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Janne Kuivalainen, CTO and head of technology at Danfoss Power Electronics and Drives, will join Kempower Oyj as chief technology officer and a member of its global leadership team in October 2026. The appointment brings more than 25 years of experience in power electronics, software platforms, and international R&D leadership to the Finnish EV charging company as it expands internationally, invests in AI-driven engineering capabilities, and works to improve profitability.
Kuivalainen joins from Danfoss, where he led global technology strategy, international R&D teams, and AI-based engineering productivity initiatives. Before that, he served as senior vice president responsible for next-generation product platforms at Danfoss Drives and held leadership positions at ABB and Vacon. He succeeds the interim arrangement under Chief Operating Officer Sanna Otava, who has overseen the CTO function since the role was created earlier this year, Kempower announced yesterday.
The hire completes a six-month restructuring of Kempower's leadership organization. The company created the CTO role in January as part of a broader effort to strengthen innovation, customer responsiveness, and execution. The overhaul also saw Chief Markets Officer Jussi Vanhanen become chief product officer, expanded North America President Monil Malhotra's responsibilities to include digital solutions leadership, and established a dedicated services and aftermarket function led by former Kone executive Katri Piirtola from May 2026.
“As Kempower continues to scale globally, technology leadership is at the core of our competitiveness and growth,” CEO Bhasker Kaushal said. The company said Kuivalainen's experience in power electronics, software-driven products, and international technology organizations will support its next phase of growth.
Final piece of a broader leadership reset
Kuivalainen's appointment caps a period of significant leadership change since Kaushal became CEO in June 2025. Since then, Kempower has added a chief services and aftermarket officer, appointed a new CIO effective August 2026, and announced the departure of CFO Jukka Kainulainen, who will leave in September after five years with the company. A search for his successor is ongoing. Four of the company's eleven leadership team positions have changed hands since mid-2025, with the finance function still unresolved.
The changes come as Kempower pursues a more technology-focused strategy. By separating product management, technology development, and aftermarket operations into dedicated executive functions, management is aiming to accelerate innovation while improving execution and customer support. The addition of both a CTO and CIO role within months of each other also reflects a growing emphasis on AI-enabled productivity across engineering, product development and internal operations.
Growth accelerates as margins remain under scrutiny
The leadership transition is unfolding alongside improving business performance. Kempower reported first-quarter revenue of EUR 66.8 million, up 54% year over year, while order intake rose 16% to EUR 69 million and order backlog increased 32% to EUR 140.7 million. Energy delivered through its charging infrastructure more than doubled to 311,830 MWh, and the company added eight new customers during the quarter. Operative EBIT improved to a loss of EUR 3.5 million from a loss of EUR 7.3 million a year earlier.
Growth has increasingly been driven by markets outside the Nordics. Revenue in Europe excluding the Nordic region grew 87% year over year, while North American revenue increased more than threefold. The Nordics represented 27% of first-quarter revenue, down from 44% a year earlier, underscoring management's efforts to diversify geographically.
Investors are likely to focus on whether that growth translates into stronger profitability. Gross margin fell to 45.3% from 49.5% in the first quarter due to pricing pressure, geographic mix and elevated costs associated with product enhancements. Management says a cost-reduction program launched in the second half of 2025, including supplier negotiations, subcontractor consolidation and product cost initiatives, is expected to deliver increasing benefits through the remainder of 2026.
Technology, profitability, and succession in focus
Against that backdrop, Kuivalainen arrives with a mandate that extends beyond technology leadership. Kempower is seeking to strengthen software and AI capabilities, improve engineering productivity, and support margin recovery while continuing to scale internationally. The company reiterated its outlook for 2026 revenue growth of 10% to 30% from 2025 revenue of EUR 251.3 million and expects operative EBIT to improve significantly from last year's EUR 12.4 million loss.
For investors, three issues stand out. First is the execution of the technology roadmap under a newly established CTO function. Second is whether management can reverse recent margin pressure while maintaining growth. Third is the unresolved CFO succession, with Kainulainen's departure approaching and no replacement yet announced. With a new CIO joining in August, a new CTO arriving in October, and a CFO search underway, Kempower's leadership transition is set to continue through at least the end of 2026.
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