CEO Esa Kaikkonen: Leading Metsä Board with a forward-looking vision
ON 7 APRIL 2025, ESA KAIKKONEN STARTED as Metsä Board’s new CEO. He brings extensive experience to his new role, having held various leadership positions within Metsä Group over the last 27 years, such as the CEO of Metsä Tissue, EVP of Metsä Wood, and EVP of Strategy for Metsä Group. Kaikkonen is now immersing himself in the packaging business with Metsä Board and sees the company as well positioned for the future. “As part of Metsä Group, Metsä Board enjoys a completely unique value chain, which gives us and our customers a competitive advantage,” he explains. Esa Kaikkonen describes his approach to leadership as being focused on openness, continuous learning and inspiring others to be their best. “I always do my best to engage with people openly and aim to learn as much as possible from each interaction,” he says. “Every meeting I have throughout the day presents a learning opportunity.” According to Kaikkonen, courage is a vital component of success. “One of the key aspects of leadership for me is fostering courage. I always encourage everyone to consistently take ownership of their skills and results, every day. And to be progressive, ensuring that we continue to move forward. Because you can’t go backwards in business. We have to consistently discover new ways of driving growth.” “I always encourage everyone to consistently take ownership of their skills and results, every day.”
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ESA KAIKKONEN, CEO
Elevating product safety with Metsä Board’s 360 services METSÄ BOARD HAS ENHANCED its 360 Services portfolio by incorporating extended product safety evaluations. The service is designed to tackle the rare product safety and regulatory cas- es where information is not readily available in Metsä Board’s standard compliance documentation. “Our goal is to provide our expertise and detailed informa- tion to ensure that our customers can manufacture safe and compliant products. As consumer demands increase, and the regulatory landscape requires more from packaging producers, we expect the need for this new service to grow,” says Helena Moring-Vepsäläinen , Product Safety Manager at Metsä Board. With the 360 Services, Metsä Board wants to help our customers and their customers succeed in the best possible way across the packaging value chain. This means offering not only paperboard but also our broad competence to help them maximise paperboard performance and the sustainability of packaging.
BOARD MAGAZINE
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