Petri Hakanen has been appointed Senior Vice President Technology (CTO) for UPM as of 1 August 2023. In his new role, Petri will report to Winfried Schaur, Executive Vice President, UPM Biorefining & Technology and lead the company’s research & development, new business development as well as the investment management going forward.
“By appointing Petri Hakanen as CTO, we underline the importance of innovations and research and development for the future of UPM. We also strengthen the role of investment management, helping us to prepare for the execution of future large scale investment projects,” says Jussi Pesonen, President and CEO of UPM.
Petri Hakanen has been with UPM for almost 30 years in various senior management positions. During the past five years, he has been leading UPM’s largest project ever, the new pulp mill and related infrastructures in Uruguay.
UPM is fully committed to ensuring sustainable growth in the long run. A strong pipeline of innovations is central to further evolving our business – both in the fibre-based and biochemical businesses. This includes the active management of a strong strategic patent portfolio. With the Leuna biochemicals biorefinery project in Germany ongoing and the potential investment in a second biofuels refinery in Rotterdam, Netherlands pending, we need to further strengthen our capabilities in planning and implementing large scale investment projects now.
The new setup around Winfried Schaur and Petri Hakanen will ensure full focus on both innovation and research and development, as well as the scale-up of the UPM Biorefining businesses, UPM Biofuels and UPM Biochemicals.
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