Mr. Markus Sovala, Director-General of Statistics Finland – dgins2025.hr

Mr. Markus Sovala, Director-General of Statistics Finland

Mr. Markus Sovala, Director-General of Statistics Finland

Dr. Markus Sovala is Director General of Statistics Finland from March 1, 2021. His 5 years term extends until 2026. In this capacity, he’s Member of The European Statistical System Committee (ESSC) and its Partnership Group (PG). Previously he has held several senior civil servant positions in different departments of the Ministry of Finance and other ministries. He has also acted as a Prime Minister’s Economic Policy Advisor and Finland’s representative in the World Bank Group in Washington DC. Dr. Sovala have led several Government ICT-projects at strategic level. In 2016-2019, he led a project aiming at establishing a semi-autonomous region around City of Helsinki. Mr. Sovala is Doctor in Economics (University of Helsinki) and his expertise covers various fields and levels of government, including: statistics, ICT, Data and Information Policy, budgeting, economic policy and forecasting, development, international relations, monetary union, industrial and structural policies, entrepreneurship, health, social services, public administration reforms, social security, labor market and incentives.

Other speakers

Ms. Lidija Brković, Director-General of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics

Ms. Mariana Kotzeva, Director-General of Eurostat

Mr. Tonči Glavina, Minister of Tourism and Sport of the Republic of Croatia

Mr. Valdis Dombrovskis, European Commissioner for Economy and Productivity; Implementation and Simplification

Ms. Maja Bakran Marcich, Deputy Director-General of Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE) of the European Commission

Mr. Athanasios C. Thanopoulos, President of the Hellenic Statistical Authority

Mr. Sergio Guerreiro, Senior Director for Strategy & Knowledge Management at Turismo de Portugal, Chair of OECD Tourism Committee

Mr. Marek Cierpiał-Wolan, President of Statistics Poland

Mr. Christophe Demunter, Eurostat

Mr. António Rua, President of the National Statistics Institute of Portugal (Instituto Nacional de Estatística – INE)

Ms. Elena Manzanera Díaz, President of the National Statistics Institute of Spain

Ms. Apolonija Oblak Flander, Director-General of the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia

Ms. Inga Masiulaitytė-Šukevič, Deputy Director General of Statistics Lithuania

Ms. Clara van der Pol, Director a.i., Statistics, Standards and Data Department of UN Tourism

Mr. Peter Laimer, Head of Tourism Statistics at Statistics Austria, Co‑chair of UN Tourism Committee on Statistics

Mr. Marek Rojíček, President of the Czech Statistical Office

Mr. Francesco Maria Chelli, President of the Italian National Institute of Statistics

Ms. Ann Carton, Coordinator network Statistics Flanders, Flanders Statistics Authority

Mr. Raimonds Lapiņš, Director-General, Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia

Mr. Nadim Ahmad, Deputy Director at the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE)

Mr. Daniel Vorgrimler, Head of Department Strategy and Planning, International Relations, Research and Communication, German Federal Statistical Office

Mr. Damir Krešić, Director of the Croatian Institute for Tourism

Mr. Etienne Caruana, Director-General, National Statistics Office of Malta

Mr. Geir Axelsen, Director-General of Statistics Norway

Mr. Georges-Simon Ulrich, Director General of the Swiss Federal Statistical Office – 2026 DGINS announcement