Timo Pesonen is the current Director-General of DG Defence Industry and Space in the European Commission.
After graduating in 1989 in International Politics from the University of Tampere, he stayed in his home country to serve at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. He then left for Brussels and the Embassy of Finland, where he worked with Foreign and Security policy. The year 1995 marked his appointment to European Commission where he worked with foreign policy and as the spokesman for Commissioner Erkki Liikanen, 1996-1997.
From 1997 to 2002, he served as Foreign Policy Adviser to the Prime Minister of Finland, Paavo Lipponen. He also undertook an advisory mission during the Kosovo peace negotiations for the President of Finland, Martti Ahtisaari. He acted as Head of Cabinet of Vice-President Olli Rehn for 10 years, 2004-2014. He became Deputy Director-General of DG Communication in 2014 and Director- General the following year. Taking the helm of DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs in March 2019, he accompanied the creation of DG Defence Industry and Space in 2020 as the head of the new Directorate-General. In addition to his native Finnish, Timo Pesonen speaks English, Swedish and French.
