Our experts

Tapio has over 70 experts working with developing sustainable forestry. As Tapio works in close collaboration with the Regional Forestry Centres, we have additionally a pole of over thousand experts at our disposal.

The following specialists pose international consultancy experience and they represent Tapio´s comprehensive range of expertise.

Ilppo Greis
Expert in forest road planning and construction

Mr. Ilppo Greis has twenty years of experience in questions concerning forest improvement, specifically ditching and forest road building. Mr. Greis holds a M.Sc. in Forestry form the University of Helsinki. He has been consulting in Russia within the frame of several projects on road network planning and road building. For more than ten years in Tapio he has been responsible for developing information technology systems related to the subsidies mechanisms for sustainable forestry management. Mr Greis is also specialized in laws and recommendations concerning forestry subsidies. Ilppo speaks some Russian.

Bjarne Häggman
Expert in nature management and extension

Mr. Bjarne Häggman has more than twenty years of experiences within the Finnish forestry sector, covering forest inventory and mapping, land use management planning, silviculture and extension activities. Mr. Häggman holds a M.Sc in Forestry form the University of Helsinki. His professional experiences in the international forestry sector cover about ten years as Project Manager, Project Coordinator and Consultant. During the years 1989-1990 he worked in Canada and from 1995 to 1996 on a forestry sector institutional development project in Namibia. Mr. Häggman has further implemented several short-term consultancy assignments in forestry development projects in Kenya, Russia, Nepal, China and  Zambia.

Timo Korhonen
Expert in development cooperation, process- and quality management

Mr. Timo Korhonen has over twelve years experience of work in international development projects as project manager, consultant, teacher and trainer. His career includes numerous consultancy tasks in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Mr. Korhonen holds a M.Sc. in Forestry form the University of Helsinki with specialization in marketing of forest products. He has worked for over twenty years with consulting business issues, covering subjects from marketing planning to overall business planning and management. Mr. Korhonen possesses good knowledge and experience on planning and management of international development projects, process and quality management and overall organisation development.

Martti Kuusinen
Expert in bioenergy and quality control

Mr. Kuusinen is specialized in biodiversity management and forest-based bioenergy. He holds a M.Sc. in Forestry from the University of Helsinki. Mr. Kuusinen has experience from project leaderships in various projects dealing with sustainable forest management, biodiversity conservation and forest authority inspections. He has been developing the quality control process for forestry operations and biodiversity conservation in private forests. Mr. Kuusinen has acted as the coordinator of the National Forest Nature Management Assessment system from year 2003.

Matti Ruotsalainen
Expert in forest management practices

Mr. Matti Ruotsalainen has been developing the national forest management practice recommendations that are the basis of sustainable forest management in Finland. He holds a M.Sc. in Forestry from the University of Helsinki. Mr. Ruotsalainen possesses wide experience in developing private forestry extension materials and counselling services for forest owners. He also acts as a specialist in the expert group preparing the National Forest Programme extending until year 2015. Mr. Ruotsalainen has worked closely with the Russian forestry sector and he prepared the adapted forestry management recommendations for Nizhny Novgorod region.

Raisa Sell
Expert in forest management planning and GIS-systems

Ms. Raisa Sell holds a M.Sc. in Forestry from the University of Helsinki with specialization in forest resource inventory and management planning. She has been working on developing forest management planning systems and GIS-systems to be used in the Regional Forestry Centres and municipalities. She is also experienced in participatory planning in natural resource management, where the interaction between interests groups, the planner and the forest owner is emphasized. Ms. Sell has acted as lecturer in the frame of several educational projects in Russia and she speaks Russian. 

Juho Heikkilä
Expert in remote sensing and forest inventory, project manager

Mr. Juho Heikkilä is a Lic.Sc. (Forestry) from the University of Joensuu with specialisation in forest management and economics. During his 15 year long working experience he has been a university researcher, project manager and consultant  for business and public forestry developing. In Tapio Mr.Heikkilä has been developing remote sensing for forest inventory as well as the new forest resource information system. Mr.Heikkilä has some publications in forest inventory and remote sensing. 

Tapio Tikkanen
Expert in Geographical Information Systems (GIS)

Mr. Tapio Tikkanen  holds a Bachelor degree of Science in Civil Engineering (Urban Planning) and has over 20 years of experience in developing, implementing and managing Geographical Information Systems in business and local/national authorities. Mr. Tikkanen has been working several years in overseas GIS projects in Middle East, Far East and Africa. In Tapio he is working as GIS expert in development projects utilising the new national forestry resources management environment.

Henry Schneider
Expert in Geographical Information Systems (GIS), project manager

Mr.Henry Schneider holds a M.Sc. in Forestry (Peatland forestry). He has more than 20 years of experience in  forest management planning,  forest administration and legislation as well as in silviculture and forest certification. In Tapio Mr.Schneider was responsible for development of a new GIS for the Forestry Centres in Finland. The GIS, operational since 04/2010, is intended for supporting a new forest inventory method, based on remote sensing. The software is based on ESRI tools and a centralized Oracle database for the whole country. Mr.Schneider speaks excellent French and English and has a basic knowledge of Spanish and German. 

To get in contact with our experts, please use firstname.surname@tapio.fi
or adress the Unit for International Affairs  >>>