Finnair has appointed Topi Manner as the carrier’s new chief executive officer (CEO) and he will take on the mantle from 1 January, 2019.
Manner has a long career in management positions at Nordea, the largest financial group in the Nordic countries, and since 2016 he has worked as a member of Nordea’s Group Executive Management and as Head of Personal Banking.
Finnair’s current CEO, Pekka Vauramo, who will take on the role of CEO of Metso Group, now leaves Finnair. Pekka Vähähyyppä, chief financial officer, will act as an interim CEO during from 4 September to 31 December, 2018.
Finnair chairman of the board, Jouko Karvinen said: “Topi Manner has extensive experience in both private and corporate customer business, and he has played a strong role in the digital transformation and customer service development of his bank.
“We believe Topi’s people-centric leadership is an excellent fit for a service company like Finnair, which is all about people, both personnel and customers. Finnair has been transforming fast over the past years, and we continue to advance both our customer experience and our transformation.”
Manner said: “Finnair is an iconic, renewing Finnish company with a significant national role. The Finnair team has done excellent work over the past few years.
“I am proud to have been selected to be part of Finnair’s competent team to build the company’s future, and to develop the experiences related to flying and travel together with other Finnair employees. I know Finnair people are strongly committed to the company which gives us a good ground to continue Finnair’s strategy implementation.”
