Ilkka Laitinen Explained

Ilkka Laitinen
Birth Date:	1962 8, df=yes
Birth Place:	Nurmes, Finland
Allegiance:	Finland
Branch:	Finnish Border Guard
Serviceyears:	1982–2019
Rank:	Lieutenant general
Laterwork:	Executive Director of Frontex

Ilkka Pertti Juhani Laitinen (22 August 1962 – 29 September 2019) was a Finnish border guard officer, who served as the lieutenant general and the Chief of the Finnish Border Guard from 2018 to 2019. He was the first executive director of Frontex, the European Union’s border protection agency, from 2005 until 2014.

He served in the Finnish Border Guard in 1982 and since 1985. He rose to the rank of colonel in 2004 and held a wide variety of national and EU jobs. He was appointed as the first head of Frontex on 25 May 2005.^[1]

Laitinen retired from the Finnish Border Guard due to ill health on 31 August 2019.^[2] He died on 29 September 2019, aged 57, due to illness.^[3]

References

• Finnish Ministry of the Interior: Press release Colonel Ilkka Laitinen appointed as Executive Director of the EU Borders Agency (2005-05-25)
• Finnish Border Guard: Curriculum vitae of Ilkka Laitinen (in Finnish)
• Frontex official site

Notes and References

1. Web site: Franco Frattini and Luc Frieden visit the External Borders Agency (Frontex) in Warsaw. 30 June 2005. European Commission Press Release . 18 March 2015. The Management Board of the Frontex Agency met for the first time in Warsaw, on 25 May 2005. [...] The Management Board, on the basis of the short list submitted by the Commission, appointed Colonel Ilkka LAITINEN of Finland as Executive Director of the Agency..
2. News: Rajavartiolaitoksen päällikkö Ilkka Laitinen jäi työkyvyttömyyseläkkeelle – syynä vakava sairaus . Ilta-Sanomat . 2019-09-30 . fi . 2019-09-03.
3. News: Karjalainen . Antti . Rajavartiolaitosta johtanut Ilkka Laitinen on kuollut . Ilta-Sanomat . 2019-09-30 . fi . 2019-09-30.