Marko Ahtisaari

Marko Ahtisaari

I was born in Helsinki, Finland and raised on three continents in Helsinki, Dar es Salaam and New York. I went on to study philosophy, economics and music at Columbia University in the City of New York where I lectured for several years. During my years at Columbia I had a parallel professional life in music as a bassist and composer.

I am part of the team behind Blyk. Blyk is a free mobile network for young people, funded by advertising. We're live in the UK, launching in the Netherlands in the second half of 2008, with other countries to follow. For more on the Blyk model you can watch All About Blyk or read Designing Blyk (two recent interviews).

I serve on the board of directors of F-Secure Corporation and Artek oy ab. I am a founding investor in Dopplr - the online service for intelligent travellers worldwide - and an advisor to FON the worlds largest WiFi community - backed by Google, Skype, Sequoia Capital and Index Ventures.

Before Blyk, I worked as Director of Design Strategy at Nokia, a world leader in mobile communications. I joined Nokia in 2002 and held management positions in venturing and corporate strategy, always with a focus on creating new growth through better user experience.

Prior to Nokia, I built and lead the mobile practice at digital services company Satama and co-founded the Aula network that organizes events in Finland with the world's leading experts on Internet service business and design.

In the in-between moments I continue to compose ambient music for public and private spaces.