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Soila Söderström, Betolar Plc's general counsel and management team member whose remit extends across legal affairs, human resources, communications and sustainability, will leave the company on July 15, 2026, less than three weeks before incoming CEO Vibeke Krohn takes office.
The departure comes less than a week after Betolar appointed Vibeke Krohn as its next president and CEO, effective August 1, 2026. This means that Söderström's exit will precede the leadership handover by roughly two weeks. Outgoing CEO Tuija Kalpala will remain with the company as an executive advisor until the end of 2026.
Kalpala said in today’s press release that Söderström "has had an important role in the company's strategic transformation." Kalpala credited Söderström with building and leading Betolar's legal function while supporting the board and management team through a period of significant change.
"Her expertise and ability to lead complex functions during times of change have strongly supported Betolar in achieving its objectives," Kalpala said. Betolar said it has started the search for a successor.
Betolar's leadership structure has been changing steadily since 2024. Söderström's departure is the latest change in a management team that has added Chief Growth Officer Jyri Talja, EVP Circular Materials Amir Wafin and incoming CEO Vibeke Krohn over the past 18 months.
June alone has brought a series of announcements, including a new CEO, a financing partnership, a long-term raw material supply agreement and now a management team departure.
Wider remit than a typical general counsel
Söderström joined Betolar as general counsel and secretary to both the board of directors and management team, placing her at the center of the company's governance structure. She was appointed to the management team in May 2024, expanding her responsibilities beyond legal affairs to include public affairs and advocacy, intellectual property, human resources, communications and sustainability.
Her role also made her one of the main links between the board and executive organization, combining governance responsibilities with oversight of several corporate functions.
Her departure removes one of the company's most institutionally embedded executives at a time when Betolar is executing several complex initiatives. In recent days, the company secured exclusive rights to around 10 million tonnes of titanium-bearing tailings from the Otanmäki Mine and announced a strategic partnership with Lithuanian investment firm Scalewolf, including an initial EUR 3 million convertible financing commitment and a planned EUR 8 million equity investment tied to a dedicated metal extraction technology subsidiary.
What Betolar is trying to accomplish
Söderström's exit comes as Betolar pursues a more focused strategy built around three priorities.
The first is scaling its metal extraction technology toward industrial production. The recently announced Otanmäki feedstock agreement provides access to approximately 10 million tonnes of material containing titanium and vanadium, while the EU-backed MINERVA project is intended to support technology validation.
The second is commercializing critical infrastructure protection products. Betolar's partnership with Enersense targets growing investment in electricity grid resilience across Europe, a market the company views as one of its fastest routes to revenue growth.
The third is reaching positive EBITDA by the end of 2027. In Q1 2026, Betolar reported revenue of EUR 441,000, almost triple the level a year earlier, while order intake increased 146% to EUR 221,000. EBITDA remained negative at EUR 972,000, although losses narrowed slightly from the prior year. Cash and short-term investments stood at EUR 5.2 million at the end of the quarter, down from EUR 10.3 million a year earlier.
The company entered 2026 with momentum from a record 2025, when order intake reached EUR 2.3 million. The challenge now is converting that growing commercial activity into recurring revenue quickly enough to meet its 2027 profitability target.
Investor watchpoints
The immediate question for investors is succession. Söderström's responsibilities stretched across legal affairs, communications, sustainability and human resources, and Betolar has not yet disclosed how those duties will be managed before a replacement is appointed.
Investors will also be watching the completion of the Otanmäki and Scalewolf agreements, both of which remain subject to definitive documentation. The timing is delicate: transactions of that complexity would typically involve substantial legal oversight, yet Betolar will be searching for a new general counsel while simultaneously onboarding a new CEO.
Attention will then shift to the company's August 12 half-year results, which will provide the first operational update under Krohn's leadership and the clearest indication of whether Betolar's strategic refocus is translating into commercial momentum. The report will also be the first opportunity for investors to assess whether the record revenue growth reported in the first quarter is being sustained.
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