SanomaWSOY's Board of Directors has appointed Hannu Syrjänen as SanomaWSOY's President & COO as of March 29, 2001. SanomaWSOY's Annual General Meeting held today appointed SanomaWSOY's President & CEO, Jaakko Rauramo, as Chairman and CEO as of the same date. The previous Chairman, Aatos Erkko, will continue as a member of the Board.
As full-time Chairman & CEO, Jaakko Rauramo will focus on SanomaWSOY's key strategic growth and international expansion projects, and on the Group's main international contacts.
As President & COO, Hannu Syrjänen will be responsible for the operational management of the Group. He will also serve as the Chairman of the Boards of Directors of SanomaWSOY's sub-groups. Syrjänen has been appointed a member of SanomaWSOY's Board of Directors as of March 29, 2001.
Jaakko Rauramo: A key role in the creation of SanomaWSOY
Jaakko Rauramo (born November 27, 1941) has had a long and varied career with Sanoma Corporation and more recently with SanomaWSOY. He joined Sanomaprint as an engineer in 1966 after graduating from the Helsinki University of Technology. After serving as Production Manager and General Manager at Sanomaprint, Rauramo was appointed General Manager of the Newspaper Division and Sanoma's Executive Vice President. He was appointed President of Sanoma Corporation in 1984.
Jaakko Rauramo was appointed SanomaWSOY's first President & CEO when the Group was founded in 1999, since when he has also served as the Chairman of the Boards of Directors of SanomaWSOY's sub-groups. He is also a member of the Boards of Directors of Metso Corporation and Svenska Dagbladets AB, and a trustee of the Reuters Founders Share Company Limited.
Jaakko Rauramo is known as a strong and goal-oriented executive, and as a visionary and a manager capable of turning visions into reality. With over 30 years in the media business behind him, Rauramo has a particularly broad network of international contacts.
Hannu Syrjänen: The force behind today's Rautakirja
Hannu Syrjänen (born October 2, 1951) joined Rautakirja in 1989, a year after the company was listed on the Helsinki Exchanges, and served as Executive Vice President & Deputy CEO between 1996 and 1998, before being appointed President & CEO in 1998. During his time with the company, Rautakirja has become a successful, modern, international company with activities in a range of related fields.
Hannu Syrjänen has extensive managerial and leadership experience in a number of media fields, including publishing, printing, bookshops, press distribution, and cinema and entertainment. His career reflects his strengths, both as a creative developer and an implementer of strategy. Prior to joining Rautakirja, Syrjänen served with Kesko, Finnish Lawyers' Publishing, Wihuri, and the TS Group.
Hannu Syrjänen has been a member of SanomaWSOY's Management Group since the Group's founding in 1999. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Helsinki Media, and the chairman of the Boards of a number of Rautakirja subsidiaries.
Aatos Erkko: An internationally resoected media industry figure
Aatos Erkko (born September 16, 1939) began his career with Sanoma Corporation in 1953 as the Editor-in-Chief of Viikkosanomat. He served as the CEO of Sanoma Corporation between 1965 and 1976, a critical period in the company's history when much of the base for its subsequent success was created through investments in areas such as new products, IT, marketing, and training. Erkko served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sanoma Corporation between 1972 and 1999.
During Erkko's time with Sanoma Corporation, the company's net sales have grown from FIM 3.5 million to FIM 2,742 million, Helsingin Sanomat has become the largest daily paper in the Nordic region, and the circulation of Finland's second-largest paper, Ilta-Sanomat, has more than tripled. The spin-off of magazine activities as a separate business, Helsinki Media, in 1994 created a new foundation for Sanoma's magazine activities and the basis for the start-up of Finland's fourth national TV channel.
The breadth and extent of Aatos Erkko's vision was most recently and most particularly reflected in the merger of Werner Söderström Corporation, Sanoma Corporation, Helsinki Media, and Devarda Oy into SanomaWSOY. The Nordic region's largest listed media company, SanomaWSOY is committed to international expansion and becoming a significant player on the wider European scene.
Aatos Erkko owns 29.44% of SanomaWSOY's shares and 28.29% of the associated voting rights.
The CVs of Aatos Erkko, Jaakko Rauramo, and Hannu Syrjänen can be found at SanomaWSOY's Web site (www.sanomawsoy.fi/Investors/AGM 2001.