Mika Loukkalahti, born in Finland in 1969, earned his M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Tampere University of Technology in 1996. He began his career at Helsinki Energy (Helen) in 1997 as a Protection Engineer, later focusing on substation and network automation as well as power supply reliability. Currently, he leads technological and planning principle development at Helen Electricity Network Ltd. Mika has been involved with the CIGRE B5 Committee and has contributed to several CIGRE working groups and international technical papers, also giving presentations both domestically and internationally. He is married with two children and enjoys orienteering and cross-country skiing.