The Tapiola General Board of Directors has appointed M.Sc. Juha-Pekka Halmeenmäki, age 44, as Managing Director of Tapiola General. The present Managing Director Juha Seppänen has turned 60 and decided to retire. Halmeenmäki’s term will start on 1 September 2008.
Presently, Juha-Pekka Halmeenmäki is Managing Director of Tapiola life insurance companies, i.e. Tapiola Life and Tapiola Corporate Life. He has worked at Tapiola Group since 1988 and as Managing Director as of 2001. The appointment of Halmeenmäki is a result of the top-management generational change which the group administration has decided to carry out progressively. The generational change is also under way in Tapiola Pension, where Satu Huber starts as Managing Director on 1 September 2008. In addition, Insurance Counsellor Juhani Heiskanen has retired and been replaced by M.Sc.econ Arto Juttila as Group Director responsible for private household services as of 1 May 2008. According to a previous decision, Jurttila also became ordinary member of the Board of Directors of Tapiola General, Tapiola Life and Tapiola Corporate Life. Before the task as Group Director, Arto Jurttila was responsible for Tapiola’s sales, marketing and regional services.
– After 20 years in life insurance business, it will be interesting to face the challenges of a new insurance line. The biggest interest of our main non-life insurance competitors is to maximise the shareholders’ return, whereas Tapiola gives priority to customers. I believe that this concept forms a solid ground to launch new and innovative products on the Finnish non-life insurance market. Therefore, I want to spur each employee to engage in this development. Innovations are a result of cooperation between enthusiastic people, Juha-Pekka Halmeenmäki says.
The process to replace Juha-Pekka Halmeenmäki is already under way, and the Board of Directors will decide on a new Managing Director for the life insurance companies in the near future.
The present Managing Director of Tapiola General, Juha Seppänen, turned 60 last Sunday and has been working at the Tapiola Group for 35 years, first at insurance company Aura from where he moved to Tapiola Data Ltd. He was appointed as Managing Director of Tapiola Data Ltd in 1994 and Managing Director of Tapiola General in 2001. Under Seppänen’s management, Tapiola General has continued to grow and the Tapiola Group has evolved into a financial group.
– I am glad that I have had the opportunity to work as a Managing Director during a period of the best results in Tapiola’s history. Tapiola’s task as a mutual company is to produce services and benefits to its customers. We have lately invested a lot to perform this task. As a result, the new benefit program rewards customers concentrating their finances to Tapiola with the best benefits in Finland. Tapiola General's economy is excellent, and therefore I find it easy to pass on the baton, Juha Seppänen says.
Additional information
President Asmo Kalpala, tel. (09) 453 2100
Managing Director Juha-Pekka Halmeenmäki, tel. (09) 453 3032
Managing Director Juha Seppänen, tel. (09) 453 2623