Six chief executive seats changed at Helsinki-listed companies in October, and the outgoing leaders mostly stayed. Finance followed the question September’s roundup left open: UPM answered it by naming the head of its Fibres business as CFO, and three of the four finance seats for 2027 went to a business head, a restructuring executive and a controller. Technology and structure changed together.
Three board members stepped down this month. Akseli Harmaala, personnel representative on Ilkka's Board of Directors, has resigned effective October 2, 2026, following his departure from the group. Witted Board Member Charlotta Topelius has resigned from her position due to personal reasons. Dovre Group board member Aaron Michelin resigned on 29 October, due to debt restructuring proceedings. The company filed for bankruptcy the next day.
Departing CEOs stay on as advisors, board candidates and chairs
On 1 October, Elecster's board named Deputy CEO Juuso Halonen chief executive from 1 December. Arto Kinnunen, chief executive since 2017 and with the group for more than 30 years, leaves the role on 30 November and stays as management advisor. On the same day, CFO Veronika Halonen will become deputy CEO.
At Robit, CFO Ari Suokas becomes interim chief executive on 1 December until further notice, as Mikko Kuusilehto leaves on 30 November by agreement, before his six-month notice ends. Lassila & Tikanoja named Fintoil chief executive Ari-Pekka Määttänen as its next President and CEO to start on 1 May 2027, while Eero Hautaniemi remains until 30 April and then serves as senior advisor until 31 July.
Oma Savings Bank announced the departure, weeks after S-Bank took 96% control. Karri Alameri steps down on 5 November, his employment ends on 5 May 2027, and he will stand for election to the board, which is chaired by Jaakko Ossa and has started the search. Apetit announced on 26 October that Esa Mäki, chief executive for more than seven years, will lead until the end of May 2027 and advise management through the end of 2027. KH Group's CEO Carl Haglund said on 27 October that he will stay for six months or until a successor starts, and continue as chair of Nordic Rescue Group.
Three of four new finance chiefs have not held the CFO title before
UPM named Aki Temmes, head of UPM Fibres, as the CFO from 1 January, succeeding the retiring Tapio Korpeinen. Petri Hakanen, who is currently Senior Vice President, Fibres Finland Operations takes over UPM Fibres. Boreo appointed Lassi Simola, a workout and restructuring executive at Nordea, as the CFO to start no later than 4 January, ending an interim finance role split between two people since February.
At Inderes, Mikko Wartiovaara moves to Tesi on 31 December, and Group Controller Krista Monto becomes interim CFO on 1 January. Juho Pakkanen joins LeadDesk on 1 February from Finago, where he is VP of Group Financial Planning and Analysis and Investor Relations, after earlier serving as CFO of Heeros. He will be LeadDesk's third CFO since early 2025 and its second senior hire from Finago this year, after CTO Pekka Alli.
Marimekko and Enento rethink the technology seat
Marimekko's chief technology officer Mikki Inkeroinen left the management group on 14 October after two years in the role and nine years on the board before that, from 2015 to 2024. Jarno Kartela leads the technology team on an interim basis. Enento is replacing its chief information officer role with a new chief technology officer position, with Annika Rådeström stepping down on 31 December and Joel Askelöf interim.
Leadership attention moves to the businesses expected to grow
Orion hands Generics and Consumer Health to Global Operations head Juhani Kankaanpää from 1 January 2027 as Satu Ahomäki leaves after 34 years, while Henri Salokangas joins the executive team to lead Branded Products and Hao Pan becomes Chief Commercial Officer over a new International Commercial Operations organisation. Solar Foods splits the duties of departing Chief Commercial and Product Officer Godert Zijlstra between CFO Ilkka Saura and Chief Scientific Officer Juha-Pekka Pitkänen, and narrows the vacancy to a Chief Product Officer.
Netum replaces three units with four business areas, bringing Sebastian Pönkkö into the management team to lead Core Systems, Integrations & Operations and Aapo Cederberg to lead Cybersecurity, Regulation & Data Protection, while Outi Mattila moves to Data, Digital & AI and Liisa Rusanen to Education Solutions & Products. Mikko Pitkänen, Business Director of Netum Solutions, has resigned, and seven departures from the team since January 2025 make stability the test.
SRV reorganised into four business areas on 1 October, including a dedicated Data Centres area. The company added two members to its Corporate Executive Team. Jarkko Salmenoja becomes SVP, Data Centres, and Marko Palonen, most recently YIT's regional director for Northern Finland, becomes SVP, Northern Finland. In each case, leadership attention moved toward the part of the business the company expects to grow.
Alma Media folded Human Resources into Corporate Communications under Elina Kukkonen and discontinued Merja Ristilä’s seat from 31 October. At eQ, Group CEO Jouko Pölönen took direct charge of asset management on 23 October as Tero Estovirta left after more than 12 years. Honkarakenne made HR Director Sanna Hovila vice president for people and communications and a member of its six-person executive group.
Several of October's seats are filled on an interim basis for now: Robit's chief executive, Inderes's CFO, Marimekko's technology lead and Enento's new CTO role. Those appointments, along with the CEO searches at Apetit and KH Group, will shape leadership teams well into 2027.
This is a monthly roundup, consolidating leadership appointments and departures across Nordic listed companies. Individual moves are also covered as standalone articles as signals are confirmed — see Leaders: Leadership moves
