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Markku Vengasaho

Project Manager

• Master pastry chef and baker
• Vocational teacher since 1995
• Coordinator of Pastry Saimaa training programs and coach
• Head of the confectionery discipline 2015–2017 and from 2020 onwards
• Project manager in several development projects since 2014
• Member of the confectionery discipline WorldSkills and EuroSkills coaching team since 2017
• European Vocational Teacher of the Year 2019
• Pro Teacher Award nominee 2022
• Skills Contributor of the Year 2025
• The 2026 Recognition Award from the Finnish Food Culture Foundation for the long-term development and promotion of Finnish pastry expertise.

Placements of coached competitors in international competitions:

• WorldSkills 2017 – 1st place
• WorldSkills 2022 – 6th place
• EuroSkills 2023 – 3rd place
• WorldSkills 2024 – 5th place
• WorldSkills 2025 – 4th place

Outi Suopanki

International Affairs Specialist

• Master pastry chef, Master of Engineering (UAS)
• Vocational teacher since 2009
• International coordinator, instructor, and coach at Pastry Saimaa
• WorldSkills Expert (Pâtisserie and Confectionery), Abu Dhabi 2017, Lucerne 2022
• EuroSkills Chief Expert (Pâtisserie and Confectionery), Gdansk 2023, Herning 2025, Düsseldorf 2027
• Abilympics Skill Competition Manager (Pâtisserie and Confectionery), Helsinki 2027
• Skills Finland National Competition Taitaja 2027 discipline lead
• Involved in Finland’s Taitaja competition activities since 2013 as a member of the discipline steering group, semi-final and final judge, discipline lead, and chief judge

Outi Suopanki, a leading expert in her field, works as a lecturer in the food industry at Saimaa Vocational College Sampo and as the international affairs specialist and coordinator of Pastry Saimaa. Outi has extensive international networks built over the years, largely through international competition activities. At Sampo, she teaches students in the food industry vocational qualification as well as pastry apprentice and pastry master students.

Outi has more than a decade of experience in industry competitions. She has served in several roles in the Taitaja national skills competitions, including as the chief judge of the bakery and pastry discipline in 2022 and 2023.

In international competitions, Outi has worked as an expert in the pâtisserie and confectionery discipline at the WorldSkills competitions in Lucerne, Switzerland in 2022 and in Abu Dhabi in 2017. In the 2017 competition, Sampo’s Emeliina Papinniemi won Finland’s first gold medal in the discipline. In 2023, pâtisserie and confectionery was included in the EuroSkills competition for the first time, and Outi served as the Chief Expert, responsible for planning the implementation of the discipline, the competition tasks and evaluation, as well as leading the discipline during the competition. Her role continued when she was unanimously selected as Chief Expert for the next EuroSkills competition in Herning, Denmark in 2025. Work is now underway for the next EuroSkills competition in Düsseldorf, Germany in 2027, where Outi will again serve as Chief Expert. In the same year, the Skills Games event will be held in Helsinki, where Outi will serve both as the discipline lead for bakery and pastry in the Taitaja competition and as the Skill Competition Manager for the Abilympics discipline Pâtisserie and Confectionery.

Competition activities and her previous professional roles have included extensive international travel. Outi encourages students to explore international opportunities during their studies and to make use of student mobility programs. During her pastry master studies, she herself spent two weeks in Austria on a student exchange period.

“As the saying goes, travel broadens the mind; it gives a wider perspective on things both professionally and personally,” Outi notes.

Outi found her way to the bakery and pastry field after upper secondary school, encouraged by a friend. She had always enjoyed baking, and vocational studies offered a relatively quick path into working life. Before beginning her teaching career, Outi worked in small artisan pastry and bakery businesses, after which she spent 14.5 years working in vocational education at Salpaus Further Education. Her favorite ingredient is chocolate, where she feels she has the deepest expertise. Making chocolate pralines is also a cherished hobby for her.

When Outi joined Sampo at the beginning of 2024, the institution was already familiar to her through competitions and her own studies. “It feels like coming home,” she says, adding that she enjoys working at Sampo very much.

“Sampo has world-class facilities and equipment, which enable versatile activities. Most importantly, the culture is enabling, and there is a development-oriented and innovative mindset in everything we do,” Outi explains.

Eija Kuningas

Product Development Specialist

• Master pastry chef
• Instructor and coach at Pastry Saimaa
• Member of the confectionery discipline WorldSkills and EuroSkills coaching team since 2017
• Member of the Culinary Team of Finland since 2019
• IKA Culinary Olympics gold medalist 2024
• IKA Culinary Olympics – 2nd place Chef’s Table, 5th place overall 2020
• Makeamestari 2018 – 3rd place