Risto Kalevi Siilasmaa (born 17 April 1966) is a Finnish businessperson and the chairman, founder and former

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 F-Secure Corporation (formerly Data Fellows), an

anti-virus Antivirus software (abbreviated to AV software), also known as anti-malware, is a computer program used to prevent, detect, and remove malware. Antivirus software was originally developed to detect and remove computer viruses, hence the name. ...

and

computer security Computer security, cybersecurity (cyber security), or information technology security (IT security) is the protection of computer systems and networks from attack by malicious actors that may result in unauthorized information disclosure, t ...

software company based in

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 ...

, Finland. He is also the biggest shareholder of F-Secure, owning around 40% of the company. He was chairman of

Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finland, i ...

from 2012 to 2020.

Education

Siilasmaa has a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast t ...

degree from

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 ...

(now named:

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 ...

), Department of Industrial Engineering and Management.

Business

Siilasmaa founded F-Secure in 1988. He left his role as CEO of the company on 6 November 2006. Siilasmaa is also well known as a business angel, investing in several technology

startups A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses that never intend t ...

such as Frosmo, Enevo and Wolt, and serving in their boards of directors. In his investing, he has stated that he is sometimes "motivated by soft values, not maximum returns."

Nokia

Siilasmaa joined

's board of directors in 2008. After being appointed chairman of Nokia in mid-2012, he acted as interim CEO, after

Stephen Elop Stephen Elop (born 31 December 1963) is a Canadian businessman who most recently worked at Australian telecom company Telstra from April 2016. In the past he had worked for Nokia as its first non-Finnish CEO and later as Executive Vice President ...

from 3 September 2013 to 29 April 2014 when Rajeev Suri was appointed the official CEO. Since then, he has led the company in one of the most successful corporate transformations ever. Through three transactions that he negotiated – the purchase of complete ownership of

Nokia Siemens Networks Nokia Networks (formerly Nokia Solutions and Networks (NSN) and Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN)) is a multinational data networking and telecommunications equipment company headquartered in Espoo, Finland, and wholly owned subsidiary of Nokia Corp ...

, the sale of the handset business to

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washi ...

, and the acquisition of

Alcatel-Lucent Alcatel–Lucent S.A. () was a French–American global telecommunications equipment company, headquartered in Boulogne-Billancourt, France. It was formed in 2006 by the merger of France-based Alcatel and U.S.-based Lucent, the latter being a su ...

– Nokia has transformed from a bankruptcy candidate to a successful global technology leader. This is reflected in Nokia's value which has gone up fivefold over roughly two years. Even more revealingly, the enterprise value has grown from a low of only less than 1.5 billion euros soon after Siilasmaa started as chairman to well over 20 billion euros in early 2015. In a September 2018 interview with CNN in Switzerland, he described Nokia as an "experimenter." The transformation of Nokia has also included Siilasmaa renewing the board and the management, with the vast majority of employees newly joining in the company's new phase. Siilasmaa has often stated that all the atoms in Nokia have been changed but the spirit of the 150-year-old company lives on. In October 2018, Siilasmaa published a book about Nokia, ''Transforming Nokia: The Power of Paranoid Optimism to Lead Through Colossal Change''. In it, he criticises predecessor chairman

Jorma Ollila Jorma Jaakko Ollila CBE (born 15 August 1950) is a Finnish businessman who was chairman of Royal Dutch Shell from 1 June 2006 to May 2015, and at Nokia Corporation chairman from 1999 to 2012 and CEO from 1992 to 2006. He has been a director of ...

's leadership style and claimed they fell out. In December 2019, Siilasmaa announced to step down as chairman of Nokia's board of directors with then vice chair

Sari Baldauf Sari Maritta Baldauf (born 10 August 1955 in Kotka, Finland) is a Finnish businesswoman who is chairman of the board of directors of Nokia. She joined the board in 2018 and became vice chair in 2019, before she succeeded Risto Siilasmaa as chairman ...

to succeed him in 2020.

Other activities

Corporate boards

Efecte Efecte is a Finnish software corporation that produces cloud-based solutions and related services to its customers. Its product range consists of IT departments’ ERP solutions, i.e. IT Service Management solutions, and Identity and Access Man ...

, Member of the Board of Directors (since 2008) * Ekahau, Chairman of the Board of Directors (since 2007) *

Elisa The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) (, ) is a commonly used analytical biochemistry assay, first described by Eva Engvall and Peter Perlmann in 1971. The assay uses a solid-phase type of enzyme immunoassay (EIA) to detect the presen ...

, Member of the Board of Directors (2008–2012) *

, Member of the Board of Directors, since 2012 as Chairman (2008–2020) *

Technology Industries of Finland Technology Industries of Finland ( fi, Teknologiateollisuus ry., sv, Teknologiindustrin) is the trade association for Finnish technology industry sector. It is a member organisation to the Confederation of Finnish Industries The Confederation of F ...

, Member of the Board of Directors (2016-2018)

Non-profit organizations

Confederation of Finnish Industries The Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK, fi, Elinkeinoelämän Keskusliitto, sv, Finlands Näringsliv) is the largest employers' association in Finland. It was formed at the beginning of 2005 when the two employers' associations ''Palvelutyö ...

(EK), Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors (2017-2018) *

European Round Table of Industrialists The European Round Table of Industrialists, abbreviated ERT, is an advocacy group in the European Union consisting of some 50 European industrial leaders working to strengthen competitiveness in Europe. The group works at both national and Europea ...

(ERT), Member *

, Member of the Advisory Board * Finnish Innovation Fund (Sitra), Member of the Research Council

Personal life

Siilasmaa lives in the

Kuusisaari Kuusisaari ( Finnish), Granö ( Swedish) is an island and a neighborhood of Helsinki, Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders ...

island of

Literature

Paranoid optimist, by Catherine Fredman and Risto Siilasmaa, 2018: In Transforming Nokia, Chairman of the Board Risto Siilasmaa offers his firsthand account of the company’s dramatic fall and astonishing turnaround. He reveals the reasons for its collapse and how other leaders can avoid the same fate. He shares the survival strategies and change-management methods he learned by leading people through crisis and steering the company through its wrenching reinvention. And he explains how the power of paranoid optimism and the precepts of what he calls “Entrepreneurial Leadership” enable leaders to build sustainable success.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Siilasmaa, Risto 1966 births Living people Aalto University alumni Finnish chief executives Nokia people