really fascinated by my current job, working with top experts, and helping to uncover and advance the technical and policy solutions both on the local and the European scale. The work matches nicely with my background and solution-oriented personality."
Outside work, Kaj's family with three school-aged children keeps him busy with different activities connected mostly to football, ice-hockey, and horses. Born, raised and now settled in eastern Helsinki between the sea and the forest, sports and the outdoors are the lifeline for Kaj as well, at least until the dormant passion for music is revived.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2017-
BSAG, project manager
2015-
independent consultant
Laura Höijer is BSAG's Managing Director and a solutions-oriented idealist. During her twenty-plus years in the environmental field she has worked as a researcher, research funder, in business and in administration. Laura is used to managing large projects and she is not afraid to think big and outside the box.
Job Titles:
- Protection Coordinator, Marine Biodiversity
Job Titles:
- Senior Expert, Corporate Relations
Michaela is an empathetic optimist who's driven by a strong will to change the world for the better. She has more than 20 years of experience from a variety of industries and organizations. Michaela is passionate about responsible business and sustainability has for a long time been an integral part of her work. By inspiring companies to discover the business benefits of sustainable practices, Michaela helps them tackle major challenges of our time.
"I like to ponder about how responsibility can be integrated into business. It's wonderful to see how value-driven ideas and sustainable thinking create new business opportunities or open up new markets."
Michaela has experienced the growth of businesses and the challenges it poses and has personally experienced the ups and downs of entrepreneurship. Michaela is passionate about good leadership, communication and interaction between people and she has a strong understanding of policymaking.
Michaela was the Managing Director of BSAG until February 2022. Now she is a part-time senior expert for the foundation and she focuses on corporate relations and BSAG's Swedish speaking activities. Her main job is as an entrepreneur at her own company WhyCo that works with consulting in responsible business.
Michaela holds an Aalto Executive Education Diploma in Responsible Business, an Executive MBA from Henley Business School and she has completed Sitra's leadership training for sustainable economic policy. She dreams about an executive coaching certificate. Michaela is a lawyer by training, and she communicates fluently in three languages; Swedish, Finnish, and English.
Job Titles:
- Project Manager, Corporate Relations, Nutrient Cycling
Pieta Jarva - Chief Strategy Officer
Pieta Jarva is the Strategy Director of the Baltic Sea Action Group, and she leads the foundation together with Managing Director Laura Höijer.
As an incurable enthusiast, Pieta feels at home in BSAG. The atmosphere of the foundation encourages testing new solutions and it is driven by cooperation and shared goals. Pieta's strength is to view matters comprehensively while being able to pinpoint what is essential.
"I'm not afraid of a little chaos or complexity. Too much simplification is frustrating to me. Nevertheless, or perhaps that is the reason, I am immensely delighted when a complex matter is sharply and elegantly presented, without reducing its essence."
Pieta has worked for BSAG since 2009 in various positions and has led the foundation's communications team from 2016 until the beginning of 2022. Communication plays a crucial part in the work of BSAG, which is why Pieta is involved in the foundation's strategic planning for many years. Among other things, she has taken part in organizing the 2010 Baltic Sea Summit, where the Baltic Sea states and more than 150 companies and organizations made Baltic Sea commitments. She has also contributed to the development of the Carbon Action Platform for regenerative agriculture and helped spread knowledge on climate-critical solutions such as carbon and nutrient recycling.
"I'm interested in the stories we tell ourselves and each other because they guide what we think is possible. Each one of us is involved in maintaining and building our shared narratives, we all have the power to change them. It will change our actions, and ultimately our structures and our environment."
Pieta loves our home planet and rejoices in the fact that her job contributes to preserving life on it for us humans and other species. Pieta also admires the human imagination and its ability to produce novel ideas. In her free time, Pieta enjoys reading, sauna, hiking, and conversations.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board
- Co - Founder
Job Titles:
- Head of Training, Regenerative Agriculture, Co - Operation With Farmers
Job Titles:
- Planner, Regenerative Agriculture