Ahlstrom announced changes in its management structure

Helsinki, Finland, 10-2-2014 — /EuropaWire/ — Ahlstrom, a global high performance fiber-based materials company, will refine its management structure to accelerate the targeted profitability improvement and rapid implementation of the rightsizing program.

The company’s operating model, with five business areas and common processes, will remain unchanged.

Ahlstrom aims to achieve sales growth through winning new business and speeding up the commercialization of new products. To achieve this, changes in sales management will be implemented to enable a stronger execution power in the regional sales organization and better collaboration between the business areas and regional sales.

Regional sales organizations will be strengthened. In the new set-up, the Executive Vice Presidents of sales regions will report directly to the President & CEO and will be members of the Executive Management Team. The position of EVP, Sales & Marketing, will be discontinued and the position eliminated from the Executive Management Team.

The following appointments to the Executive Management Team are made:

Rami Raulas, b. 1961, currently Executive Vice President, Sales & Marketing, is appointed Executive Vice President, Sales region, Europe, Middle East and India. He joined Ahlstrom and the EMT in 2009.

William Casey, b. 1959, B.Sc. (Chem. Eng.), MBA, currently Vice President, Sales, Americas, is appointed Executive Vice President, Sales region, Americas. He joined the company in 2010.

Jari Koikkalainen, b. 1965, will assume responsibility for leading sales in Asia in addition to his current responsibilities as EVP, Transportation Filtration. He is appointed Executive Vice President, Transportation Filtration and Sales region, Asia. He joined the company and the EMT in 2013.

Arnaud Marquis, b. 1971, M.Sc. (Eng.), MBA, is appointed Executive Vice President, Building and Energy. He joined Ahlstrom in 1995 and currently works as Vice President, Marketing and Commercial, in the Building and Energy business area. He will succeed Laura Raitio, who resigned on January 21, 2014. Raitio will continue to work on special assignments at Ahlstrom, reporting to Jan Lång, until the end of July. She will step down from the EMT.

The appointments will be effective as of February 10, 2014.

For more information, please contact:
Liisa Nyyssönen
Vice President, Communications
Tel. +358 10 888 4757

Ahlstrom in brief 
Ahlstrom is a high performance fiber-based materials company, partnering with leading businesses around the world to help them stay ahead. We aim to grow with a product offering for clean and healthy environment. Our materials are used in everyday applications such as filters, medical fabrics, life science and diagnostics, wallcoverings and food packaging. In 2013, Ahlstrom’s net sales from the continuing operations amounted to EUR 1 billion. Our 3,500 employees serve customers in 24 countries. Ahlstrom’s share is quoted on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki. More information available at www.ahlstrom.com.

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