-1959: Ahtisaari graduates with a degree in education.
- 1960-1963: Development aid worker in Pakistan
- 1973-1977: Ambassador in Tansania, Zambia, Somalia, and Mozambique
- 1977-1981: UN envoy to Namibia
- 1982-1983: UN Under-Secretary General
- 1992-1993: Chairman of the Bosnia-Hertzegovia peace conference working group
- 1994-2000 President of Finland
- After his term in office, he founded the Crisis Management Initiative
- 2005: Negotiated a peace deal in Indonesia's Aceh province.
- 2005: Led talks on Kosovo independence, and urged the UN to approve independence (the motion failed in the Security Council)
- 2008: Ahtisaari becomes the first Finn to win the Nobel Peace Prize
