Lintu began his career with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1972 after completing a Masters of Arts degree at the University of Helsinki. He has been posted in Marseilles (1972-73), at the Department of External Economic Relations in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1973-1975), at Finland’s Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva (1975-79), at Finland’s Permanent Delegation to the OECD in Paris (1984-87) and in Tokyo as Ambassador to Japan (1994-2000). He served as counselor, director, consulting first secretary (1979-1981), counselor (1984-1987), director (1987-1989), counsulting counselor (1989-1991), deputy director (1991-1994), and acting director general (1994) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,

 

In the early 1990s, he was in charge of economic relations between Finland and the US, and from 2001 to 2005 was Under-Secretary for External Economic Affairs, serving at the 133-Trade Policy Committee of the EU and participating in the World Trade Organization’s Doha Development Round.

 

Lintu’s wife, Laurel Colless, began working on energy reduction in US buildings through a partnership with Virginia Tech. Colless herself is a former high-level employee of Nokia Corp., a Finnish telecommunications giant. She is from New Zealand and met Lintu while they were both working in Tokyo.

 

Lintu’s favorite American TV shows are The Daily Show and Stephen Colbert.

 

Q & A with Finnish Ambassador Pekka Lintu (by Amie Parnes, Politico)

Promoting Finland’s Business: An Interview with Ambassador Pekka Lintu (WashingtonInternational.com)

Bernie Sanders' Town Meeting with Finnish Ambassador Pekka Lintu: Finnish Social Issues 3/31/08 (Blip.tv)

Finnish Ambassador Tells It Like It Is in the “Most Livable” Place on Earth (Seven Days)

Finnish Fare (Embassy Chef)