Jaakko Ihamuotila (born 15 November 1939) is a retired

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

business executive known for his senior roles in some of Finland's largest corporations, including as the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Valmet Valmet Oyj is a Finnish company and a developer and supplier of technologies, automation systems and services for the pulp (paper), pulp, paper and energy industry, energy industries. Valmet has over 200 years of history as an industrial oper ...

and long-serving President and Chairman of

Neste Neste Oyj (international name: Neste Corporation; former names Neste Oil Corporation and Fortum Oil and Gas Oy) is an oil refining and marketing company located in Espoo, Finland. It produces, refines and markets oil products, provides eng ...

. He has been described as one of the most influential business leaders of his time in Finland.

Early life and education

Ihamuotila was born as the second of four children to

Veikko Ihamuotila Veikko Ihamuotila (17 February 1911 — 2 February 1979) was an influential Finnish agriculture sector leader, administrator and one-time government minister. Early life and education Veikko Ihamuotila was born as the only child of Artturi and ...

, an agriculture sector influencer and ex- Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, and his wife Anna-Liisa. He studied engineering at the

Helsinki University of Technology Helsinki University of Technology (TKK; fi, Teknillinen korkeakoulu; sv, Tekniska högskolan) was a technical university in Finland. It was located in Otaniemi, Espoo in the metropolitan area of Greater Helsinki. The university was founded in ...

, graduating in 1964 with a ''

Diplomi-insinööri Diplomi-insinööri (DI) ( sv, diplomingenjör) is a Finnish Master's level academic degree with a nominal length of 300 ECTS credits. The official English translation of the degree is Master of Science (Technology). The Finnish name derives from ...

'' (MSc in Technology) degree in physics. He has said he was inspired already as a teenager to go into technology, by the opening of the world's first full-scale nuclear power plant for electricity generation, Calder Hall (now part of

Sellafield Sellafield is a large multi-function nuclear site close to Seascale on the coast of Cumbria, England. As of August 2022, primary activities are nuclear waste processing and storage and nuclear decommissioning. Former activities included nucle ...

), in the UK in 1956.

Career

Ihamuotila's early career included research and engineering positions at

Canadian General Electric GE Canada (or General Electric Canada) is the wholly-owned Canadian unit of General Electric, manufacturing various consumer and industrial electrical products all over Canada. GE Canada was preceded by the company Canadian General Electric (CG ...

in Toronto, Imatran Voima and the Helsinki University of Technology. He then moved to Valmet, and its various group companies, where he held a series of management roles, including a seat on the group's main

Board of Directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

from 1973. In 1973, Ihamuotila was appointed CEO of Valmet, in which role he served until 1979. In 1979 he was appointed to the Board of Neste, the

national oil company A national oil company (NOC) is an oil and gas company fully or in the majority-owned by a national government. According to the World Bank, NOCs accounted for 75% global oil production and controlled 90% of proven oil reserves in 2010. Due to thei ...

of Finland, and from 1980 onwards he served there also in an executive role as the company's president and Chairman, until 2000. During his tenure, Neste was ranked on the Fortune Global 500 list. After Neste and Imatran Voima merged to form

Fortum Fortum Oyj is a Finnish state-owned energy company located in Espoo, Finland. In addition to Finland, it focuses on Germany and other countries in Central Europe, Great Britain, Russia and the Nordic region. Fortum operates power plants, inc ...

, Ihamuotila continued to serve for a while in a non-executive Board role. In the early 2000s, Ihamuotila was among the founders, and one-time Chairman, of the

Millennium Technology Prize The Millennium Technology Prize ( fi, Millennium-teknologiapalkinto) is one of the world's largest technology prizes. It is awarded once every two years by Technology Academy Finland, an independent foundation established by Finnish industries, ...

Honours

In 1990, Ihamuotila was awarded the highest civilian honorary title of ''

Vuorineuvos Vuorineuvos ("mining counselor", literally Finnish for "mountain counselor"; sv, bergsråd) is a Finnish honorary title granted by the President of Finland to leading figures in industry and commerce. The title is honorary and has no responsibilit ...

'' by President

Mauno Koivisto Mauno Henrik Koivisto (; 25 November 1923 – 12 May 2017) was a Finnish politician who served as the ninth president of Finland from 1982 to 1994. He also served as the country's prime minister twice, from 1968 to 1970 and again from 1979 to 19 ...

. He has also been conferred several Honorary Doctorates, including by his '' alma mater'', the Helsinki University of Technology (now

Aalto University Aalto University ( fi, Aalto-yliopisto; sv, Aalto-universitetet) is a public research university located in Espoo, Finland. It was established in 2010 as a merger of three major Finnish universities: the Helsinki University of Technology, the He ...

Family

Ihamuotila is married to Tuula ( Turja; daughter of

Ilmari Turja Ilmari Turja (28 October 1901 – 6 January 1998) was a Finnish writer, best known as a journalist and playwright, with a career spanning nearly eight decades from the 1920s to the 1990s. Early life and education Kaarlo Ilmari Turja was born t ...

), and they have three children, Timo, Antti and Anna-Elina. His older brother, Professor

Risto Ihamuotila Risto Ihamuotila (born 15 May 1938) is a retired Finnish academic and ex-Chancellor of the University of Helsinki. Early life and education Risto Veikko Artturi Ihamuotila was born as the first of four children to Veikko and Anna Liisa ( Kouk ...

, is an academic who served for many years as the

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

of the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ihamuotila, Jaakko Finnish business executives Aalto University alumni Businesspeople from Helsinki 1939 births Living people Neste people