Speakers

Heidi Merikalla-Teir, Managing Partner, Merilampi; Board Chair, FAI
 

Heidi Merikalla-Teir is the Managing Partner of Merilampi Attorneys Ltd. In addition to her role as the Managing Partner of Merilampi, she is Partner in Merilampi’s Dispute Resolution practice group. As of 1 January 2022, Heidi is the Chair of the FAI Board. She has extensive experience in domestic and international commercial arbitration, litigation and alternative dispute resolution. She regularly acts as an arbitrator and a mediator in both domestic and international commercial disputes. In addition to being accredited as a mediator by the Finnish Bar Association, she is a CEDR (Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution) accredited mediator. Heidi is also a member of the Finnish Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Mediation. 

Sanna Kaistinen, Secretary General, FAI

Sanna Kaistinen is the Secretary General of the FAI. As Secretary General she is responsible for developing and coordinating the Finnish and global activities of the FAI. Sanna and the FAI team are also responsible for the administrative functions of the Redemption Board of the Finland Chamber of Commerce. Before her current role, Sanna was practicing as an Attorney-at-Law specialising in commercial and corporate arbitration and litigation. Sanna holds Master of Laws and Master of Arts degrees from the University of Helsinki and an LL.M. from Queen Mary University of London.

Risto E. J. Penttilä, C.E.O., Nordic West Office
 

Dr Risto E. J. Penttilä is the CEO of Nordic West Office, a Helsinki-based global affairs thinktank and consultancy. He is also Secretary General of the European Business Leaders’ Convention, a meeting point for 100 leading European CEOs. Risto has worked for World Economic Forum and Oxford Analytica. Prior to his current position, he was CEO of the Finland Chamber of Commerce. Moreover, he has been a Trustee of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Risto is educated at Yale (B.A.) and Oxford (M.Phil and D.Phil.). In his youth he founded a political party and was a member of the Finnish parliament.

Gisela Knuts, Independent Arbitrator; Board Vice-Chair, FAI
 

Dr Gisela Knuts is an independent arbitrator based in Helsinki, Finland. During her more than twenty years of counsel work, she acted in multi-million-euro disputes in various fields. Since her decision to pursue a career as a full-time arbitrator in 2022, she focuses on international commercial arbitration, predominantly as chair. Gisela is Vice-chair of the FAI Board.

Caroline Falconer, Secretary General, SCC
 

Caroline Falconer is since January 2023 the Secretary General of SCC Arbitration Institute. Prior to that, she was Deputy Secretary General and Head of Operations at the SCC. Caroline is the chairperson of the board for the Swedish Company Lawyers Association. She holds a Swedish LL.M. degree from Stockholm University as well as an LL.M. degree from King’s College, London University. Caroline was Senior Legal Counsel at a major European energy company between 2015 and 2022 and gained during those years a thorough understanding of the daily challenges inhouse legal counsels face. She has spent almost 10 years at three different Swedish law firms specializing in dispute resolution and has worked at the Stockholm District Court. Caroline is co-founder of SWAN, Swedish Women in Arbitration Network. She is member of the jury for the prestigious Swedish prize “The Company Lawyer of the Year”.  

Korinna von Trotha, Executive Director, Swiss Arbitration Centre
 

Korinna von Trotha joined the Swiss Arbitration Association (ASA) and the Swiss Arbitration Centre as Executive Director in 2021. Prior to her appointment by the ASA Board, Korinna headed the Berlin Office of the German Arbitration Institute (DIS). She was appointed to this role in September 2015. From September 2009 to May 2015, Korinna was the manager of the case management unit at the Dubai International Arbitration Centre (DIAC). Before moving to Dubai, Korinna worked as deputy counsel in the secretariat of the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris. Korinna started her law studies at the University of Heidelberg, went on to study at the National University of Singapore and the University of Durham, and graduated from the University of Freiburg. She is admitted to the German bar. 

Maija Strandberg, Senior Ministerial Adviser, Financial Affairs, Ownership Steering Department of the Finnish Prime Minister’s Office
 

Maija Strandberg, MSc, Economics, has long work experiences from listed companies, both in finance and operational management roles and she has served in several company boards. Prior to joining ownership steering department in Prime minister’s office, she worked as CFO for Uponor, and prior to that in leadership roles in Valmet, Metso Paper, ALSO Group and John Deere. She is member of the board in SSAB, and up for election for Fortum board. Previously she has served Finnair, Danske Bank Oyj, VR, Dustin Group and Neova boards.

Marja Sannikka, host at HIAD2023
 

Marja Sannikka is a journalist and a presenter at the Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle. She has worked at various positions at Yle: as a host of the morning show Ylen aamu, as a host of several election programs and as a political correspondent of Yle Kioski. She has also hosted her own prime time show Marja Sannikka. At the moment she hosts the flagship current affairs program A-studio. 

Anders Forss, Partner, Castrén & Snellman; Board Vice-Chair, FAI 

Anders Forss is the co-head of Castrén & Snellman’s Dispute Resolution service. Anders represents corporations and states in both national and international arbitrations as well as in national and cross-border litigations. He has substantial experience in complex commercial disputes, particularly in the fields of energy, construction and engineering, and IT. He has acted in a wide range of disputes relating to, among others, antitrust damages, investor-state arbitrations, post-M&A, copyright and licensing, insurance, finance, product liability, agency and distribution, sale of goods and white-collar crime cases. He is a frequently appointed arbitrator both by parties and by arbitration institutes. Chambers Global, Chambers Europe, Legal 500, Who’s Who Legal and Benchmark Litigation rank him among Finland’s leading experts in dispute resolution. Anders is Vice-chair of the FAI Board.   

Christopher Harris KC, Three Verulam Buildings

Dr Christopher Harris KC has over 20 years’ experience arguing complex disputes under English and international law across a range of industry sectors from banking and finance, through energy and natural resources, to infrastructure projects and corporate finance. Admitted in England, the DIFC and the Eastern Caribbean, Christopher represents clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to sovereign states in high-value disputes before courts and arbitral tribunals around the world. Alongside trials, Christopher has substantial experience of both appellate advocacy and enforcement of and challenges to arbitral awards. Christopher has been ranked by the directories as a leading silk for several years across five areas of practice: banking and finance; commercial litigation; energy and natural resources; international arbitration; and public international law. The international nature of his practice is reflected in his rankings in the Global and Asia Pacific directories and as one of the small group of barristers in the Who’s Who of Global International Arbitration practitioners. Christopher is also recommended as a leading arbitrator and has been appointed in over 40 cases in disputes under the ICSID (both tribunal and ad hoc committee), SCC, ICC, LCIA, UNCITRAL, SCAI, and SIAC Rules, amongst others. In 2020, Christopher was designated by the British Government to the ICSID Panels of Arbitrators and Conciliators and in 2021 he was appointed the UK member on the ICC Court of Arbitration. Christopher speaks French and German and studied French and Swiss law during his academic training.

Johan Sidklev, Partner, Chair of the Board, Roschier; Board Member, SCC

Johan Sidklev is the Chair of the Board of Roschier. Johan heads Roschier’s Dispute Resolution practice and is the co-Head of the Corporate Compliance & Investigations practice in Sweden. Johan is specialized in commercial dispute resolution with extensive experience from international arbitration, often concerning energy-related, construction and post-M&A disputes. He has acted as counsel and arbitrator in some of the world’s largest arbitrations seated in Stockholm, London and Paris. In the area of investment arbitration Johan has experience from arbitrator’s appointments as well as advising both private investors and various governments as counsel, inter alia in matters concerning the Energy Charter Treaty and various bilateral investment treaties. Johan is a long-standing member of the board of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC) and was until recently the presiding President of the Swedish Arbitration Association (SAA). He serves on the Rules Revision Committee for the new and updated SCC Rules. He is appointed by the Kingdom of Sweden to the ICSID Panel of Arbitrators, maintained by the World Bank and serves on the Legal Advisory Task Force on Investment Protection at the Energy Charter Secretariat. In addition to his Swedish LL.M. degree Johan has studied at Fordham Law School in New York (2005) and the University of Miami (1994).
 

Richard Happ, Partner, Luther; Board Member, DIS

Dr Richard Happ is a Partner specialising in international arbitration at Luther, Hamburg where he also co-heads the German-wide Complex Disputes Team. He holds degrees from the University of Kiel and was admitted to the bar in 2001. Dr Happ’s areas of expertise includes in particular investment arbitration proceedings and energy sector arbitrations. He has concluded proceedings under several different arbitration rules including ICSID, SCC, ICC, DIS and UNCITRAL. He is a member of the board of the DIS and the president of its arbitration council. 

Iiro Rantala, Composer and pianist 

Composer and pianist Iiro Rantala is probably the best internationally known jazz musician in Finland. His world-renowned jazz band Trio Töykeät that was known for its unique combination of deep musicality and madcap humour, played over 2000 shows in forty-five countries. After touring with the trio for two decades, he has continued his glorious career in solo concerts, classical music, plays, musicals and, most recently, in composing operas. His years with the renowned German record label ACT have witnessed a steep rise in his renown outside Finland, and have produced a series of major albums, each one a significant and contrasting statement. He is an artist in his absolute prime, and now has the international standing that he so richly deserves.