Professor Petteri Taalas was appointed in May 2015 as the Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and re-appointed in June 2019 for another four year mandate (2020 to 2023). He was born in 1961 in Helsinki, Finland. He holds a PhD in Meteorology (Helsinki University, Physics department 1993, Univ. of Eastern Finland: meteorology, physics, physical chemistry and international development)
Before joining WMO he was the Director-General of the Finnish Meteorological Institute 2002-2005, 2007-2015 (National weather, climate and marine Institute).
He has also held positions in International development and scientific fields:
- Director of Development and Regional Activities Department of WMO, Geneva 2005-2007
- Research professor on Remote Sensing/FMI 2000-2002
- Senior scientist/scientist at the FMI 1986-1999
He is also a Member of various international activities:
- Member of WMO Executive Council 2008-2015
- Chairman of EUMETSAT Council 2010-2014 (European Meteorological Satellite Organization)
- Chairman of EUMETNET Council 2003-2005 (EUMETNET is a network of 31 European National Meteorological Services based in Brussels)
- Member of ECMWF Council 2002-5, 2007-2015, (The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts is an independent intergovernmental organisation supported by most of the nations of Europe and is based at Shinfield Park, Reading, UK)
- Principal Delegate of Finland to IPCC 2007-15 (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)
- Member of American Meteorological Society 2007-2014
- Honorary Doctor, Teri University, India (2016)
- Honorary Member 2015, China Meteorological Association
- Chairman of the Board of University of Eastern Finland (2009-2015)
- Member Board of Directors of Fortum Energy Company (2013-2015)