International Baccalaureate (IB) Appoints A New Director

Olli-Pekka Heinonen has joined the International Baccalaureate Organization (IB) as its new director-general.  He succeeds Dr Siva Kumari, as the eighth Director-General of the IB.

Heinonen is a regular speaker in global educational forums and is actively engaged with the OECD on topics related to the future of education, personalized and lifelong learning, the impact of technology and the development of educators.

Olli-Pekka Heinonen commented “It is clear that we are all suffering from a global learning and teaching crisis, and COVID-19 has magnified these challenges. We are determined to help our IB family in every way we can and as the first step towards that we started with a COVID-19 fund in May last year to support the financially impacted schools”

Prior to joining the IB, Heinonen served as the Director-General of the Finnish National Agency for Education, whose core tasks included developing education and training, early childhood education and lifelong learning, and promoting internationalization within the Finnish education system. The Agency develops the national core curricula for general education, early childhood education and vocational and competence-based qualifications.

Heinonen has also held various positions in the Finnish Government, including State Secretary, Minister of Education and Culture, Minister of Transport and Communications, as well as Director in the Finnish National Broadcasting Company.