Mentors 2024-2025
Read from the mentors. Please note that the list for students applying in Finnish or English differs. These two experts are the ones that are willing to mentor in English. They have worked in international teams and have the knowledge to offer to international students. More information about mentoring, the schedule, and how to apply from here.
You may apply to the program if you are a member of the Mentor club and a full degree student of the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry at the University of Helsinki. The program is designed for students studying food science, nutrition science, or food economics as their major or minor. Please note that we do not offer this program to exchange students.
Tuija Suvanto
Innovation & Project Manager, Suomen Nestlé/ Nestle Nordic
I have worked for over 20 years in the food and kitchen appliance industry in marketing, sales, product development, and project management roles. I have experience in management positions and working in various corporate cultures in very different commercial roles. Learning and creating new things, getting things done, and well-being are things that motivate me, no matter what my role is. By education, I am a lecturer in food economics, certified business coach and mentor, and a job counselor. During my working years, I have constantly continued my education and also wanted to learn new things from my colleagues. Currently, in my work, I also help business units develop their business and consumer understanding.
The content of the mentoring journey is formed according to the needs of the mentee. The language of the mentoring journey can be either Finnish or English. Based on my previous experience, the path often includes:
- Summarizing your strengths and areas of interest
- Mapping out your career path
- Sparring on job search-related matters, etc.
I look forward to our joint conversations and believe they will provide lessons and aha-moments for both of us.
Here is a comment from one of my mentees about our joint mentoring journey:
“Tuija has a really natural and inspiring mentoring style – she has the “right” questions that help insights to arise and the pieces to fall into place.”
Juhani Sibakov
Product Development Manager, Fazer
I have worked in the food industry in various research and development roles for the past 17 years. I graduated as a Master of Science in Chemical Engineering in 2007. I completed my Master’s thesis at Sinebrychoff on non-alcoholic fermented beverages. I continued working in brewery research at VTT for about a year. After that, I started my doctoral dissertation on oats. I completed my dissertation alongside other research work for about 6 years. At the same time, I was responsible for VTT’s food processing pilot environment, where I carried out commissioned projects for food companies. I also acted as project manager in several projects funded by Business Finland and the EU. Through this, I have gained strong expertise in processing various raw materials and testing them in different products.
I started my current job at Fazer in 2016 in the Group’s research team, responsible for Fazer Food Services’ research projects. I moved to Fazer Bakeries as Product Development Manager in the fall of 2017, and since then I have been responsible for the product development and product information teams of Finnish bakeries (a total of about 20 people). Through my leadership role, I have gained experience in supervisory work and working with various stakeholders, such as production, marketing, sales, and customers.
In my working life, I am particularly motivated by creating new innovations and inspiring my team to achieve their goals. I expect mentoring to involve discussions where I can support the student with questions about working life and I hope I can help with networking according to my own career path experience.