Kemira participated in the CEO x 1 Day program on April 13, 2016. Elli Taimela, a 24-year-old student from Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland, spent the day with our President and CEO Jari Rosendal.
“Kemira aims to be our customers’ first choice by bringing sustainable value through improved product quality, better process and resource efficiency. Our success and growth is achieved through collaboration and a can-do attitude. We invite our people to bring new ideas and deliver innovation and that’s why we welcome any possibilities to join programs like this and support the future talents”, Jari Rosendal says.
CEO x 1 Day, exclusive to Odgers Berndtson, one of the largest executive search firms in the world, is a program that matches university students with some of the country’s leading CEOs. Odgers Berndtson has been running CEO x 1 Day globally for 8 years. The program was organized for the first time in Finland in 2015.
Perfect fit
Elli is currently studying for Degree in Information Networks at the Aalto University School of Science, majoring in Knowledge Intensive Business. She’s also doing another Master’s degree in Helsinki University, where she’s majoring in Economics.
“I heard about CEO x 1 Day from a couple of people who participated in the program’s first season in 2015. They had really positive experiences about the day, so I applied for the program in December and got through all rounds”, Elli says. Odgers Berndtson then chose a matching CEO for her based on her studies and work experience. As Elli has worked for Metso and is currently doing her Master’s thesis for Outotec, Kemira was a perfect fit for her. All companies have many business similarities and are listed companies from Finland.
“I’ve actually visited Kemira’s chemistry class in Espoo when I was in the elementary school. I remember that we did some simples science experiments there”, Elli says. In general, she aimed to enter the CEO x 1 Day with an open mind.
Cool day
During the CEO x 1 Day, Elli got to attend several sessions with Jari and they also visited our R&D center in Espoo. In addition to these, Elli had the opportunity to discuss the weekly highlights with Kemira Management Board members and meet Eeva Salonen (EVP, HR) and Charlotta Nyström (VP, IT). She also attended a meeting with Jari, Petri Castrén (CFO) and Olli Turunen (VP, IR) where they discussed the preparations for Kemira’s external events.
“This was a really cool day all in all! It was nice to see how much effort had been put to the agenda and I got to meet many people from the organization and learn more about Kemira’s business and processes, Elli comments and continues: “I have to say that one of my favorite parts of the day was the session with Jari, Petri and Olli. It was really interesting to see “behind the numbers” and hear how the management really carefully chooses the words and information for the external presentations. They really focus on delivering the right messages for the investor relations’ stakeholders.”
On being a future CEO
Though taking part in the CEO x 1 Day, Elli says does not want to say she’s specifically targeting for being a CEO. Elli feels that it’s important to focus on the moment and perform well, and the future will show what happens. She hopes that she will be able to meet expectations and challenges in the future. After all, the company CEO position is not an island – the main goal for all is to have an organization functioning and performing well.
“It was great to see how Jari is driven for success but also has the organization and the people in mind. He said himself that this is not Jari’s Kemira, it’s the organization’s Kemira”, Elli concludes.
