Mika Leskinen

Mika has a strong background in equity investing as he was a fund manager, Head of Equities and Head of ESG at OP Financial Group from 2001 until 2018. At OP Mika built the responsible investing (ESG) framework for asset management from the scratch from 2005 onwards. Mika is one of the first ESG investing professional in Finland, and he built the first ‘climate change’ portfolio already in 2007 and managed that portfolio personally for 8 years. In 2018 Mika moved to S-Bank where he soon became the Chief Investment Officer leading a team of around 20 portfolio managers. Mika is currently a member of the board of Finnish Sustainable Investing Forum (FINSIF) and chaired the board in 2018. Mika has also been a member of the Church of Finland’s responsible investing advisory group.

“I am not an equity guy turned into ESG or ESG guy turned into investing, instead I have developed the skills simultaneously, hence smooth and real integration and understanding of ESG strategies in investing”.

Mika was born in Virolahti, the easternmost point of Gulf of Finland on the Finnish side. During his life the sea has been a significant part of Mika’s life. Fishing, walks on the seaside and boating on the archipelago between Virolahti and Hanko has provided a great environment for pondering life’s big questions and, simultaneously, also raised concern about the future of the sea.

Mika was Global top 50 individual contributing to responsible investing according to IRRI in 2017 and Global TOP 50 ESG influencer in the World by Onalytica in 2023. Regular speaker in investing and ESG events in Europe. Actively quoted in media and books.

ITF Master’s Tour tennis player.