The Board of Directors of the John Nurminen Foundation has appointed FL Annamari Arrakoski-Engardt (Lic.Phil.) secretary general of the Foundation, effective 20 January 2014.

’Having been a member of the Foundation’s Board of Directors for two years, Annamari Arrakoski-Engardt is very familiar with the Foundation’s operations that focus on the protection of marine culture and the Baltic Sea, making her appointment the ideal solution in terms of continuity. Combined with her international experience within the book industry, Arrakoski-Engardt’s energetic and visionary approach give her an ideal starting point for developing the Foundation’s operations further. The Board of Directors thanks the current Secretary General Erik Båsk for his highly successful term’, says Juha Nurminen, Chairman of the John Nurminen Foundation’s Board of Directors.

Erik Båsk will join the Alfred Kordelin Foundation on 3 February 2014.

Upon Juha Nurminen’s initiative, The John Nurminen Foundation was established in 1992 to safeguard the cultural heritage of Finnish seafaring and maritime history. The purpose of the Foundation is to present and introduce the remarkable cultural heritage of the Baltic Sea to experts and the general public alike. In 2004, with the backing of the initial capital donated by Juha Nurminen, the Foundation expanded its operations to include environmental protection. At this time, the Clean Baltic Sea environmental projects were initiated as a second branch of the Foundation’s operations. The target of the projects is to reduce eutrophication in the Baltic Sea, and minimise the risk of oil accidents in the Gulf of Finland.