Anybody Can Steer a Ship When the Sea is Calm

-Publilius Syrus ( 1st century BCE; Roman author)

Ari Virtanen ( MBA, B.Sc. Eng.)30 years in the international business

45 Seconds Elevator Speech Leadership profile in change management – used to work in fast space change environment in companies under a total turnaround phase and deal with the negative atmosphere surrounding the space

Over 10 years leadership experience in turning around underperforming companies – experience in international matrix organizations, global financing pools and centralized cash flow management, negotiations with financiers & bankers and covenant policies

Board professional – competence to manage companies over the changes period to avoid any legal complications : union negotiations and personnel restructuring, corporate legislation and official reporting. Management of insolvency processes, corporate closures and downsizing processes

10 years experience in working with venture capital companies (Dutch, Swedish, Finnish).

Competence to work with a number of nationalities and understanding of multinational decision making: previous reporting to USA, Canadian, UK, Italian, Argentinian, South African, French, Dutch, Swedish and Finnish boards / superiors

Process management – Hands-on experience of all operative processes – a holistic view and understanding of ERP – systems, LEAN,OEE, ETO-production systems, ISO 9001, 14001, 18001 certifications – large number of product ramp-up cases

Steel solid track record:

Lived and worked on four continents, in six countries Organizational relationship and interaction ( superiors or subordinates) with

over 40 nationalities B2B relationship in over 70 countries

General Management 13 years in a CEO position CEO experience in a Nasdaq OMX listed corporation

Operations Management OEE – Operational excellence LEAN discipline Robotics and FMS applications

Personnel & HR Management Leadership role in various legal frameworks

Marketing & Sales B2B sales of equipment, services and installation projects Customer relationship in all continents

Change Management Certified Turnaround Manager Practical turnaround experience in a number of organizations

Skills and Competences

ExperienceManagement Experience

Sales and service operations in the Mexican market

HQ in Miami, distribution management for the Latin American market

RSA: Procurement & logistics management , ERP implementations, system and process development

Production, outsourcing and subcontracting

All leadership roles

Academics

Takoma Plc is an extraordinary, publicly listed company ( Nasdaq OMX Helsinki TAM1V) with a great potential in the future. The initial objectives and disciplines of the concern were based on the booming business and subcontracting markets of metal engineering companies in the midst of the 2000’s , until the 2008 economical turmoil and subsequent financial constrains.

My mission and objectives were to initiate the turnaround phase in the concern by discontinuing its old, idling and loss making operations and preparing the remaining business for the future actions and success. The business focus was in the offshore and marine segments, market focus in Norway, followed by other countries in that segment.

I practiced in the real life all the strategic, tactical and operational functions related to corporate insolvency actions, from bankruptcy proceeding to debt restructuring programs, negotiations with stakeholders and ultimately paving the way to the recovery .

CEO of Takoma Plc.

A company with its roots to the early days of introduction of reinforced glass fiber technology in Finland ( by Neste Plc.)

My office was only about 8 km from the busy Imatra – Svetogorst EU - borderline to Russia, I was breathing the air of the multicultural small town of Imatra and living a life with the increasing number of Russian tourists coming to Finland.

The Russian markets were close, so close and yet …… we never had a chance to get there. However, our products were integrated to those made in Poland and deliveries reached Middle East, American and Asian markets.

CEO of Plastilon Ltd.

Högfors name is found in the history books already in the early 1900’s and connected to casting, foundries, metal works, in short – to everything that was worth of money in metal industry.

The Högfors valve factory was a spinoff some 30 years ago from Kymi corporation, and lived its own life , neighboring a new company, which later became even more famous – NOKIA PLC.

Effective 2007, we initiated the Turnaround program and made it tangible the following year: a design and construction of a great new factory , based on robotics and FMS technology and innovative in house logistics with practically no assembly desks and with an assembly process with high ergonomic priorities. The production of valves to district heating industry was about to begin. The focus was Russia, China and other major DH –countries in the Eastern- Europe.

The year 2008 changed the business life also in Högfors and with all of its consequences that years will be felt like the famous “15 th night hangover” still for a number of years to come in the district heating segment.

CEO of Högfors Ltd.

AS Finmec had been established by the former Valmet- corporation in the vicinity of Tallinn, Estonia in the mid 1990’s . The company became an internal subcontractor to the production lines in Finland and Sweden for equipment used in container ports and terminals, – until the time went by and the decision was to divest the company by the that time owner Kalmar.

Not only did I assume the responsibility to get the divestment done but I also stayed in the company for almost 3,5 years, time which turned out to become a period of a real “living university “ of subcontracting world.

I learned in the practical way how the LCC cost level was attracting the companies from the Western Europe like honey attracts the bear. All available capacity was in full use and the economy was growing in double digit numbers – until the year 2008 started striking back

CEO of AS Finmec

The Kalmar Solutions Contract Maintenance initiative started to emerge in 1999, practically from an empty desk. We were a handful of innovative, exited, and committed engineers, controllers and other staff to get the “Contract maintenance “ discipline to a tangible business format. The tasks were to create the offering , organization, screen the market, the competitors and to understand what are the underlying rules for delivery of superior service in the market.

We lived in the early 2000’s a period of growing trend of moving production to Asia and the need of transportation was growing. The needs and requirements of new ports and terminals for container vessels and related equipment with services were overwhelming.

I spent a great time developing the legal framework for the contractual based services and practiced the negotiations from Australia and India to Colombia and countries in between ( the UK, France, Russia and a number of other countries.)

Sales Manager in Kalmar Industries Ltd.

My story started in April 1986 in Finland and in 1989, the road hit to Miami, Florida. Already in 1990 the journey continued to Mexico and later to Colombia, Peru, Brazil and on and on, almost to the entire Latin America…..

The new year 1995 celebration took place in the” Isla del Sal” on the way to Johannesburg, which was to become the new home for the coming three years. South Africa hosted very much all development in Zimbabwe, Zambia and other sub-Saharan countries for equipment, services and materials management in the mining and construction environment.

Multicultural management and leadership became tangible during those 10 years on the road with Tamrock. I learned very much how to segregate jargons and slogans, useless appreciations or meaningless gratitude from the real values of life. It certainly became clear to me that we all are the same human beings, independently and irrespective of the race, gender, cultural background or formal education.

Tamrock corporation - today Sandvik Mining and Construction

This is where it began: the hunger for the international business emerged through the projects in Italy, the former USSR, Denmark, Singapore and Sweden.

I started as an electric engineer and designer but soon had a chance to taste and feel the life outside of home country and that experience took the entire body and soul – there was no return to the old.

The experiences as a young engineer obviously explains my current and lasting hunger to create every day something new, to improve existing and vigorously abandon everything if found non functional or not creating added value.

Project engineer of Tamglass Ltd.

Leadership is action, not a position

( John Adair )

When the results are required fast and the organization needs to be prepared for a change or even to a real “quantum leap”, the Leaders must be competent to make the needed moves and be in the front line.