Board of directors

Yrjö Neuvo

Yrjö Neuvo, Ph.D. (EE), Cornell University, Professor and Research Director at Helsinki University of Technology, previously Executive Vice President and CTO of Nokia Corporation, was responsible for product development and technologies of mobile phones. He was a member of the Group Executive Board of Nokia during 1993-2005. He is a member of Metso and Vaisala Boards of directors. Before joining Nokia, Dr. Neuvo gained international academic recognition as professor of signal processing at Tampere University of Technology. He was National Researh Professor at Academy of Finland and visiting professor at University of California, Santa Barbara.

He has published over 400 scientific articles and educated 30 Ph.D’s. He holds several patents. Dr. Neuvo has been and is member of several European, Nordic and Finnish research and innovation policy related working groups and committees. He is Fellow of IEEE, Member of Academia Europeae, the Swedish Academy of Technical Sciences, two Finnish Academies and holds three honorary doctorates. Asteroid 1938 DN has been named Neuvo. Dr. Neuvo has been serving as Chairman of ARTEMIS and is currently the President of ARTEMISIA.


Matti Kleimola

Matti Kleimola, Professor and Senior Advisor for Board of Management of Wärtsilä Corporation. From 2000 until his retirement in 2006, Kleimola was CTO, Group Vice President, Technology and Environment (BoM) at Wärtsilä. In the earlier part of his career, Kleimola held various positions at Wärtsilä, including R&D Head of Wärtsilä Diesel, R&D Manager and Design manager at Wärtsilä Oy Ab Vaasa factory.

In the years between his positions at Wärtsilä, Kleimola held various positions at HUT. From 1997 to 2000 he was the Head of Laboratory at HUT Internal Combustion Engines, and prior to that from 1980 to 1997 he was Head of Laboratory at HUT Machine Design. Also at the start of his career, Prof Kleimola was employed at HUT, first as an Assistant in HUT Internal Combustion Engines and later as Chief Engineer at HUT Automotive Laboratory.

Professor Kleimola has many positions of confidence including president, Board of CIMAC (the International Council of Combustion Engines); member of the board, Finnish Academies of Technology (FACTE); Chairman of the Finnish Society of Workshop Engineers; Chairman of the Business and Technology Committee, Technology Industries of Finland; member of Research Committee, Confederation of Finnish Industries and Employers (TT) and Chief Engineer Counselor. Professor Kleimola is also an expert member of the Supreme Administrative Court of Finland.


Lars Gädda

Lars Erik Gädda, Ph.D, has been since September 2007 the Research Director in Forestcluster Ltd. Forestcluster Ltd (Metsäklusteri Oy) is an innovation company established to network top level research and innovation in the Finnish forest cluster. The new innovation company is responsible for the operation of the cluster's strategic centre for science, technology and innovation. Its task is to initiate research and innovation programmes and to channel research funds to selected focus areas.

From 2000 to 2007 he was the Senior Vice President, R&D, in M-real. Before that Lars Gädda was the Vice President of technology at Fortum Oil and Gasin Porvoo. He is a graduate of Åbo Akademi, with a higher academic degree in organic chemistry, licentiate and Ph.D in wood pulping technology.

Lars Gädda is currently a board representative in the Institute for Surface Chemistry, Premix Oy and Research Foundation of Helsinki University of Technology. He is also a member of Research Council of Helsinki University of Technology, Research Council of Åbo Akademi, Research and Technology Committee of Forest Industries Federation, Management board of the Department of Chemistry in the University of Helsinki, Forest Based Technology Platform Advisory Group (as a chair).


Matti Packalén

Matti Packalén, honorary Dr of Economic Sciences, has held many notable positions during his career. In the early years, Packalén was an expatriate in Poland as an export engineer and as assistant of trade at the Finnish embassy. In 1982 Packalén was employed by Valmet Oy, Tractor division where he was an area director and director of the forest machines division. Dr Packalén was managing director at Sako-Tikka Oy 1982-86, Kansa-consortium 1986-92, Aamuleti-consortium 1998-2002 and Alma Media 1992-2002.

Dr Packalén is currently a board representative in John Nurminen Oy, Teamware Group chairman, Goodmood Oy chairman and Kemfine Oy. In addition he has been a board representative in a number of organizations, including Novo Group, Kemira Oyj, Vapo Oy, Setec Oy and TV4 (Sweden).

Further positions of confidence include many different organisations such as member of board of the Finnish Newspaper Association (1992-1994), chairman of the Finnish department at International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), and member of the board as representative of the Nordic countries, the Finnish-Swedish Chamber of Commerce delegation member from 1998, Scouts of Finland foundation supervisory board, UNICEF Global Movement Finland – group member since 2000. He has also held the position of president at International Institute of Communications (UK) and co-chairman at Media Lab Europe (Dublin, Ireland). Since 2006 Dr Packalén has been the chairman of the board of the Finnish Club.


Tarja Pääkkönen

Tarja Pääkkönen, Ph.D. (Corporate Strategies), M.Sc. (Construction) Senior Vice President, Corporate Sales & Marketing, and a member of the Executive Board of Itella Corporation  in 2004 – 2010. In her role she was responsible for sales and leading a team including Strategic Accounts, Brand and Marketing, Corporate Customers, Consumer & SME Sales, and Itella eCommerce Solution Business. She was also one of the chief architects of Itella Brand change across 15 European countries and Russia, recognised globally among industry players.

Tarja Pääkkönen also held several executive positions at Nokia during 1995 - 2004. As the Senior Vice President she led global mobile business and R&D units, including operations in North America, Asia, Europe and Japan. In 2002-2003 she was also a member of Nokia Mobile Phones Management Board and Nokia Venture Board. She was a member of Council of Information Society, Prime Minister´s Office in Finland during 2003 – 2005, and she holds several patents and patent applications. In 2007 she was rewarded as the Marketing Executive of the year.

Tarja Pääkkönen is currently Executive Partner and a board member of Boardman, and a board member of several companies, e.g. Marimekko, OLVI, HYY Group as well as innovative start ups and design companies like DesignStory (USA) and Idean.


Olli Pohjanvirta

Olli Pohjanvirta, Master of Laws, University of Helsinki, and the State Humanitarian University in Russia, is specialized in civil and corporate law, and in Russian business. During 1993-2006 he was Partner at ETL Law Offices Oy, during 2006-2009 Partner at Hannes Snellman Attorneys Ltd, and Head of Hannes Snellman operations in Russia. As from 2010 he is the CEO of Russian Capital Management Oy, and serves as an of counsel at Hannes Snellman.

Olli Pohjanvirta has considerable experience and special expertise in establishment and development of business activities in Russia. Over two decades he has been in close connection with the Russian market and he is well connected with several topical executives and politicians, understanding the importance of interpersonal relations in Russia.

Olli Pohjanvirta is currently Chairman of the Board of Nurminen Logistics Oyj, and a board member of PKC Group Oyj, Tulikivi Oyj, OOO Aurinkomatkat Suntours (Russian subsidiary), Matkayhtymä Oy, and Russian Capital Management Oy.