he offspring of Viipuri stock, Thomas Thesleff has commerce, civil service, farming, art and research flowing in his veins from his father’s side. On his mother’s side, there are traces of academic education and commerce from the Turku region and Sweden. The family’s moniker is clearly civil humanism however. Thesleff admits to his background and how his forebears shaped his life choices “Claris obligamur exemplis”

In economic and social terms the Finnish markets in the 1980s were ripe for the creation of an institution like Evli Securities Plc. And there’s little doubt that an arts graduate working as an investment banker in Finland at that time raised a few eyebrows. But Thomas Thesleff had plenty of historical role models from around the world that he could call upon.

Evli Pankki Oy began operations in 1985 as a quartet. At one stage the personnel reached 500, but stabilised at 250, which is what it is in 2015. The firm began stockbroking developing an entire range of financial and capital management services.

In looking for my career path I had the great good fortune to start a family with my wife Yvonne Pacius. Our children, born in 1975, 1978 and 1980 have made life worth living.

I am eternally grateful for having been in the right place at the right time. The most important thing has been strong networking. Back in my student organization days, the tightknit and solid circle of acquaintances has helped me get a hold on life and find the cross-disciplinary solutions that have been so necessary in building my future. If as a budding scholar I had buried myself in the students’ professional associations, my circles would have been much narrower.

When I think of my time at the University a whole range of memories come to the fore. First of all of course was the registration organised by the rector Erkki Kivinen, an unassuming but nevertheless serious occasion. In my day teaching was still very traditional, one lecture after the other and undergraduates had to work out the instructions for themselves. The tutor system was in its infancy, and frankly it did not help very much. Nor did everything go to plan...

Thanks to my father’s round the world sail in the square rigger Passat (1948-9), my childhood home was spared talk of war and its associated traumas. Instead we were treated to imaginative and witty works of derring-do, Moominpappa’s adventures and the like, and how life and the world is open…