President of Business Services Juho Lipsanen to leave TeliaSonera

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The winds of change blow once again at the top level of TeliaSonera, the largest telecommunications operator in the Nordic Countries.
      Member of the group’s management team Juho Lipsanen, 46, will leave his post as the President of TeliaSonera's Business Services Sales Division at the end of July.
      Lipsanen says he is leaving the company a satisfied man, who has learned lots of new things. Lipsanen denies that there would have been any friction between him and the TeliaSonera President and CEO Lars Nyberg, who took on the position in September and has since carried out several changes.
      “Nyberg is the right man to lead TeliaSonera. As directors we are very much alike and we have got along well”, Lipsanen tells Helsingin Sanomat over the phone from the island of Utö, where he is sailing his boat to Stockholm. Lipsanen denies that he would have been sacked.
     
Lipsanen is already the third member of the TeliaSonera management team to quit during Nyberg’s presidency.
      At the beginning of April, TeliaSonera announced the departure of Kim Ignatius, Executive Vice President and CFO of the company. In November of last year, Head of Group Communications Ewa Lagerqvist left the firm.
      Setting up a separate sales organisation for business-to-business customers was Lipsanen’s idea. He presented his plan to his boss Nyberg in the autumn.
      The organisational changes were implemented at the beginning of the year.
      Lipsanen admits that already when presenting the idea he was aware that he would not stay with the company for very long. “I have worked as a CEO for long enough to have grown accustomed to having the entire tool kit at my disposal and bearing the profit responsibility.”
     
As the CEO of TeliaSonera Finland, Lipsanen started just under three years ago. At the beginning of 2007, the organisations that had worked independently in different countries were dismantled. This meant that the position of the CEO of TeliaSonera Finland became a purely formal role, devoid of operative decision-making responsibilities.
      Lipsanen gave up the position as the CEO of TeliaSonera Finland for the role of President of TeliaSonera Business Services Sales Division in Stockholm at the beginning of the year.
     
After Lipsanen’s departure, the only Finn to remain in the TeliaSonera management team is Tero Kivisaari, President of TeliaSonera Eurasia.
      The Swedish government, Swedish companies, and institutional investors own aggregately some 56% of the TeliaSonera stock. The Finnish government, Finnish firms, and institutional investors in turn hold 17% of the company shares.
     
Before TeliaSonera, Lipsanen worked as the director of ABB New Ventures Ltd. ABB is a global player in power and automation technologies. From Switzerland, Lipsanen returned to Finland in 2002 to lead the Alma Media investment company, which specialises in newspapers and online media.
      “My future aim is to invest in some company and have an influence on its board or in the operative administration”, Lipsanen says.
      Lipsanen already sits on the board of the Swedish vacuum technology company Piab and owns 1% of the company’s shares.


Links:
  TeliaSonera Press Release: Ignatius departs
  TeliaSonera Press Release: Lagerqvist leaves TeliaSonera
  TeliaSonera
  TeliaSonera Press Release: Lipsanen leaves TeliaSonera

Helsingin Sanomat