Markku Ellilä received his PhD degree in 1988 at the Helsinki University of Technology as a result of particle physics research at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. After his academic career he has held a number of R&D and general management positions in world leading technology companies, such as Valmet Paper Machinery, Nextrom and Nokia. Most recently, until 2013, he was the Managing Director of Tellabs Oy. He is a board member of PYN Fund Management Ltd, and an angel investor.