Mikko Salo Appointed CEO of Kemianteollisuus ry
LL.M. Mikko Salo, 51, has been appointed as the new CEO of Kemianteollisuus ry (Chemical Industry Federation of Finland). Salo will take up the position during April.
Mikko Salo joins Kemianteollisuus from Loimu ry, the trade union for university-educated professionals in the natural, environmental and forest sciences as well as the food sector, where he has served as Executive Director since 2017.
Salo has previously served, among other roles, as Vice Chair of Akava, as a board member of The Federation of Professional and Managerial Staff YTN, and as a member of Finland’s National Commission on Sustainable Development. Over the course of his career, he has held leadership roles across several sectors and has been involved in founding start-up companies.
A key objective of Kemianteollisuus’s new strategy is to strengthen the chemical industry’s influence in Finnish and EU-level decision-making and to sharpen the role of Kemianteollisuus ry as an even more effective advocate for business and industry.
“The chemical industry is one of Finland’s largest export sectors and a key pillar underpinning Finnish wellbeing. The solutions provided by the sector are essential both to industrial competitiveness and to the progress of the green transition. Going forward, the aim is to highlight the sector’s importance even more boldly and to ensure that the sector’s voice is heard where decisions about Finland’s future are made,” Salo says.
Liisa Hurme, Chair of the Board of Kemianteollisuus ry and CEO of Orion, says that in its selection the board emphasised strong evidence of determined strategy implementation, the ability to steer the organisation forward in a goal-oriented way, as well as an extensive stakeholder network and networking capability.
“In his previous role, Salo has led significant development initiatives. He has strong experience of working with different groups of employees and the ability to build a strong sense of community and commit the organisation to shared objectives. In addition, Salo is very well networked. The board believes that under his leadership Kemianteollisuus ry will strengthen its impact and advance the strategy in a determined manner.”
Kemianteollisuus ry is a business and labour market policy advocacy organisation for the chemical industry and related sectors. Its task is to promote the sector’s competitiveness and operating conditions in Finland. Kemianteollisuus ry has around 350 member companies as well as 14 member and partner associations.
The chemical industry is one of the most significant industrial sectors in Finland. It accounts for around one fifth of industrial output and goods exports. Directly, indirectly and through income effects, the sector employs nearly 100,000 people in Finland and invests in Finland more than one billion euros annually.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Mikko Salo, appointed CEO of Kemianteollisuus ry, will start during April 2026,
tel. +358 41 458 0033
Juha Vainio, Communications Director, Kemianteollisuus ry, tel. +358 40 688 2609
Liisa Hurme, Chair of the Board, Kemianteollisuus ry, interview requests via Kemianteollisuus ry Communications Director Juha Vainio.
