Staff
Enas Al-Arashi - Project Manager
Enas Al-Arashi acts as a project manager in CMI’s Supporting Yemeni National Dialogue and Confidence Building project. Her tasks include overall budget and project management.
Abdulmajid Al-Fahed - Senior Project Manager
Abdulmajid Al-Fahed is the Senior Project Manager of CMI’s Yemen project. He is responsible for the on-the-ground project implementation. He has extensive experience in the fields of development and human rights.
Ville Brummer - Head, Research & Development R&D
Ville Brummer is the Head of CMI’s R&D unit, and currently chairs the Management Board of CMI’s programme. Dr. Brummer has a leadership role over CMI’s Research & Development activities with the research interest on different foresight and scenario approaches, decision and negotiation analysis, and dialogue methodologies related to conflict prevention, conflict resolution, peace building and security policies. Ville Brummer joined CMI in 2008.
Mariama Conteh - Adviser
Mariama Conteh has joined CMI as an Adviser for its project on “Multi-track mediation and peace processes in West Africa”. She will be leading the project in partnership with Ghana based partners, the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC). The project seeks to develop a comprehensive training program for multi-track mediation and conflict analysis for key decision-makers in the sub-region.
Roxana Cristescu - Project Manager
Roxana Cristescu is the Project Manager of the European Partnership for the Peaceful Settlement of the Conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh (EPNK) project. Ms. Cristescu has also an advisory and supporting role over CMI’s mediation and mediation support activities. Her responsibilities include managing CMI’s strand in the EPNK project framework, advising the Black Sea Peacebuilding Network project, as well as supporting CMI’s engagement in providing mediation support to regional organisations (EU, ASEAN , AU).
Marina Danoyan - Project Officer
Marina Danoyan works as Project Officer in CMI’s Black Sea and Central Asia Programme. She supports the implementation of the programme in various ways, currently with a particular focus on the Black Sea Peacebuilding Network.
Prior to joining CMI, Marina worked for four years at the European Commission Delegation to Armenia as Personal Assistant to the Ambassador, Head of Delegation.
Maruan El Krekshi - Project Manager
Maruan El Krekshi is the Project Manager for CMI's Morocco and Tunisia projects. His tasks include overall budget and project management.
Anna Elfving-Gomes - Adviser to President Ahtisaari
Anna Elfving-Gomes serves as Adviser to President Ahtisaari, advising and supporting him in his various activities, with a particular focus on Indonesia, youth employment and the promotion of a Finland with two living national languages.
Emmi Hänninen - Project Assistant
Emmi Hänninen works as an intern for CMI’s Middle East and North Africa programme. She is completing her Master’s degree in International Relations with a specialization in Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Tampere. She also holds a Bachelor’s degree in World Politics from the University of Helsinki. Emmi has previously worked as an intern at the Embassy of Finland in Riyadh.
Peter Hislaire – Senior Advisor
Peter Hislaire is Senior Advisor at CMI, working with the R&D unit and the Africa, Black Sea and Central Asia, and Middle East programmes. Peter brings to this relationship over 30 years of practical experience working in Africa, Asia and Europe for leading NGOs and bilateral and multilateral agencies. His areas of professional concentration have included: sustainable development; poverty alleviation and benefits sharing; conservation and management of natural resources; institutions, governance, administration and partnerships; cross-border cooperation and peace-building; humanitarian assistance.
Nina Hokkanen - Head, Finance and Administration
Nina Hokkanen works as the Finance Manager of CMI. She leads CMI's financial planning and provides expert guidance for the work done in the organization's many projects.
Heidi Huuhtanen - Head, Middle East and North Africa MENA
Heidi Huuhtanen is the Head of CMI's Middle East Programme. She has a leadership role over CMI's activities in the region, which focus on supporting conflict prevention and resolution. She is responsible for partnership and activity development, as well as fundraising. Dr Huuhtanen first joined CMI as an adviser to the Martti Ahtisaari Rapid Reaction Facility in 2008 and has since 2010 headed the Middle East Programme.
Saila Huusko - Communications Officer
Saila Huusko works as Communications Officer in CMI’s Helsinki office. Her responsibilities include video production, updating and maintaining CMI’s publications and website, assisting the Communications Manager with internal and external communications and strategy, as well as event organization.
Eemeli Isoaho - Project Assistant
Eemeli Isoaho is currently serving his non-military service as an Assistant in CMI’s Africa Programme. Eemeli graduated from United World College of the American West and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in international relations and anthropology from Lake Forest College, IL. Additionally, Eemeli has completed a program on development project management at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, CA, and gained experience in project planning and implementation in Peru and Bolivia.
Meeri-Maria Jaarva - Head, Black Sea and Central Asia
Meeri-Maria Jaarva is CMI’s Head of the Black Sea and Central Asia Programme. Ms Jaarva joined CMI in 2000 and has held different positions in the organisation, including Project Manager and Adviser in the Aceh peace negotiations, Adviser to the Personal Envoy of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office for Central Asia, and Director of the Conflict Resolution Programme, among others. Ms Jaarva is currently serving as a member of the Steering Committees of the European Peacebuilding Liaison Office (EPLO) and the Civil Society Conflict Prevention Network (KATU).
Marko Jäminki - Adviser
Marko Jäminki works as an Adviser on safety and security issues at CMI. His tasks include analysing and monitoring the safety and security of CMI staff in the countries and regions where CMI is present or planning to work, and developing the safety and security management and procedures related to CMI staff and field operations. Before joining CMI in 2010, he worked for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in various positions and locations for almost 10 years.
Kirsi Joenpolvi - Head, Africa
Kirsi Joenpolvi is the Head of CMI's Africa Programme and has a leadership role over CMI's activities in Sub-Saharan Africa. Her responsibilities include partnership and activity development as well as fundraising for the Africa Programme. Kirsi Joenpolvi joined CMI in 2007 and has acted as Post-War Statebuilding Adviser and Deputy Director of Programmes. Since 2010, Ms. Joenpolvi has headed the Africa Programme.
Tuomo Jorri – Project Assistant
Tuomo Jorri is currently serving his non-military service as a Project Assistant in CMI’s R&D unit. He is working with project evaluation methodologies in the context of CMI’s projects.
Jari Kaivo-oja - Adviser
Jari Kaivo-oja is the Adviser of CMI´s R&D unit. His special fields are foresight methodologies in conflict management, global foresight and international economics. He has applied innovation, creativity and think tanking tools and science & technology foresight methods. He has special expertise in energy economics, climate change and security politics. He has broad research experience in strategic and participatory foresight processes in Europa and in international contexts (among other things 3 years in the Lao PDR and Mekong River research program).
Antero Karvonen - Project Assistant
Antero Karvonen works in the communications unit at CMI headquarters, primarily focusing on maintaining and developing this site, CMI's internal and external communications and presence on the Web in general.
Saana Keskitalo - Project Manager
Saana Keskitalo acts as the project manager in CMI's Fostering Palestinian Dialogue project. Her tasks include overall budget and project management. Her main fields of interest include international relations and Middle East politics, and in particular the dynamics between regional and international actors in conflict resolution.
Minna Kukkonen - Adviser
Minna Kukkonen works as Adviser to the Executive Director of Crisis Management Initiative. She supports the Executive Director in the execution of CMI’s mission and facilitates external and internal relations. As acting Director of Operations, Minna is responsible for supporting the Executive Director in leading administration, finance and human resources management. She acts as a legal adviser in CMI’s projects and overall organizational management.
Mikaeli Langinvainio - Project Manager
Mikaeli Langinvainio is the Project Manager of two separate projects, the Governance Architecture (GA) project and the Aftermath Crisis Management System-of-systems Demonstration (ACRIMAS) program.
Laura Latvasalo – Coordinator, Middle East and North Africa MENA
Laura Latvasalo works as a Coordinator in CMI’s Middle East and North Africa Programme. Her tasks include coordinating MENA team matters related to administration, communications, events, and financing.Previously, Laura has worked at the Americas and Asia Department at the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Helsinki. She holds Master’s degrees in Political History from the University of Helsinki
Elina Lehtinen - Head, Communications & Fundraising
Elina Lehtinen is in charge of strategic planning in CMI's external and internal communications. She has worked for over a decade in media and communications related posts in the USA, Middle East, UK and Finland.
Riikka Marjamäki - Head, President Ahtisaari's Office
Riikka Marjamäki is the Director of the Office of President Ahtisaari, an office inside CMI that supports President Ahtisaari in all his tasks. Mrs Marjamäki heads the programming, planning and co-ordination of President Ahtisaari’s tasks and is in charge of liaison with various organisations where President Ahtisaari is involved.
C. Andrew Marshall – Senior Advisor, Mediation
Denis Matveev - Adviser
Denis Matveev is an adviser to CMI’s Black Sea and Central Asia Program. He is an international consultant, trainer and facilitator in the fields of peacebuilding and conflict transformation. Denis has worked with NGOs, governments/authorities and intergovernmental organisations in Moldova-Transdniestria, Ukraine (Crimea), Georgia-Abkhazia, Romania, Sri Lanka and the UK.
Mikheil Mirziashvili - Senior Project Manager
Mr. Mikheil (Misha) Mirziashvili is the Senior Manager of the Black Sea Peace Network project. The project aims at effective involvement of the civil society in the peacebuilding process through establishing self-ruling expert councils and, via regional approaches, strengthening local efforts for security peace in the region of the Black Sea.
Augustin Nicolescou – Project Manager
Augustin Nicolescou is a project manager within CMI’s R&D unit. He is currently managing CMI’s project Creating Improved Capacities for International Peace Mediation, which focuses on supporting the development of peace mediation capacities among Regional Organizations. He has a background in political dialogue facilitation, conflict transformation training, and method development. His research focus is on processes of political dialogue facilitation and peace mediation support. He has worked previously with conflict parties on Track 1.5 and Track 2 levels, in particular in the Middle East and in Sri Lanka.
Iiris Penttilä - Administrative Assistant
Iiris Penttilä is the Administrative Assistant at CMI's Helsinki office. Her main activities relate to receptive services, office management and financial support. Previously she has worked for example at the Student Union of the University of Vaasa. Iiris holds a Master's degree in Economics and Business Administration.
Hanna Puura - Office Manager
Hanna Puura works as the Office Manager of CMI's Helsinki office. Her main duties concern facilities and supplier management, ICT coordination, meeting and travel services management and coordination of CMI Brussels office. Hanna also assists the Executive Director and is the Secretary of CMI's Board of Directors. She is the main contact to CMI members.
Yasar Qatarneh - Senior Project Manager
Dr Yasar Qatarneh is the Senior Project Manager of the "Foresight for Conflict Prevention in the Middle East” project. He directs and manages the overall development of the project, and coordinates its implementation with the project partners, local stakeholders, and funders. Dr Qatarneh is an expert in the fields of conflict, security, cooperation, and Middle East politics, with nearly ten years’ experience in research and analysis as well as fundraising and management.
Gama B. Roberts - Adviser, Statebuilding
Gama Roberts coordinates the Governance out of a Box initiative which aims to identify tools for the effective implementation of priority functions of state administration in post-conflict countries. He coordinates and monitors all of CMI’s projects in Liberia in coordination with a variety of stakeholders, ranging from NGOs to corporations and the public sector.
Taru Savolainen - Project Officer
Taru Savolainen works as Project Officer in CMI’s "Foresight for Conflict Prevention in the Middle East” project. The three-year project initiated in early 2010 is being implemented in cooperation with CMI and local partner think tanks in Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon. During the project, high-level government officials, advisors and civil society actors identify economic, socio-political and environmental trends that could cause conflicts, analyze relations and linkages between them and develop policy recommendations aiming at preventing the indentified conflict potential from materializing.
Juha-Matti Seppänen - Project Manager
Juha-Matti Seppänen is the Project Manager for CMI's reintegration project in Afghanistan. He is responsible for initiating CMI’s presence and activities in Afghanistan, including budget management and coordination with project partners.
Philippe Taflinski - Field Coordinator
Philippe Taflinski is the CMI Field Coordinator in the Republic of South Sudan. Based in Juba, he represents the organization in the country and is in close contact with our Southsudanese partners for implementation of activities, he coordinates with government interlocutors as well as with the international community.
Tuija Talvitie - Executive Director, Chair of the Leadership Team
Tuija Talvitie is CMI’s Executive Director. She is responsible for the strategic development of CMI and is in charge of all staff-, finance- and organisational matters. 
Tuula Tanskanen - Personal Assistant to President Ahtisaari
Tuula Tanskanen is the Personal Assistant to President Ahtisaari. She is responsible for calendar updates, travel arrangements and other issues directly linked to President Ahtisaari's programme.
Suvi Tuominen - Project Manager
Suvi Tuominen works as a project manager for two projects focusing on mediation capacity building in Africa. These projects are “The AU mediation support capacity project” and “Improving West African Capacities in Mediation and Peace Processes. Her responsibilities include overall project and budget management and coordination.
Pia Weurlander - Project Manager
Pia Weurlander works as a Project Manager for CMI’s project in South Sudan. She is responsible for initiating CMI’s presence and activities in South Sudan including the overall development of the project, budget management and coordination its implementation with the project partners, local stakeholders, and funders. Pia is specialized in political analysis and governance issues and has comprehensive experience in project management.
Matthias Wevelsiep - Adviser - ICT for State-building
Matthias Wevelsiep works as Adviser on ICT for State-building. He has the conceptual and implementation oversight of the Governance out of a Box initiative, including the Mobile Birth Registration project in Liberia. He is also advising CMI on the global development of ICT solutions in the fields of conflict resolution, mediation and peace building, and assisting CMI in using relevant ICT tools in its work.