Alexander Stubb

Cai-Göran Alexander Stubb (, born 1 April 1968) is a Finnish politician who has been the 13th president of Finland since 1 March 2024, having won the 2024 presidential election.

His father worked in the business of professional ice hockey; he was the CEO of the Finnish Ice Hockey Association from 1976 to 1983, and also worked as the NHL Director of Euro Scouting.

Through his mother, he is descended from the Setälä family, and his maternal grandfather was professor Kai Setälä.

Stubb spent his childhood in Lehtisaari, Helsinki.

He played ice hockey in HIFK until his teen years.

He started playing golf when he was twelve years old and during high school played in the Finnish national golf team.

In 1986, Stubb graduated from Mainland High School in Daytona Beach, Florida, U.S., and, two years later, graduated from the Gymnasiet Lärkan in Helsinki, then completed his military service.

Stubb won a golf scholarship to Furman University in South Carolina, United States.

He was a member of the Finnish national golf team and intended to become a professional golfer after graduation, but studying with political scientist Brent Nelsen and other faculty caused him to quit golf after a year to focus on his studies.

Stubb graduated with a BA degree in political science from Furman University in 1993.

The following year he studied French and obtained a Diploma in French Language and Civilisation from the Sorbonne University, Paris, in 1994.

Stubb speaks five languages: Swedish, Finnish, English, French, and German.

In 1995, Stubb graduated with an MA degree in political science (European affairs) from the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium.

Between 1995 and 1997, Stubb was a researcher at the Finnish Foreign Office, and then at the Academy of Finland from 1997 to 1999.

Stubb's thesis was called Flexible Integration and the Amsterdam Treaty: negotiating differentiation in the 1996–97 IGC and it dealt with the 1996–97 Intergovernmental Conference of the European Union.

In 1997 he began to work also as a columnist.

He then went on to pursue a doctorate at the London School of Economics and Political Science under the supervision of William Wallace, Baron Wallace of Saltaire, obtaining his PhD degree in international politics in June 1999.

Wallace later said: "LSE has had a number of extremely bright Finnish students in recent years – but Alex was one of the most outstanding."

From 1999 to 2001, Stubb was a researcher in Finland's representation in the European Union in Brussels, and a member of the Finnish government's delegation to the intergovernmental negotiations for the Treaty of Nice.

In 2000, he became a lecturer at the College of Europe.

Following the IGC's conclusion in 2001 he became an adviser to the President of the European Commission (then Romano Prodi) and a member of the Commission Task Force on the European Convention.

In 2003 he returned to Finland's representation to the EU as a special expert and to the intergovernmental negotiations, this time for the European Constitution.

Rising in politics as a researcher specialised in the affairs of the European Union, he was elected to the European Parliament in 2004 as a member of the National Coalition Party.

In 2008, Stubb was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs.

In 2011, he was elected to the Finnish Parliament for the first time as an MP with the second-highest vote count in the election.

He was then appointed Minister for European Affairs and Trade in the Cabinet of Jyrki Katainen.

He previously served as Prime Minister of Finland from 2014 to 2015.

When Katainen stepped down as Prime Minister and Chairman of the National Coalition Party in 2014, Stubb was elected as party chairman.

He went on to form a five-party government coalition, and was officially appointed Prime Minister by President Sauli Niinistö on 24 June 2014.

At the parliamentary election held in April 2015, Stubb's National Coalition Party lost its status as the largest party, coming in second in vote share and third in seats.

After coalition negotiations between the winning Centre Party, Finns Party and National Coalition Party, Stubb was appointed Minister of Finance on 29 May 2015 by newly elected Prime Minister Juha Sipilä.

In 2016, Stubb's leadership was challenged from within the party by MP Elina Lepomäki and Interior Minister Petteri Orpo.

On 11 June, Stubb lost the leadership to Orpo at the party conference.

Resigning as Finance Minister, and declining further ministerial positions, Stubb resigned as a Member of Parliament in 2017 to accept appointment as vice-president of the European Investment Bank.

After his term at the European Investment Bank ended in January 2020, he was chosen as the director and professor of the School of Transnational Governance at the European University Institute.

In August 2023, Stubb announced his decision to run in the 2024 Finnish presidential election.

He finished first in the first round of voting on 28 January and won the run-off on 11 February, winning 51.6% of the votes against Pekka Haavisto.

Stubb is the second Finland-Swedish president in the history of Finland after C. G. E. Mannerheim.

Stubb was born in Helsinki into a bilingual family; his father, Göran Stubb, was a native Swedish-speaker and his mother, Christel Stubb ( Setälä), was a native Finnish speaker.

Stubb spoke both languages at home.