Turku Metropolitan Area
I’m approaching middle age as the father of two lovely daughters and the husband of my amazing wife, Emmi, who is a restaurant entrepreneur. I am an experienced leader of large organisations and global corporations. I’ve had the opportunity to lead change in challenging environments. I’ve made big mistakes and enjoyed big successes, so I believe I’m not talking nonsense 😊 My vision is to create a working life where ambitious goals can be achieved by putting people first. In fact, I don’t think anything else will be possible in the future. Why? Because the environment of every organisation is changing faster than ever. Employees’ expectations for their working lives are changing faster than ever. People are no longer willing to tolerate poor leadership or unnecessary bureaucracy. They can choose where they work. I would argue that employees are living in the 2020s, while leadership in many places is still stuck in the 1990s. At the same time, there is a constant war for talent. Everything starts from within the organisation. If we can create a workplace where people truly want to stay and where others want to join, the labour shortage will look very different. Isn’t it crazy if we don’t do something about it? So how do we make this happen, and what is my role in it? First of all, developing employee experience, leadership and culture is long-term work. It requires accepting that the most impactful things are often boring, difficult and take time. It would be easier to chase trends and run flashy one-off projects, as many do, but that doesn’t solve the real challenges of the future or help us deliver the strategy. Secondly, it’s essential to focus on the organisation’s own strategy and its customers’ needs. We must ask: what kind of leadership and corporate culture are needed to achieve our strategic goals? It would be easy to copy off-the-shelf solutions, but the end result is rarely impressive. I know that HR can be so much more than a dusty administrative function hidden in the back office. HR can be a true enabler of business strategy, helping the organisation to achieve its vision. How can I ensure this in my role? ✔️ By supporting and coaching managers to make the right, culturally aligned choices and decisions ✔️ By ensuring that the culture is respected through recruitment, communication and how we address undesirable behaviour ✔️ By being an example of good leadership ✔️ By making sure HR’s approach, skills, tools and processes enable the business – not the other way around Let’s move from nice words to concrete, meaningful action.
When people ask what makes Turun Osuuskauppa (TOK) special, I usually say it is the combination of local roots, a strong sense of community and big ambitions. TOK is a cooperative business operating in Southwest Finland, owned by more than 180,000 local co-op members. We employ nearly 3,000 people across supermarkets, hotels, restaurants, service stations and department stores. With a turnover of around €900 million (2024), we are one of the region’s largest employers, and we are just getting started. In 2026, TOK will celebrate its 125th anniversary. For more than a century, we have been part of everyday life in our region. Our goal is to continue providing the best possible services for our co-op members for the next 125 years as well. That is why our new strategy focuses on growth and reinvestment back into our own region. Over the coming years, we will invest more than €200 million to renew and develop services locally, for our co-op members. As HR Director and a member of the Executive Team, my role is to ensure that our growth is built on people, not despite them. That means • Driving the development of leadership and culture required to deliver the strategy • Leading the HR function and ensuring its strategic alignment with the business • Ensuring we are, and remain, the most attractive employer for both current and future employees I believe that when people, culture and business strategy move in the same direction, great things happen. And when growth serves both business and community, everyone wins.
+3000 employees in +500 sites all around Finland👇 We are the world´s leading food and multiservice company. And we love what we do – great food solutions and services to millions of people around the world every day. In Finland we have more than 3000 team members serving our customers wholeheartedly, always putting safety, health and wellbeing first (you hopefully are familiar with our consumer brands Food & Co and Amica). We bring joy and refreshment to schoolchildren, students, employees, convalescents, senior citizens and event visitors every ay at our restaurants or as takeaways. We value everyone´s input: together we build new ways of working, and a better employee and customer experience. Covid19 hit us heavily, as it did to whole industry. But we survived and now our aim is to be stronger than ever! That mean we need to develop our culture to meet "new normal" as well as customers new requirements. I´m more than happy to lead this historically culture transformation journey where we are building our Compass operating and leadership culture to enable profitable growth – and making every day easier and happier. We are reaching the sky! I believe that in the future, ambitious goals can only be achieved through people-centred leadership. That is what I work towards every day. And the best thing is: the people around me are striving for the same. Responsible for P&C function and Compass Group culture transformation as a member of the leadership team.