Team size: 30

What are the projects that you are most proud of working on over the past 12 months?

Huhtamaki’s Corporate Affairs & Legal team is a globally integrated team of some 30 professionals in legal, governance, ethics and compliance, IP, and risk management functions. The team is offering a wide range of services to our businesses in all continents in accordance with Huhtamaki’s strategy. In the past 12 months, in addition to our day-to-day partnering with our businesses and 18,000 people with their most strategically important initiatives and business opportunities, we have been focusing on digitalisation and AI projects – especially in the field of contract management, strengthening our IP (intellectual property) culture and strategy, and implementing our global ethics and compliance programme. Huhtamaki wants to be the first choice in sustainable packaging solutions, and the Legal team has been working with our customers on various important initiatives within sustainable innovations and various regulation-driven projects. Also, sustainability reporting-related tasks have been on the team’s table.

How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crisis to ensure the organisation’s resilience?

We have witnessed an unprecedented number of significant crises during the past years – pandemic, Russian war in Ukraine, geopolitical tensions, climate crisis, and huge challenges in the global food chain. As the General Counsel and member of our global executive team, I have been navigating through these crises and VUCA environment together with my team by partnering with the businesses to manage impacts of the uncertainty and disruption, and participating in the executive management’s decision-making. It is important that a General Counsel represents stability, analytical support and active participation in alignment of the most strategically important topics. Creating a safe environment for the senior leadership, enabling them to focus on the right things, is the most important value-add a General Counsel can provide. When the Board of Directors, CEO, and other executive management can concentrate on high-impact topics without a constant worry about existential or unknown risks materialising, the General Counsel is creating a safe place for the whole organisation and the company overall. Keeping yourself and your team on the pulse of the business and operating environment is crucial.

Who is someone that has had a great impact on your career success?

I have had the privilege to work with Finland’s, and also internationally, best people both in the legal field and business world. The beauty of a General Counsel’s job is the ability to participate and being able to interact and learn from all levels of a business organisation – both vertically and horizontally. There are several people who have had a huge impact on my career as well as professional and personal development. Learning is not copying but getting guidance, directions and letting yourself become influenced by people who can make you change your perceptions, giving courage to face your development areas, and providing you with self-confidence to find your own path. I would like to thank all those people along the way – I am sure they know who they are.

What do you derive the most satisfaction from in your work?

My golden rule is to make sure all things I do within a corporation are ultimately driving the interests of the company and adding value to its stakeholders. I think people are the key to success in any business. I am a people person, and I lead my team. I am demanding but have a lot of responsibility. Developing future leaders and specialists is my passion. I also love to mentor young talented professionals. Nothing is better than seeing people finding career paths of their own and being successful in what they do.

What is a cause, business or otherwise, that you are passionate about?

I lived two years in Mumbai, India, driving a governance development project in our Indian publicly stock-listed company. My experiences and the things I saw during those years strengthened my desire to find opportunities where I could work to make the world a slightly better place, especially in the field of human rights. For two years now, I have had the privilege to be part of – and as of the beginning of this year to chair – the Board of Plan International Finland. Plan International is a non-profit organisation working with children and girls in over 80 countries to help create a world where we are all equal. When advancing girls’ rights, we are improving everyone’s life in our societies.