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Board of Directors (Company Board)

Finland’s biggest wage-earner to chair business union

Matti Alahuhta – revealed on Monday morning to have been Finland’s highest salary earner – was nominated later in day as the new chair of the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK).

Elinkeinoministeri Jyri Häkämies, ulkomaankauppaministeri Alexander Stubb ja Koneen toimitusjohtaja Matti Alahuhta Aamu-tv:n studiossa.
Elinkeinoministeri Jyri Häkämies, ulkomaankauppaministeri Alexander Stubb ja Koneen toimitusjohtaja Matti Alahuhta Aamu-tv:n studiossa. Image: Yle

On Monday, the election committee of the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) said it will recommend the appointment of Matti Alahuhta as chairman of the board. The decision is expected to be rubber-stamped at a meeting of member delegates on 25 November. Alahuhta has been one of five vice chairs of the EK board since last year.

Current board chair Ilpo Kokkila, the principal owner of the SRV construction company, announced in late October that he will resign at the end of the year, aged 67.

In March, Alahuhta stepped down after nine years as CEO of lift and escalator manufacturer Kone. Before that he had worked for Nokia, beginning in 1975. Last year he totted up nearly 4.8 million euros in income, according to official tax figures published on Monday. 

Man with many hats

The EK, the country’s biggest business lobbying group, claims some 16,000 member companies with almost a million employees. Its director is Jyri Häkämies, a former National Coalition Party minister of economic affairs.

Alahuhta, 62, seems to be a man in demand. He is also chair of the mining technology company Outotec, the Aalto University Foundation and DevCo Partners, co-founded by his son Teemu. Other board memberships includeUPM, ABB and Volvo.