Jenni Nevasalo appointed as Vapo Group’s Chief HR Officer

Jenni Nevasalo, M.Sc. (Econ.), has been appointed as Vapo Oy’s Chief HR Officer and a member of the Group Management Team effective from 1 January 2019. She moves to Vapo from the Prime Minister’s Office, where she has worked as Director of Development Services, Government Administration Office, since 2015.

Prior to her current position, she was an Executive Director at Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation, responsible for Worklife innovations and HR. Before that, Nevasalo worked in several specialist and management roles in HR at Nokia Corporation from 1999 to 2007 and at Nokia Siemens Networks from 2007 to 2013. Nevasalo will report to Vapo Oy CEO Vesa Tempakka. 

Vapo Group reorganised its business structure from the start of its financial year on 1 May 2018. Under the new structure, the Group’s business is divided into three international divisions: Energy, Grow&Care and New Businesses. In October 2018, Vapo Oy and the Netherlands-based BVB Substrates announced a transaction that will see BVB Substrates become part of the Grow&Care division and Vapo Group. This creates a situation where the role of the Human Resources (HR) function and, in particular, Human Resource Development (HRD) is especially important. The Chief HR Officer is in charge of the entire Group’s HR and HRD functions.

The Group-level position of Chief HR Officer is a new position in Vapo’s Group Management Team. The HR and HRD managers of all divisions and Group Services will report to Nevasalo. Jaana Helanen, who has served as the Group’s interim HR Director, will continue to work in HR positions at the division level and in various development projects, reporting directly to Nevasalo.

According to Vapo Oy’s CEO Vesa Tempakka, the change in the company’s structure from a holding company model to a cross-border single company model, along with the Grow&Care division’s expansion into new international markets, will create new requirements with regard to HR activities. “Nevasalo will bring in extensive experience in the area of HR and change management from the Finnish public administration as well as from the international corporate world. I’m certain that her experience will be very useful in leading our ongoing project of cultural change and as we enter new markets and businesses,” Tempakka says.

“Vapo Group’s new strategy, which has a strong emphasis on responsibility, and the international projects the Group is embarking on are a combination that made me want to take on this interesting challenge. The Group is facing major changes not only operationally, but especially from the perspective of competence management and managing its new international operating culture.  These are the areas I’m most looking forward to working on together with the rest of the Group Management Team and the HR team,” Nevasalo says.

For further information, please contact: Vesa Tempakka, CEO, Vapo Oy, tel. +358 400 726 727