Carmen Pekkarinen

Director

Honours Bachelor of Outdoor Recreation, 1995

Carmen was born and raised in northern Ontario and has lived and worked in Finland since 1998. She currently works as a Documentation Specialist at Trimble Solution in Espoo, Finland. She also holds an Honours Bachelor of Physical and Health Education (Laurentian, 1997) and an MA in Integrated Studies (Athabasca, 2013).

Carmen is married with a daughter and spends a lot of her free time at local rinks coaching ringette and girls hockey. She is the author of the weblog Life in Finland and has spent years seeking out those not-so-well-known connections between Canada and Finland. Carmen is also a past Chair of the Finnish-Canadian Society. Being in Finland reminds Carmen a lot of northern Ontario, and feels the strong, but under-estimated connection between the two regions.

Carmen is a new member of the board of AALU and is the acting chapter president for Finland, which also includes many former exchange students from Finland and Sweden.