Finnish Defence Forces (FDF)
Major (OF-3) Ville Kostian serves as a Chief of the Finnish Defence Forces' (FDF) ADL-office at the FDF's Shared Services Center. He has over 20 years of experience in the field of education and training in the FDF.
His military career started in 1995 as a conscript. After his military service as a conscript he went to the National Defence University an completed the cadet course from 1996 to 2000, after which he graduated as an officer and was assigned to the Guard Jaeger Regiment in Helsinki. In this Infantry Unit he served for 13 years in various positions, starting as a platoon instructor and ending as the head of the Regimental HQ’s education and training division. He also served four years as a company commander.
From 2013 to 2023, he served in the Defence Command’s education and training division (J7). In his previous positions there he planned and designed the guidelines and regulations related to the training of conscripts in the FDF and coordinated a major development program and digitalisation for the education and training of the FDF.
In his current role, the unit he heads, under the steering of the J7, maintains and develops the FDF’s e-learning platform (LMS) and e-learning, and produces learning materials and e-courses.
He is also a member of the ADL Global Partnership Network and NORDEFCO ADL Forum of Experts.