The NDPTL High Level Meeting 15.12.2021 approved the appointment of Hermanni Backer Johnsen as the next Director of the NDPTL Secretariat, starting January 2022.
Since May 2021 he has been serving as a Seconded Expert at NDPTL. Before joining NDPTL he has worked as a Senior Specialist in EU funding & transport, energy, and environment issues at Wega, as a PhD researcher at the University of Helsinki and as a Professional Secretary of the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM), where he was 2012-2018 the activity lead for regional intergovernmental cooperation on green and safe maritime transport and oil spill response.
During 2004-2012 he worked with intergovernmental initiatives at the HELCOM Secretariat, including leading Plan Bothnia -a transboundary Sweden-Finland maritime spatial planning pilot (2010-12). He has a PhD in Environmental Sciences and a LL.M in Public International Law, both from the University of Helsinki.