CEO Monthly Issue 2 2018

16 CEO MONTHLY / ISSUE 2 2018 , Fast-growingglobal digital consultancyFuturicehas appointedTeemuMoisalaas itsnewCEOahead of aplanned international expansion. TeemuMoisala, currentlymanagingdirectorof Futurice Finland,will takeover fromTuomasSyrjänenon1May2018. Tuomas,whoco-foundedandhas led Futurice for thepast tenyears,willmove toanewroleheadingup thecompany’sAI initiatives aimed athelpingclients toexploit the full potential ofAI andmachine learning. Global Digital Consultancy Futurice Appoints Teemu Moisala as CEO Futurice works with market leaders on digital strategy, platforms and culture to help them become future capable. Independently owned, the company offers a complete end-to-end service from board level consultancy through to co-creating and building digital solutions. Clients include BMW, Nordea and Allianz. Futurice’s London office boasts 25 staff and a local client list including Ford, Tesco and Plan International, a global NGO focused on girls’ rights. Futurice also has offices in Berlin, Munich, Stockholm, Tampere and Helsinki. Recent projects include designing a prototype for the world’s first face recognition check-in desk system trialled by Finnair and Finavia at Helsinki Airport, and Solar2Go, a joint digital platform pilot with global clean energy company Fortum and Indian solar energy company Boond, aimed at helping local solar companies offer affordable solar energy systems to households in India. In keeping with its Finnish heritage of trust, collaborating and giving back to the community, Futurice has a highly unusual approach to workplace culture. Futurice staff are empowered to make decisions without seeking authorisation, experimentation is actively encouraged, everyone has a credit card and employees who contribute their own time to the company’s corporate social Open Source Spice program, get paid. Teemu Moisala’s appointment as CEO comes as Futurice eyes international expansion following 14 years of consecutive growth. Commenting on Teemu’s appointment, Futurice’s outgoing CEO Tuomas Syrjänen said: “Teemu has played a key role in building Futurice from a 30-strong agency to an international company that employs almost 500 people. He is ideally placed to lead the next period of growth which will focus on identifying new markets and opportunities, while continuing to drive our company culture of radical empowerment.” Teemu Moisala added: “I’m delighted to be leading Futurice at such an exciting time. Emerging technologies such as Intelligence Augmentation, combined with techno-societal trends such as digital decentralisation, present companies with the chance to rethink their business models and ways of working to create new value that works for employees and customers as well as shareholders and the board. Together with our talented team of developers, designers, data scientists and change agents, I am looking forward to empowering our clients to make the most of the opportunities for experimentation and growth, while continuing to export the Futurice approach to new markets.” During his years at Futurice, Teemu played a key role in driving the company’s international expansion by helping establish its first overseas office in Berlin. As Managing Director of Futurice Finland, Teemu helped increase turnover in the Finnish market by 23% year on year between 2016 and 2017. During his early career, Teemu worked at Siemens Finland and Germany in a variety of roles including Product Manager for Mobile Terminals. Teemu, who is married with three children, has studied in the US and the UK, recently completing Stanford University’s Executive Program for Growing Companies. He holds a BA in International Business Studies from the University of the West of England. Teemu is also Chairman of the Board at Futurice’s subsidiary, digital commerce and growth hacking consultancy Columbia Road. Tuomas Syrjänen co-founded Futurice in 2000 together with Mikko Viikari, Hanno Nevanlinna and Markku Taulamo. He was chosen as Leader of the Year by Finnish business magazine Fakta in 2013. He has a special interest in building international organisations based on agility, lean, transparency and trust and he is an internationally acclaimed speaker and columnist on those topics.