Åsa is a Swedish name and I am a Swedish speaking Finn awarded an Erasmus scholarship to the UK in the mid -90’s and I am still on this journey working in London.
Today I am CEO at Principal Global Investors for their Pan-European business. I am also a Diversity Project sponsor, mentor, wife, mum, daughter, sister, asthma sufferer, runner, friend of horses, board member, charity trustee and member of the Board of Governors of a School Council. I have 25+ years in asset management to my name, during which I have built a 360 degree experience of the industry. This is my second career, prior to joining asset management, at the age of 20 I registered and ran my own limited company working within a broad range of firms across various sectors within PR, sales, marketing and brand as well as relationship management.
Diversity and inclusion, as much as protecting and nurturing the environment for a sound long term future, is part of the Nordic nature which I was brought up with. I was awarded the honorary Citizenship of the Year in my hometown in 1989 for the profile I raised around the positive environmental values and socially inclusive leadership I conveyed. A few years later I was recognised by them again for being elected the Female Role Model of the Year.
Volunteering for raising awareness of the dangers of drugs, alcohol and smoking, together with work for Barnardo’s & Asthma UK are activities important to me.