Timo Pesonen

Timo Pesonen is the current Director-General of DG Defence Industry and Space in the European Commission as of 2020. He has held several senior management positions during his career in the European Commission; Director-General of DG Communication 2015-2019 and DG Industry and Single Market 2019. Further Mr Pesonen was Head of Cabinet of Vice-President Olli Rehn 2004-2014.Earlier in his career Mr Pesonen worked as a diplomat in the Finnish Foreign Service. In that position he served at the Embassy of Finland in Brussels and later as a Foreign and Security Policy Adviser to Prime Minister Lipponen. He also undertook an advisory role during the Kosovo peace negotiations chaired by President Ahtisaari.He holds an M.A. in International Politics from the University of Tampere. He also studied International Law in the University of Helsinki and EU studies in ULB Brussels. In addition to his native Finnish, Timo Pesonen speaks English, Swedish and French