Prodeko Seminar: Navigating Responsibility and Growth

The topical theme “Navigating Responsibility and Growth” brings together key influencers from industry, entrepreneurship, research and education, and students to discuss issues of growth and responsible business development. 

Welcome to join the seminar here: https://aalto.zoom.us/j/69319799745

Programme

15:00-17:00

• Aalto University greetings by Ossi Naukkarinen, Vice Presidentfor Research
• Sustainability transforming business by Kaisa Hietala, Board member of Exxon Mobil

• Driving growth during Covid and War in Ukraine by Sammeli Sammalkorpi, CEO and Co-Founder of Sievo

• Fireside chat with
  Kaj Hagros, Managing Partner at Redstone Nordics 
  Juha Leppänen, Chief Executive at Demos Helsinki
  Johanna Pynnä, Head of Corporate Strategy at Kemira
  Panu Vuorela, Partner at Vaaka Partners

The seminar is organised by the department of Industrial Engineering and Management, student guild Prodeko and alumni. The seminar is held in Zoom and is open to everyone. 

Registration

Please register latest 5 May at noon here

Speakers

Kaj Hagros is Managing Partner at Redstone Nordics, managing Corporate Venture Capital mandates and Venture Capital funds in Finland, including North Karelia Growth Fund and South Savo Startup Fund. Kaj has a broad experience as an entrepreneur, investor, and C-level executive, with a strong track record in 50+ startup deals and 20+ boards, mainly in the telecom, IT, media, fintech, and health-care sectors. Earlier, Kaj was the CEO of Nasdaq Helsinki traded Tecnotree Corporation. He also serves as the chair of Aalto University’s alumni network.

Kaisa Hietala is an experienced business and sustainability executive who helps companies to transform the challenges of environmental megatrends into business opportunities and growth. Ms. Hietala is an experienced leader in strategic transformation in the energy sector who began her career in upstream oil and gas exploration and crude oil trading. Currently, Ms. Hietala serves on the Board of Exxon Mobil and the Board of Smurfit Kappa Group, a global corrugated packaging company and is the Chairman of the Board at Tracegrow, a private Finnish sustainable fertilizers company. 

Juha Leppänen is an Executive Director of Demos Helsinki. He has previously served as the CEO of Demos Helsinki’s subsidiary Demos Effect, and as chairman of the board of Scoopinion. Juha is a future-oriented thinker and strategic leader.

Ossi Naukkarinen is Vice President for Research of Aalto University and Professor of Aesthetics at Aalto ARTS. He specializes in questions of everyday aesthetics, environmental aesthetics, and the nature of aesthetics as an academic discipline. Also, he has studied philosophical questions with computational approaches.

Johanna Pynnä is the Head of Corporate Strategy at Kemira. She has served as the Head of Business Development at VR Group and as a Management Consultant at Booz & Company. With more than 15 years of experience in strategy, growth and improving operational efficiency, she has worked with industries leading organizational change in transformation and turnaround situations.

Sammeli Sammalkorpi is the CEO and Co-Founder of Sievo, SaaS company providing procurement analytics for large enterprises. He is a big fan of transparent, non-hierarchical and high-trust organizations and passionate about making a positive impact to the world by helping large organizations to reduce CO2 emissions. He has previously served as a Board Member of aTalent Recruiting, is a founding member of procure4peace volunteer organization and advocate of women’s football in Finland.

Panu Vuorela is a Partner at Vaaka Partners, a Finnish private equity firm helping mid-sized companies become business champions. He is currently a team leader in three partner companies: Tietokeskus, Cloudpermit and Lyyti. Also, he is a board member of Medbase. Earlier, he served as managing director of Navicore.