Jaakko Nikkilä will take over the management of Billerud Europe from May 2025. With his many years of experience in the paper and packaging industry, he will strengthen the company in a phase of strategic development and performance enhancement of the production facilities.
Billerud has appointed Jaakko Nikkilä as the new President of Region Europe and member of the Group Management Team. The Finnish manager will take up his position from Take over 1 May 2025 and will be based in Stockholm. Until the end of the year, Nikkilä will be Executive Vice President at UPM responsible for the Speciality Paper business area, which generates global sales of around EUR 1.5 billion.
With over 25 years of experience in the paper and packaging industry, Nikkilä brings in-depth Knowledge in the areas of sales and production with. He has worked for UPM since 1995 and has been a member of the Group Executive Team since 2019.
Ivar Vatne, President and CEO of Billerud, was convinced that Nikkilä's expertise would be crucial for the further development of the company, especially with regard to the planned performance increases of the existing production facilities in Europe.
Ivar Vatne himself will bridge the transition phase following the departure of Matthew Hirst, who will leave the company on 31 January 2025. He will take over the Position of the Interim President for the Europe region from 1 February to 30 April 2025.
Source: Billerud
