HELSINKI, Finland, Dec. 20, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Engineer Ilpo Korhonen (MBA) has been appointed President of Valmet Automotive as of January 1, 2008. He has a solid experience in management at Valmet Automotive -- he was previously Vice President of Production, and, since January 2007, Executive Vice President.
Risto Hukkanen (M.Sc.) has been appointed Executive Vice President with responsibility for production and quality. Previously, he was Vice President of Quality, and prior to that he held various positions in production and quality management.
Valmet Automotive's current President, Juhani Suvinen, will retire on December 31, 2007 in accordance with the schedule agreed upon one year ago.
Valmet Automotive's owner, Metso Corporation, will also strengthen the company's Board of Directors: The new members appointed to the Valmet Automotive Board are Dr. Hans-Joachim Schopf and Karl-Heinz Kalbfell, both from Germany and both with a long career in the European car industry. The new Board members bring with them solid experience in the car industry, which supports the long-term development of the car factory.
Dr. Hans-Joachim Schopf was most recently an Executive Vice President and Member of the Board of Mercedes Car Group, responsible for R&D at DaimlerChrysler AG. Mr. Karl-Heinz Kalbfell has held Executive Director positions at BMW, responsible for BMW's marketing, brand and product strategy. Recently he has been CEO of Maserati.
Metso is a global engineering and technology corporation with 2006 net sales of approximately EUR 5 billion. Its more than 26,000 employees in more than 50 countries serve customers in the pulp and paper industry, rock and minerals processing, the energy industry and selected other industries. www.metso.com