Finnish crane and access rental company E. Helaakoski has appointed Jukka Haapalainen as its new chief executive. His official start date is January 15th.
He will replace Lasse Helaakoski, who resigned in early September, after two and a half years in the post. His brother Jarmo Helaakoski, the previous chief executive, stepped back into the role on an interim basis, with Iiris Helaakoski as deputy chief executive. They have managed the business while the recruitment process was conducted.
Jukka Haapalainen joins the company from machinery manufacturing company Hanza group, where he has been chief executive for the past two and a half years.
Jukka Haapalainen
He began his career in 1988, with temporary work at sustainable steel manufacturer Outokumpu, renewable materials company Stora Enso, and soft drink company Sinebrychoff. In 1999, he joined the University of Oulu as a research assistant and the following year was appointed as a research and development engineer at machinery manufacturer Jot Automation. 18 months later, he moved to Draka Communications moving up through the organisation over the next seven years as production manager, research and development manager, and quality manager.
In 2008, he joined telecommunications company Nestor Cables as director of quality and research & development, and was promoted to operations director, leaving in 2014 for Eastman Chemical Company, where he was a plant manager. After five years with the company, he moved to construction company Lehto group as executive vice president of industrial production, leaving for Hanza in 2023. He also sits on the board of machinery manufacturers Sah-Ko and Mecaplan.
Chairman Jari Palviainen said: “Jukka has a very diverse background in management and business development. He is determined and an excellent leader, his expertise and experience create a strong foundation for the company’s future growth.”
Haapalainen added: “The opportunity to lead a company with a stable foundation and a clear growth strategy was so interesting that, in the end, the decision to accept the role was fairly easy.”
E.Helaakoski was established by Eino Helaakoski in 1958 and is based in Raahe, on Finland's central western coast. It runs a fleet of around 200 units with a wide variety of All Terrain and crawler cranes, electric cranes, aerial work platforms and specialised lifting and transport equipment, supported by 130 employees across 11 locations in Finland, as well as offices in Sweden, Germany, Poland, Estonia and Latvia.
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