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Crisis Management Initiative becomes CMI – Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation as from 1 May 2021

Published on Thursday, 29th of April 2021

On 1 May 2021, CMI association transfers all its operations to the new legal structure CMI – Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation sr which continues the work of CMI association.  CMI – Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation stands for stability, sustainability, dignity and resilience. It carries the name of CMI´s founder and ensures his vision and lifework are taken forward to future generations. 

Crisis Management Initiative ry (CMI) was created in 2000 when President Martti Ahtisaari ended his six-year term as the President of the Republic of Finland and founded the association. The initial idea was to establish an organisation that could support Ahtisaari in all his assignments. During the first decade, it became evident that CMI would be much more than this, as the amount of staff, projects and recognition grew.  

President Ahtisaari withdrew from the remainder of his dutieonly in early 2020. He has always had a strong vision that CMI should not depend on him or any single personality. For CMI, President Ahtisaari’s retirement means taking an even stronger and more visible role as the carrier of his legacy, which has always been rooted in CMI’s values and existence. The Nordic value-base, resilience and vision that “All conflicts can be resolved” come from CMI’s founder, President AhtisaariTo be able to better protect and represent his global peacemaking legacy, the organisation needs a distinguished and lasting configuration.   

For this purpose and under the supervision of its Board, CMI started the transformation from an association to a foundation already two years ago. The key driver behind this change is to make the organisation more sustainableThe new configuration will improve CMI’s basic functions in many ways, giving it a more reliable and efficient decision-making and governance structure, and enhancing its capacity to seek for systematic growth and fundraising.  Under the arrangement, the foundation will assume all operations of the current association uninterruptedly and CMI personnel will be transferred to the foundation.  

Marko Ahtisaari, the artistic director of the Helsinki Festival, has been invited to join the board of the new foundation. Alexander Stubb is the Chair of the Board. Other Board Members are Veera HeinonenDirector, Democracy and Participation at Sitra; Gunvor Kronman, CEO of Hanaholmen Cultural Centre; Kari Lautjärvi, Lagman; Aleksi Neuvonen, founder of the Demos think-tank; Kai Sauer, Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Security Policy at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and Christoph Vitzthum, President and CEO of Fazer Group. 

Dr. Janne Taalas is the CEO of the new foundation. The foundation will also have a new logo and visuals to match the new phase of the organisation. These new visuals are inspired by contemporary Nordic aesthetics.