Sampo Chairman Björn Wahlroos is most influential figure on Finnish boards

Helsingin Sanomat examined who pulls the strings on the boards of Finnish listed companies - most of them are male

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When considering the composition of their executive boards, Finnish listed companies tend to put their trust in familiar and predominantly male names.
      A survey conducted by Helsingin Sanomat indicates that on the basis of market capitalization and the number of board seats, the most powerful person on the boards of Finnish listed companies is Björn Wahlroos, the Chairman of the Board at the Finnish insurance and banking concern Sampo Group.
      Wahlroos leapt from the bottom of the pile to the top position when he gave up the post of Sampo Group CEO in April and took over the seat of Chairman of the Board.
     
Further names at the top of the list include long-standing board professionals Timo Peltola, the Chairman of the Board of Neste Oil, Matti Kavetvuo, the Chair of the Orion Board, and Jorma Ollila, the Chairman of the Nokia Board.
      Since 2005, when Helsingin Sanomat last looked into the division of power on the boards of Finnish listed companies, a new name has emerged among the most influential players, namely Risto Siilasmaa, the former CEO and the current Chair of the Board of data security firm F-Secure. Siilasmaa also holds a seat on the boards of Nokia and telecoms operator Elisa.
     
The percentage of women on the boards of Finnish companies continues to be small.
      However, even though the actual number of female board members has not increased from the 65 recorded in 2005, the percentage of women on boards has increased from 14 % to 17 %.
      This is attributable to the fact that the most influential women have accumulated larger numbers of board seats in their portfolios than before.
      The doyenne of the Finnish female board members is the long-standing board professional Sirkka Hämäläinen-Lindfors, the Vice Chairman of the Board of Kone Corporation and a member of the Board of Sanoma Corporation.
      Hämäläinen-Lindfors is the former governor of the Bank of Finland and a former member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank.
      Further influential women include Sari Baldauf, the former Executive Vice President and General Manager of of Nokia Networks and currently a member of the Executive Board of Hewlett-Packard, as well as Anne Brunila, the current President of the Finnish Forest Industries Federation.
     
Experienced female board members are also sought from abroad. Out of all female board members in the list, as many as one-third are foreigners. Moreover, most of all the foreigners in the list are women.
      In general, companies attempt to appoint board members who have some special expertise in those fields that are important for the company, while the gender card does not play any role in appointments.
      The survey covered all companies listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange with a market capitalization of more than EUR 50 million on April 27th. The number of such companies was 66.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Proposal for gender quotas for boards of listed companies gets cool reception (7.3.2006)

Helsingin Sanomat