Board and Management Team

Board of directors

Aaro Cantell

Chairman

Nationality: Finnish
Born: 1964
Education: M.Sc. (Technical Physics)
Non-independent Member

Main Occupation: Chairman, Normet
Chairman: Technology Industries of Finland Centennial Foundation
Vice-Chairman: Valmet Oyj and Solidium Oyj

Key Experience:
Owner and Chairman of Normet, Group since 2005
Managing Partner & Owner of Fenno Management, 1997–2005
Investment Director Sitra, 1993–1997
Positions at Cantell Oy, Fibox Oy Ab, Fiskars Oyj and Helsinki University of Technology, 1987-1993

Tom Melbye

Board Member

Nationality: Norwegian
Born: 1955
Education: Tunnelling Engineer
Independent of the major shareholders

Main Occupation: Senior Advisor & Board Professional
Board Member: Normet Group Oy, Rental Group AS (Norway), PROMACOR Holding AG (Switzerland), Chairman BGI ltd (Mongolia)

Key Experience:
President of Normet Group Oy, COO of Normet Group Oy 2007–2016
Director/VP Underground Division, BASF, 1990-2007
Director, Rescon Group Norway, Sweden and Finland 1981-1990
Head of Sprayed Concrete and Injection Division -T.Furuholmen, Tunnel Contractor Norway (now Skanska Norway) 1977-1981

Mikko Keto 

Board Member

Nationality: Finnish
Born: 1967
Education: M.Sc. (Econ.)
Independent Member

Main Occupation:  Group CEO, FLSmidth

Key Experience:
President, Mining Industry FLSmidth, 2021
President, Minerals Services and Pumps business areas, Metso Oyj, 2017-2020
Senior Vice President, Spare Parts business line, Metso, 2016–2017
Several management positions in different service businesses, Metso, 2010–2015
Head of Sales, Maintenance business unit, KONE Corporation, 2008–2009
Various international management and sales positions, Nokia Networks, 1994–2007

Lars Engström

Board Member

Nationality: Swedish
Born: 1963
Education: M.Sc. (Eng)
Independent Member

Main Occupation:  Board Professional
Board member Samhall AB, Board member Alcadon Group (publ.), Board Member Boart Longyear Group Ltd (publ.)

Key Experience:
President, Business Area Mining & Rock Technology, Sandvik 2015-2019
Interim President & CEO BE Group 2014-2015
President & CEO, Munters Group 2006-2014
Senior management and finance positions at Atlas Copco 1994-2006 and in Seco tools 1988-1994

Mikko Puolakka

Board Member

Nationality: Finnish
Born: 1969
Education: M.Sc. (Econ.)
Independent Member

Main Occupation: Executive Vice President, CFO, Cargotec since 2016

Key Experience:
CFO, Outotec Oyj 2010–2016
CFO, Elcoteq SE 2007–2010
Director Finance Europe, Elcoteq SE 2004–2007
Manager Finance, Elcoteq AG 2001–2003
Operations Controller, Huhtamaki Oyj 1999–2001
Manager Finance, Leaf Poland Sp. Z.o.o. 1997–1999
Various treasury positions in Huhtamaki in Switzerland and Finland 1995 –1997

Normet Group’s General Counsel acts as the secretary of the Board of Directors.

Leadership team

Ed Santamaria

President and CEO Normet Group

Nationality: Australian
Born: 1959
Education: Master of Business Administration

Joined the company in 2019
Normet Leadership Team member since 2019

Board Member: Forcit Group (Finland)

Key Experience:
President, Parts & Services Division, Sandvik Mining & Rock Technology 2016-2019
Senior Leader Positions, Sandvik 2006-2016
SDS Corporation General Manager & Other Management Roles 1986-2006

Kari Hämäläinen

Senior Vice President, Equipment Business Line

Nationality: Finnish
Born: 1967
Education: Master of Engineering

Joined the company in 2004
Normet Leadership Team member since 2010

Key Experience:
SVP Equipment business 2017-Present
VP APAC 2014-2016
VP Service business 2010-2013
Normet Production and Operations manager 2004-2009

Riku Helander

Senior Vice President, Service Business Line

Nationality: Finnish
Born: 1974
Education: M. Sc. (Tech)

Joined the company in 2017
Normet Leadership Team member since 2018

Key Experience:
Heading regional sales & business development in multiple roles at Cisco Systems 2014–2017 and at Juniper Network 2012–2014
Sales and pricing leadership roles in Nokia 2000–2012 in Finland, USA, Brazil and UK.

Alan Pengelly

Senior Vice President, Ground Control & Constructions Technologies Business Line

Nationality: British
Born: 1970
Education: M.Eng. Civil Engineer, MBA

Joined the company in 2016
Normet Leadership Team member since 2020

Key Experience:
17 years experience in the management of construction chemicals businesses in the mining and civil tunnelling industries.
8 years experience as a Civil Engineer in the construction of civil tunnelling projects in Asia.
A Chartered Engineer in UK (MICE) and Hong Kong (MHKIE).

Ville Pasanen 

Chief Financial Officer

Nationality: Finnish
Born: 1972
Education: M.Sc. (Accounting)

Joined the company in 2018
Normet Leadership Team member since 2018

Key Experience:
20+ years experience in CFO and business controlling roles in various industries; telecommunications, chemicals, paper manufacturing, metal recycling and underground mining.

Daniel Yang

Vice President, China

Nationality: Chinese
Born: 1970
Education: MBA and B. Eng.

Joined the company in 2019
Normet Leadership Team member since 2019

Key Experience:
Deputy General Manager, LGMRT (the JV of Sandvik and Lingong) 2017-2019
Project and product development leadership roles, Sandvik Mining & Rock Technology 2011-2017
Sales, marketing and project leadership roles in Terex (Noell Crane) 2001-2010

Subhasis Mohanty

Vice President, India

Nationality: Indian
Born: 1972
Education: MBA (Mktg.) and Bachelor of Engineering (Mech.)

Joined the company in 2020
Normet Leadership Team member since 2020

Key Experience:
Global Commercial role in Parts & Services and Business Line Manager for Parts & Services and Rock Tools for India , Sandvik 2014-2020
Business Development and Regional Business Head, Hindustan Colas Ltd 2009-2014
Prior to that different cross functional roles in Reliance Industries Ltd. and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd.

Jukka Kurhinen

Senior Vice President, Eurasia

Nationality: Finnish
Born: 1965
Education: B.Eng. (Industrial Management and Engineering)

Joined the company in 2017
Normet Leadership Team member since 2018

Key Experience:
Head of Market Area CIS at Outotec 2009-2017
Regional management and sales positions at YIT Industrial and Network Services 2007-2009
Lahti Precision/Raute Precision 2004-2007
Service, maintenance and project specialist and leadership roles at Lahti Precision/Raute Precision 2001-200
Sinebrychoff 1996-2000, Raute Weighing and Automation 1987-1996

Jaakko Koppinen

Vice President, EMEA

Nationality: Finnish
Born: 1969
Education: Master of Science (Mining and Rock Engineering)

Joined the company in 2021
Normet Leadership Team member since 2021

Key Experience:
Senior leadership positions in several prominent companies including:
President Underground Drilling at Sandvik Mining & Rock Technology
Managing Director at Orica Finland
Managing Director at Witraktor-CAT
Business Unit Director at Konecranes

Jean-Guy Coulombe

Vice President, North America

Nationality: Canadian
Born: 1960
Education: Mining Engineer (B.Sc. Eng.), MBA

Joined the company in 2022
Normet Leadership Team member since 2022

Key Experience:
President Sandvik USA
President Sandvik Europe
CEO Mansour Mining

Marcelo Anabalon

Senior Vice President, Latin America

Nationality: Chilean
Born: 1970
Education: Mech. Engineer

Joined the company in 2008
Normet Leadership Team member since 2018

Key Experience:
22 years in Underground construction industry, initially focused in concrete spraying equipment& services, followed by construction chemicals and wider UG equipment offering. Responsible of various roles and focused in Latin America region.
Semmco Managing Director since 1997–2008, since then with Normet in different positions in Latam.

Niina Pesonen

Vice President, Human Resources

Nationality: Finnish
Born: 1965
Education: M.Sc. (Social and Behavior Science)

Joined the company in 2017
Normet Leadership Team member since 2017

Key Experience:
Various leadership roles in Human Resources in Nokia 1992-2007
Comptel SVP, Human Resources 2007–2017

Kimmo Karihtala

General Counsel

Nationality: Finnish
Born: 1976
Education: LL. M., eMBA

Joined the company in 2017
Normet Leadership Team member since 2017

Key Experience:
Various leadership roles in legal, compliance and procurement in Outokumpu Plc. 2007-2017
Senior Associate, attorney-at-law 2004-2007 in major Finnish law firm
Legal Counsel in Finnish National Fund for Research and Development 2001-2004

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