Changes in Valmet's Executive Team

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08 Sep, 2022, 12:50 GMT

ESPOO, Finland, Sept. 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Sami Riekkola (M.Sc. Eng.) has been appointed Business Line President, Pulp and Energy, at Valmet as of October 1, 2022. Sami Riekkola currently holds the position of Business Line President, Automation Systems, at Valmet. In his new position, he will continue as a member of Valmet's Executive Team reporting to President and CEO Pasi Laine.

Bertel Karlstedt, the current President of Valmet's Pulp and Energy business line, will concentrate on leading ongoing, large customer delivery projects within the Pulp and Energy business line supporting the development of long-term customer relationships as Senior Vice President reporting to Sami Riekkola.

Sami Riekkola started his career at Valmet in 1998. He has been the President of Automation Systems business line and a member of Valmet's Executive Team since 2018. Before this, he worked in various automation positions at Valmet in Europe and Asia.

"In this development phase of our Pulp and Energy business, we together saw the need to change responsibilities and renew roles. Sami Riekkola has led Valmet's Automation Systems business line successfully since 2018. Sami is strongly customer-oriented paired with deep business understanding and has demonstrated his ability to consistently improve business, sales and profitability. This provides a good basis for renewing and developing our Pulp and Energy business and its competitiveness on the global market. I thank Bertel Karlstedt for his long-term and committed work in leading the business line and as a member of our Executive Team. In his new role, Bertel will continue to support the Pulp and Energy business line in our important projects and customer relationships," says Pasi Laine, President and CEO, Valmet.

The recruitment of Sami Riekkola's successor as President, Automation Systems business line, will commence soon.

VALMET
Corporate Communications

For further information, please contact:
Pasi Laine, President and CEO, Valmet, tel. +358 10 672 0001
Anu Salonsaari-Posti, SVP, Communications and Marketing, Valmet, tel. +35850 453 4262

Sami Riekkola's CV

Sami Riekkola has been appointed Business Line President, Pulp and Energy, as of October 1, 2022. Currently he works as Business Line President, Automation Systems business line, Valmet (since 2018). Prior to that he was employed as Vice President, Energy and Process Systems at Valmet (2018), Vice President, Central and Southern EMEA, Automation Business Line, Valmet (2015-2018), Vice President Automation, Sales, Central Eastern Europe, Metso (2013-2015), Director, Machine Vision Product Group, Metso (2010-2013), Engineering Manager, Global Automation Projects, Metso (2006-2010), Product Manager Profilers & Quality Management Systems, Metso (2004-2006), Senior Customer Support Engineer, Metso (2003-2004), Project Engineer, Valmet Automation (1998-2003). Mr. Riekkola holds a Master of Science degree in Engineering, Automation Technologies (1998).

Image of Sami Riekkola

Valmet is a leading global developer and supplier of process technologies, automation and services for the pulp, paper and energy industries. With our automation systems and flow control solutions we serve an even wider base of process industries.

We aim to become the global champion in serving our customers. Our 17,000 professionals work close to our customers and are committed to improving our customers' performance – every day.

The company has over 220 years of industrial history and a strong track record in continuous improvement and renewal. In 2022, a major milestone was achieved when the flow control company Neles was merged into Valmet. The combined company's net sales in 2021 was approximately EUR 4.5 billion based on the respective company figures.

Valmet's shares are listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki and the head office is in Espoo, Finland.