About Us

About Us

Milva Finnegan

A Contracts Consultant – I am a contracts manager by title but my work is focused on driving innovative approaches to change how contracts are designed and used. I work with clients to merge legal and business thinking into the entire lifecycle of a contract within an organization.

A Teacher – I enjoy teaching as a visiting lecturer on topics related to contract management, contract negotiations, contract design and connecting business acumen with contract drafting. I’m a frequent speaker at various conferences and round tables as I have a passion to further the contracts profession and increase the knowledge and skills of every practitioner.

Dr. Finnegan – I recently completed my Doctor of Sciences in Economics at the University of Vaasa, in Finland.  My major is in business law and my research is in the field of contract law and contract design. My dissertation, User-centered design: A key to contract simplification, explored approaches and tools to support contract simplification and visualization to produce well designed contracts that bring value to the business.

Work Experience

Prior to founding Karhu LLC, I worked 12 years for the Boeing Company in various roles.  My first four years I worked on the International Contracts & Pricing team.  I performed complex pricing,  drafted and reviewed terms and conditions, and participated in proposal development.  I traveled to several countries as part of the negotiation team and gained in-depth knowledge of international  large scale military acquisitions.

Next opportunity was in US government contracts where I was the F/A-18 training division contract’s team lead.  From there I moved to become a Financial & Planning analyst and learned the financial tracking and reporting responsibilities during contract execution for both commercial and government contracts.  Thereafter, I was selected to be the lead finance integrator in the International Support Systems Division where I rolled up all the divisional monthly financials, did variance analysis and leadership presentation, and developed and integrated the 1, 5, and 10 year Long Range Business Plan.

My next job was as an IT Finance Manager for a team of financial analyst with responsibility for tracking and assuring on budget IT spend through; performance reporting, risk analysis and cross functional collaboration.

Finland to USA Story

To fully understand the philosophy and my view of the world it is important to understand my roots.  I’m born and raised in Finland.  I came to the USA for school and 20 years later I’m still here!  But my heart and mores I grew up with never left Finland.  Still today I live in a world where I bring together the best of both countries.  I look in from the outside wherever I am which has made me an analyst and critical thinker.  Where my passion for contract management comes from is a mystery…

Associations

IACCM – International Association for Contract and Commercial Management

NCMA – National Contract Management Association

Certifications

– National Contract Management Association  (NCMA) Contract Management Certifications

–CPCM – Certified Professional Contracts Manager

–CFCM – Certified Federal Contracts Manager

–CCCM – Certified Commercial Contracts Manager

  • Fellow Designation Awarded December 2014 by NCMA