President
The Plenum of the Sámi Parliament elects a full-time president and two vice-presidents for the electoral period. The president leads the political activities of the Sámi Parliament nationally and internationally under the authority of the Plenum.
The President of the Sámi Parliament Pirita Näkkäläjärvi
Pirita Näkkäläjärvi is the President of the Sámi Parliament in Finland.
Pirita Näkkäläjärvi has a unique career combining Indigenous rights advocacy and global business. She is a third term elected member of the Sámi Parliament in Finland and a member of the Inari municipal council from the Greens’ list (independent). She worked as the Editor and Head of Yle Sápmi (the Sámi-language operations of the Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle) in 2012–2016.
Pirita has had a long career working along the entire Mergers & Acquisitions lifecycle at Merrill Lynch, Nokia, Booz & Company, Metso, Strategy&, PwC, EY-Parthenon and Helen.
Pirita holds MSc in Economics from Helsinki School of Economics (2005) and MSc Media & Communications (with Distinction) from London School of Economics (LSE, 2017). She wrote her LSE MSc Dissertation on freedom of speech of the Sámi in Finland. Pirita is preparing her Doctoral Dissertation at Sibelius Academy researching Sámi yoik and cultural appropriation.
Pirita’s mothertongue is Northern Sámi.
