Reetta Kivelä appointed Raisio’s Chief Innovation Officer
Raisio plc, Stock Exchange Release 1 March 2023 at 8:30
Reetta Kivelä, an internationally renowned food innovator and Doctor of Science in Food Technology, has been appointed Raisio’s Chief Innovation Officer and a member of the Executive Committee, effective 14 August 2023. Kivelä will take over the leadership of Raisio’s research and product development organisations. The creation of the new Executive Committee position will strengthen the role of innovation in the Raisio Group.
Kivelä is known for her work on the development of a sustainable food chain in both startups and academia. Kivelä’s current full-time roles include CIO at Nordic Umami Company, which she co-founded, and professor of practice at the University of Helsinki. At the University of Helsinki, she has been involved in creating an innovation platform on sustainable food systems for researchers and students. In August, Kivelä will assume a full-time role at Raisio.
“Raisio’s competitive success requires a strong investment in differentiating innovation, and Reetta Kivelä’s undisputed expertise and strong track record will help fuel our international growth. The roles of research and product development in our megatrend-driven strategy will be further emphasised,” says Pekka Kuusniemi, CEO of Raisio.
“It is a pleasure to join the Raisio team to work in the vanguard of the food transition. Raisio has proven to be a true pioneer in sustainable food, and I believe that the three pillars of its strategy – oats, plant stanols and plant proteins – have a lot of potential that we can tap into to accelerate the transformation of the food system. Raisio’s purpose and strategy appealed to me greatly when the opportunity to work on new innovation presented itself,” Reetta Kivelä says.
In Raisio, Finland, 1 March 2023
Raisio plc
Board of Directors
Appendices:
Reetta Kivelä, CV
Reetta Kivelä, list of publications
Raisio Group media contact:
Communications Manager Anna-Mari Roine, +358 44 770 6791
RAISIO PLC
At Raisio, we make food from the heart, with the aim of bringing health to ourselves and the Earth. We keep creating better plant-based and heart-healthy products so that eating healthily and within the Earth’s ecological capacity can be a pleasure. Our strong brands, such as Benecol®, Härkis® and Elovena®, turn our ambitions into reality. Through our responsibility work, we make the hard choices for consumers, so that they can choose Raisio products with confidence. We have around 350 healthy food colleagues in six countries and export to more than 40 markets around the world. Raisio's shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd. In 2022, the Group’s comparable net sales for continuing operations were approximately EUR 221 million and the comparable EBIT was approximately EUR 18 million. www.raisio.com
