Rethinking Energy in Southeast Asia with Wärtsilä Energy

Ambassador Antti Vänskä arrived in Singapore in June 2019 to assume his position as Head of Mission at the Embassy of Finland.
Mr. Vänskä joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland in 1996 and has served on several interesting assignments both home and abroad.
Prior to Singapore Mr. Vänskä served four years as Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Finland in Washington DC, USA. Earlier in his career, Mr. Vänskä has worked in the Embassy of Finland in Berlin, Germany (2001 – 2004) and in the Consulate General of Finland in St Petersburg, Russia (1997 – 2001).
In Finland, Mr. Vänskä has served, among other positions, as the Special Adviser to the Prime Minister of Finland (2010-2014). Earlier, he has worked in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs as Deputy Director in the Unit for Russia and as Counsellor in the Unit for Asia dealing for instance with relations between the EU and the ASEAN.
Mr. Vänskä graduated from Turku School of Economics and Business Administration (Finland) with a Master’s degree in Economics. He has also studied abroad in Sweden and in the United States.

Avani started her career with Wärtsilä in 2019 and is now working within the company’s Project Development team in Asia & Australia.
She is responsible for supporting sales initiatives of Internal Combustion Engines & Battery Energy Storage Systems, as well as developing new business models. Her current focus is on hybrid power plants, where her and the team aim to provide a cleaner & lower-cost alternative to traditional thermal power plants through a combination of renewables and flexible technologies.
Avani holds an MSc in Financial Engineering from the National University of Singapore and a BSc in Mathematics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Gee Yong currently leads the policy and planning functions within EMA. Under this, he seeks to chart out the energy sector’s long-term direction and strategies, and ensure that EMA’s policies are coherent and aligned to its overall objectives. He started out in economic regulation and licensing, where he determined the allowable charges for monopoly energy companies and enforced regulations on licensee companies. He also did short attachments with the Australian Energy Regulator and the International Energy Agency.

Yatin Premchand is a strategic specialist in Asia and the Pacific for Black & Veatch across public and private sectors, including finance, with successive achievements in sustainable investment; project development; and technology due to diligence and transfer across the CleanTech (energy, waste, water, green buildings, agritech, environmental and climate change) sector.



Yatin offers over 21 years of experience in consultative business development, commercialization, strategic advisory, planning, and scale-up of clean technologies, and has a keen understanding of related global policy and regulation advisory. Since joining Black & Veatch in 2018, Yatin has been involved in the development of over 40GW of power-related projects internationally.

At KONE Erica is in charge of Digitalization and Service offering development in Southeast Asia, Australia, Middle-East, and African countries. Erica has been working at KONE for 5 years in business controller & development roles and has been based in Finland, UAE, and Singapore. Before KONE Erica was a CEO of a fast-growing start-up in Finland. Erica holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics.



Since Erica’s relocation to Singapore, she has been a board member of the Finnish Business Council Singapore and has been closely collaborating with Team Finland members, Business Finland and Finnish Embassy.

Kari Punnonen is a global energy specialist heading today Wärtsilä’s energy business in Australasia Region, including the Philippines, Indonesia, and Australia. Kari relocated from Shanghai to Singapore where he was responsible for Wärtsilä’s North&South East Asia energy business for three years. For more than 25 years, Kari has been with Wärtsilä Energy holding various positions in power plant and oil & gas and LNG solutions sales.

During his years in Shanghai Kari was a board member of Finnish Business Council Shanghai and was closely collaborating with Team Finland members, Business Finland and Finnish Embassy. In this context, he was deeply involved in bi-lateral governmental programs as a corporate representative.

Kari holds an MSc. Degree in energy technology and international marketing from the Tampere University of Technology and spent a couple of years as an exchange student at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg Sweden. In his personal life, Kari’s next goal is to run a marathon in under four hours.

Malin Östman is currently responsible for Wärtsilä Energy’s Project and Market Development in Asia and Australia. Malin has been working for Wärtsilä since 2013 with project development, project finance, strategy, and market development. Prior to joining Wärtsilä, she worked as a management consultant for BCG. Malin Östman holds a MSc. Degree in Industrial Engineering and Management from Aalto University.