Viivi Lähteenoja appointed as MyData Global Chair

The MyData Global Board confirmed Viivi Lähteenoja as Chair on 7 January 2022. The MyData Global Board for 2022-23 was also appointed (see list below). 

Viivi Lähteenoja is a widely respected global leader on ethical approaches to personal data that empower individuals. As of June 2020, she has been working in government as a special advisor for the city of Helsinki, Finland, in the area of data policy. In this capacity, Viivi was seconded to the World Economic Forum‘s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) as a data policy fellow. Viivi has been involved with MyData since 2016 and was a member of the core team that founded MyData Global as a nonprofit association in 2018. Previously, she has held the positions of deputy general manager, head of programmes, and senior advisor at MyData Global.

Previous Chair,  Antti “Jogi” Poikola commented: I am delighted to be succeeded by Viivi Lähteenoja as MyData Global’s Chair. Personal data is one of the most pressing issues in the 21st century and holds the potential to transform society. Viivi’s experience both in and out of the MyData community make her excellently qualified to open up new dialogues on how personal data can empower people and communities. Over the past years MyData has grown from the declaration to a global movement calling for a fair, sustainable, and prosperous digital society. I would like to pay tribute to the network of stakeholders that have been inspired by the MyData Declaration and leveraged it to advocate and improve on personal data management.   

Teemu Ropponen, General Manager at MyData Global welcomed Viivi’s appointment saying: We are delighted with Viivi’s appointment and confident that her deep insight and leadership skills will help shape the future of MyData Global, as it continues to play an important role as a benchmark for what ethical personal data approaches look like in practice. She combines strategic understanding of the landscape of personal data with hands-on understanding of the MyData Global operations and the sentiment of the staff and wider community.

MyData Global’s new Chair, Viivi Lähteenoja, expressed her appreciation for the work of previous MyData Global leaders and commented: I’m honoured by the confidence placed in me and I look forward to working with the board as well as the steering committee, the staff, and the community as we set our sights on MyData in 2030. This year, our top priorities are ensuring our impact on the world, our financial sustainability, and our strategic direction for 2023-2030. We, all of us, are part of this work and I’m extremely keen to get input and ideas. To this end I will be hosting a “Board chair’s open office hour” on Slack twice a month. Please drop by to say hi and have a chat about what’s going on with you and MyData!

MyData Global new leadership team: 

Chair: Viivi Lähteenoja (elected)

Vice Chair: Antti ‘Jogi’ Poikola (elected)

Dixon Siu (continuing)

Christoph Fabianek (continuing)

Charlie Martial Ngounou (continuing)

Lucy Yang (elected)

Marlies Rikken (elected)

Paula Bello (elected)

Chris Lee (elected)