Chairman of the Year 2007
Marcus H. Borgström, HKScan Oyj

Marcus H . Borgström received the Award from the Minister of Trade and Industry Mauri Pekkarinen at Hilton Helsinki Strand Hotel 5th October 2007.


Mr Borgström has been Chairman of the Board in HKScan Oyj (earlier HK Ruokatalo Group Oyj) for 10 years, during which the last 2 years there has been a dramatic change by transforming the company from a traditional meat producer to a consumer oriented, branded house. The second major change was buying the largest meat company in Sweden Scan AB.

Mr. Borgström and his Board of Directors have looked abroad for growth potential. Through the acquisition of Scan AB, HKScan have increased its turnover by over 100%. To successfully acquire a company with a similar size to your own requires a determined Chairman that is strongly engaged and using proper time to the board work.
By a restructuring programme and dividing Scan AB into two subsidiaries, the Meat Business and the Processed Meat and Convenience Food Business, the purpose is to improve profitabily in Sweden.

The Board has set the ground rules by the last saying by important decisions and asking critical questions to proposals and decisions made of the management.

Mr. Borgström is very confident in leading the meeting discussions, producing a good way of working and drawing conclusions after discussions and formulate decisions.

Marcus is good at invigorating board members, resulting in a high level of commitment, a flow of creative proposals, and the directors share openly their knowledge and experience. The Chairman is particularly good at prioritising the right cases. He has the ability to balance distance and closeness to company management, and he has relevant competence and authority. Marcus is very profit oriented and gains great respect for personally integrity.

HKScan has complied with the Corporate Governance guidelines prepared by the Helsinki Exchanges since 1 July 2004. The company also complies with insider holding guidelines since 1 March 2000 and new regulations since 1 January 2006.

During 2006, the Board held 17 meetings. The average attendance rate of Board members was 93.3%.
The other directors at the board (appointed on 20 April 2007) are:
- Tiina Varho-Lankinen
- Markku Aalto
- Johan Mattsson
- Heikki Kauppinen
- Karsten Slotte

The share of women at the board is 16 %.

Marcus H. Borgström (born 1946)
Chairman of the Board since 1997, member since 1995
MSc (Agriculture and Forestry), Agricultural Counsellor (Hon)
Mr Borgström is a farmer from Sipoo. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Veritas Non-Life Insurance Company Ltd and chairman of the Supervisory Board of Itä-Uudenmaan Osuuspankki bank, the OKO Bank Group Pension Fund and Osuuskauppa Varuboden and Supervisory Board Member of Central cooperative of Finnish cooperative stores (SOK). He is also a member of the Board of Directors of LSO Osuuskunta.
Marcus H. Borgström is chairman of the Board of Pellervo-Seura and Finlands Svenska Andelsförbund. He represents Finnish farmers on the General Committee for Agricultural Cooperation in the European Community (COGECA) and is Chairman of the Cooperative Committee in International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP) since 2006. E-mail: Marcus.borgstrom@kolumbus.fi

HKScan Oyj

HKScan is one of the leading food companies in Northern Europe. HKScan produces, sells and markets pork, beef and poultry meat, processed meats and convenience foods to retail, the HoReCa (HotelRestaurantCatering ) sector, industry and export customers.
The company’s home market consists of Finland, Sweden, the Baltics and Poland.
The company operates in nine countries and have some 10 000 employees.
HKScan delivers added shareholder value through a successful combination of consumer and customer focused operations, strong brands, efficient production, the excellence of its people and profitable growth in all its market areas.
Market Cap € 504 mill . Share development middle price 2002 € 5.12 - 2006 € 11.02 - 2007 1st October € 14.87 Sales 2006 were € 934 million, operating profit € 40 million. Pro forma 2006 sales € 2. 057,1 million ( incl. Scan AB ) .

The award is a sculpture of international artist Marian Heyerdahl, located 1 year in the reception area with a brass plate before it is moved to the new winner next year.

The jury:

Chairperson Leila Mustanoja, Transparency International

Managing director Tarja Jussila, Hill & Knowlton, tarja.jussila@hillandknowlton.com , ph +358 934861220

Professor Martin Lindell, HANKEN, Svenska Handelshøgskolan

Communications Filip Hamro-Drotz, Confederation of Finnish Industries

Leader of the jury: Board analyst, editor Gunnar Eckbo, Styreinfo.no, post@styreinfo.no , ph +47 92024576

The award was funded by: European Corporate Governance Evaluation and Styreinfo.no