The Westas Group has appointed Maija Perävainio, M.Sc. Forestry (Forest and wood technology), as its new Chief Executive Officer. Perävainio has served as the Group’s Director of Forestry since 2023 and brings extensive experience from a range of leadership positions within the forest industry.
Maija Perävainio will assume the role of CEO on 1 June 2027. At the same time, the company’s current CEO and owner, Pekka Kopra, will transition to the position of Chairman of the Board. In the coming weeks, the Westas Group will launch the recruitment process for a new Director of Forestry and will spend the winter preparing for the CEO transition scheduled for next summer.
The Westas Group is one of the largest privately owned sawmill companies in Finland. Its core operations include producing customer-oriented sawn timber products for international markets, as well as supplying by-products from the sawmilling process and timber procurement activities as raw materials for other sectors of the forest industry and for energy generation in major cities in southern Finland.
To secure its wood raw material supply, the company completes approximately 2,000 timber transactions annually with private forest owners in its operating area. The Group directly employs around 180 people and indirectly supports a significant number of forestry and transportation companies through its network of contractual partners.
The company’s strong financial and operational position provides a solid foundation for the long-term development of Westas as a privately owned sawmill company in the years to come.
For further information:
Pekka Kopra pekka.kopra@westas.fi +358 50 597 7245
Maija Perävainio maija.peravainio@westas.fi +358 40 510 3304