In this difficult business climate it is important to find the leading chairman that can prove that it is possible to do good business during crisis.
The Chairman of the Year can inspire other chairmen to look for possibilities. The chairman of the Year 2009 in Finland will compete with the other Nordic award winners 2nd of February 2010 for
the Nordic Chairman of the Year Award.
Finding the leading Chairman is based on 13 pre set criteria, and data from a market survey with 36 questions among board members.
The jury analyzing all information about the candidates: from left
Partner Juha-Pekka Keimmo, Grant Thornton
Tarja Jussila - Managing director Hill & Knowlton, participated in the jury 2007
Risto Siilasmaa F-Secure Oyj
Minister Mauri Pekkarinen
Marcus Borgström, award winner 2007 HKScan Oyj
Gunnar Eckbo, chairman of the jury, board analyst since 2000
The award is a sculpture of international artist Marian Heyerdahl with a brass plate which the company have for one year before it is passed on to the new winner. It symbolizes a long life for the company when it brings new ideas to the market symbolized by an egg mosaic.
By protecting and preventing the loss of valuable content, the company’s trusted services provide peace of mind for consumers and businesses in all their online activities. Their online software services are easy to use and delivered with dependable support. The business comes from customers in 18 countries thus decreasing the company’s dependency of the domestic market. The company is the global leader of operator provisioned software services. The difficult 3 quarters of 2009 is passed with outstanding results, an increase in turnover of 13% and 13% increase in profit before tax. Through building a solid platform through the crisis the company had the financial strength to buy a nonelisted company in France in July 2009.
Chairman of the Year 2009 – Risto Siilasmaa, F-Secure Oyj
Risto Siilasmaa has been Chairman of the Board in F-Secure for 3 years, and is the founder of the company in 1988.
Risto Siilasmaa has got top score from the other board of directors for leading the discussions and motivates the directors by using each person’s skills and knowledge during the meetings.
The chairman draws good conclusions and formulates resolutions. The way of working and good routines for the board work are followed through experience at the board of Nokia and 7 other positions in private enterprises.
Risto Siilasmaa is very competent in prioritizing the right items on the agenda with his 20 years experience.
He is mature and show authority as a chairman. Risto is very respected for his personal integrity.
The board is active to the Corporate Governance recommendations and has always the final saying by important decisions like the acquisition of Steek SA in France, a leading European software provider for online storage and data management solutions to fixed line and mobile operators.
The board sets the premises for the strategic decisions that are not only profit but including growth.
The board evaluates risks systematically and yearly the total salary of the management (options, incentives, pensions).
The company has strong financials with an equity ratio of 69,8%.
The other persons at the board are:
Sari Baldauf, Pertti Ervi, Juho Malmberg, Alexis Sozonoff and Marko Ahtisaari
The share of women at the board is 16%.
The award is funded by: Grant Thornton and Styreinfo.no
Risto Siilasmaa
is the founder of F-Secure, owns 40% and served as the President and CEO of the company until November 5, 2006. Since then he has held the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors.
He is also a Chairman of the Boards of Elisa Corporation, Fruugo Inc and The Federation of Finnish Technology Industries.
He is a member of the Board of Directors of Nokia Corporation, Blyk Ltd., Ekahau Inc., Nexit Ventures Oy, Efecte Corporation and Valimo Wireless Oy.
Mr Siilasmaa is a member of Investment Council of Finnish Industry Investment Ltd, a Vice Chairman of the Board of Finnish-American Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Board of Directors of Confederation of Finnish Industries EK, a member of the Advisory Board of Communications Administration at Ministry of Transport and Communications in Finland, a member of Advisory Boards of the Helsinki University of Economics and Helsinki University of Technology. Mr. Siilasmaa holds a Master of Science degree from the Helsinki University of Technology.
The market opportunities
for Internet security and other related services is driven by the expansion of the Internet, with its increasing number of security threats against users and the growing number of Internet broadband connections for both PC’s and mobile phones.
The global Internet penetration is around 24%; in ASIA it is below 20%, in Europe below 50%, and in North America over 70% (Source: Internet World Stats, U.S. Census Bureau). The growing number of smart phones which have internet browser increases the number of mobile internet users (number of smart phones 2009: 200m and 2012 more than 500m; Source: Gartner).
F-Secure aspires to protect the irreplaceable content of its customers, and to be the most profitable value-added services partner for operators. With more than 200 operators around the world F-Secure is the global leader of operator provisioned software services. For the consumer the easiest way to stay protected, for the operators this is a proven way to increase ARPU and reduce churn.
F-Secure has 18 country offices and a presence in more than 100 countries, with Security Lab operations in Helsinki, Finland and in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. More than 800 people are working for the F-Secure Corporation.
Revenues in 3 quarters 2009 are € 93,4 mill and a profit of €20,8 mill (above 20% margin).
Market cap €416 mill and price pr share €2,65
Consolidated IFRS
€ 1000 2009 2008
Net sales 125.144 112.974
Operating result 23.982 24.340
Profit before taxes 25.205 26.403
The Nordic Chairman of the Year 2009 award
By the end of 2009 Styreinfo.no have awarded 19 Chairman of the Year in the Nordic countries. They will be excellent candidates for board positions in other Nordic companies and increase information flow in the Nordic board rooms.
The chairman of the Year 2009 in Finland will compete with the other Nordic award winners 2nd of February 2010. The other candidates are:
Iceland Vilhjalmur Thorsteinsson CCP Games (not listed)
Norway Anders Grundekjøn Statkraft as (owned by the Norwegian government)
Sweden Anders Narvinger Alfa Laval AB (listed)
Denmark Fritz Schur Dong Energy as (owned by the Danish government)
Risto Siilasmaa received the award 1st of December 2009 from Minister Mauri Pekkarinen at Hotel Kämp.
Contact: Chairman of the Jury – Board analyst Gunnar Eckbo, ph +47 92024576, post@styreinfo.no, www.styreinfo.no