Maarit Toivanen (previously Toivanen-Koivisto; b. 27 December 1954,

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

) is a

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 and investor, notable for being only the second woman to receive Finland's 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 ...

''.

Early life and education

Maarit Toivanen was born as the youngest daughter of the family owning the Finnish building materials wholesaler , which had been set up in 1913 by her great-grandfather, Alfred Onninen. She was raised in the upmarket

Ullanlinna (; sv, Ulrikasborg) is a city district of Helsinki, in Finland. The name ''Ullanlinna'' ( en, "Ulla's Castle") refers to the fortification line that was built at the southern edge of the area during the 18th century (no longer visible), as part ...

district of Helsinki, and was privately educated, graduating from the ''Mannerheimintien Yhteiskoulu'' secondary school in 1973. Following some post-secondary business studies in Finland, Toivanen went on to study economics and finance at

Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in opera ...

in Sweden, graduating in 1978.

Business career

After her studies, Toivanen joined the family business, and over the years worked in various functions including sales, purchasing, product management, quality and finance. Following the death in 2000 of her father, Erkki J. Toivanen, who had run the business for 35 years, Maarit Toivanen took on the role of

Chairperson The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

of Onninen, as well as

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 ...

of its parent group . She represented the fourth generation of her family to run the business, and continued to do so until the sale of most of the group operations to

Kesko sv, Kesko Abp , logo = Kesko logo.svg , logo_size = 150px , type = Julkinen osakeyhtiö , traded_as = , foundation = , location_city = Helsinki , location_country = Finland , key_people = Mikko Helander (President and CEO), Esa Ki ...

in 2016 for a reported EUR 369 million. In addition to the family business, Toivanen has served in Board roles at several notable Finnish listed companies, including

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 ...

Itella Posti Group Oyj (previously Suomen Posti during 1994–2007 and Itella during 2007–2015), trading internationally as Posti Group Corporation, is the main Finnish postal service delivering mail and parcels in Finland. The State of Finland is t ...

and

Rautaruukki Rautaruukki Oyj using the marketing name Ruukki is a Finnish company, headquartered in Helsinki, which manufactures and supplies metal-based components and systems to the construction and engineering industries. In 2014 Swedish SSAB bought Ruukki. ...

, as well as in a number of cultural and civic organisations such as

Sibelius Academy The Sibelius Academy ( fi, Taideyliopiston Sibelius-Akatemia, sv, Sibelius-Akademin vid Konstuniversitetet) is part of the University of the Arts Helsinki and a university-level music school which operates in Helsinki and Kuopio, Finland. It als ...

and

Alvar Aalto Museum The Alvar Aalto Museum is a Finnish museum operating in two cities, Jyväskylä and Helsinki, in two locations each, dedicated to architect and designer Alvar Aalto. All four locations are open to the public. They are: *The Alvar Aalto Museum in ...

Honours

In 2008, Toivanen was granted the honorary title of ''Vuorineuvos'' by President

Tarja Halonen Tarja Kaarina Halonen (; born 24 December 1943) is a Finnish politician who served as the 11th president of Finland, and the first woman to hold the position, from 2000 to 2012. She first rose to prominence as a lawyer with the Central Organisati ...

. She was only the second woman in Finnish history to receive the honour. In 2011, she was conferred an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

in economic sciences by

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 ...

Controversies

Toivanen caused controversy in 2014, when she announced that she would be moving her and her family's tax domicile to Portugal the following year, in preparation for the impending company sale, in order to avoid Finland's 20%

inheritance tax An inheritance tax is a tax paid by a person who inherits money or property of a person who has died, whereas an estate tax is a levy on the estate (money and property) of a person who has died. International tax law distinguishes between an es ...

which she considered too high. She returned to Finland in 2018. In May 2019, Toivanen was issued with a EUR 74,000 speeding ticket, for driving at in a speed limit area. The large amount is due to the Finnish 'day-fine' system whereby speeding tickets are not fixed, but depend instead on the offender's income.

Personal life

Maarit Toivanen has been married twice. She has two children from her first marriage. From her second marriage, to Ilkka Koivisto (m. 1994 — div. 2017), she also has two children, as well as two step-children from Koivisto's earlier marriage.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toivanen, Maarit Finnish business executives Finnish chief executives Women business executives Businesspeople from Helsinki 1954 births Uppsala University alumni Living people