Former Member and Vice-President of the European Parliament and former Minister for International Development and State Ownership Steering in Finland, Heidi works as Special Advisor to GBI, supporting the organisation to navigate the evolving landscape of EU policy developments during periods of volatility and with a view to the longer-term direction of travel towards mandatory measures.
Heidi was elected as a Vice-President of the European Parliament in October 2017, during which time she established the Working Group on Responsible Business Conduct which was instrumental in creating the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. As a Member of the European Parliament for two decades, Heidi has served on a number of committees including the Committees on Development, and on International Trade. She has chaired the Subcommittee on Human Rights and been co-chair of the Euronest Parliament Assembly (EU Eastern Partnership). She was invited in 2023 to join the High Level Working Group on the Environmental Consequences of the War in Ukraine which has delivered the Environmental Compact for Ukraine in 2024. Heidi has master's degree in agriculture and forestry from Helsinki University.
After her long political career Heidi continues to work as an independent expert on sustainability and corporate accountability, offering advice and services on corporate sustainability. She is a well-known public speaker on issues relating to sustainability, human rights and geopolitics, and serves on the boards of Fair Trade of Advocacy Office, FERN, and the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre. She is member of the International Advisory Council of the Institute for Human Rights and Business, a member of Stakeholder Advisory Council of Amfori, and a member of the Advisory Council of the NOVA Centre for Business, Human Rights and the Environment.