Matti Tiirakari joined EMBL as COO on the 15th January 2020.
2016-2019 Matti worked as Senior Advisor at CERN (European Centre for Nuclear Research) in Geneva, where he has held various management positions since 1996. First as Head of Supply and Logistics for the LHC-project (Large Hadron Collider), the world biggest accelerator machine to date and then as Head of Site Management and Engineering.
2010-2015 Matti was Deputy Director General/Director of Project Management and Administration at ESS (European Spallation Source) in Lund, Sweden. ESS is a new big science organization building world’s most powerful neutron accelerator in Scania County – Sweden.
Before joining the research field, Matti worked in Italy, Benelux countries and Far East in international shipping industry as Director, before that he was Diplomate and Trade Commissioner employed at Finnish Foreign Ministry.
Matti Tiirakari studied economics and international trade in Helsinki, Finland. He has been advisor and member in various boards and committees, both in business and big science organizations, like IATA, UN and DOE (Department of Energy in Washington DC USA).
With more than 200 staff, in all support areas, ranging from caretakers and gardeners to senior management staff, EMBL Administration provides administrative support to more than 1600 members of personnel from in excess of 75 nations.