Born in Helsinki to a Swiss family, at the beginning of her business career with family company Vallila, Anne-Catherine Berner has traveled 70,000 kilometers a year to sell fabrics to architects. She became chair of the company in 2012 and during her time as CEO, Vallila grew in size from about 10 people to more than 140 employees in 2014.
In addition to her family-based business, Anne-Catherine Berner has done a long career as a board professional on several publicly listed Finnish and international companies, such as Soprano plc, Kährs Holding AB and the mutual pension insurance company Ilmarinen. Berner’s organizational career include chairing the Finnish Family Firms Association, the Association for Finnish Work as chairwoman and the European Family Businesses as member of the board.
Participated as a venture capitalist on Finland’s and Sweden’s versions of the television show Dragons’ Den, in 2006 Anne-Catherine Berner received the Prix Veuve Clicquot, as the Finnish businesswoman of the year and in 2014 she was given the order of Commander of the Order of the Lion of Finland by the President of the Republic. Anne-Catherine Berner was appointed to the board of directors of SEB, Sweden-headquartered financial group in 2019 and in 2020 Member of the board at CVVC in Zug, Switzerland.
In her political career, Anne-Catherine Berner was elected into the Finnish Parliament in 2015 for the Centre Party of Finland. From 2015 to 2019, she was Minister of Transport and Communication of Finland, her also duties included acting as the minister for Nordic Cooperation and the minister for Åland Island affairs.
