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Kati Suurmunne

Kati Maria Suurmunne
Born November 23, 1962, Helsinki

Master of Arts (English Philology), University of Helsinki, 1990.

Vice President, Financial Communications 2014-, Fortum Corporation
Senior Vice President, Communications and Marketing 2010–2014, Lemminkäinen Corporation
Vice President, Group Communications 2005–2010, Metso Corporation
Marketing Communications Manager 2002–2005, Metso Corporation
Communications Manager 2001–2002, Partek Cargotec Oy
Director, Communications 1995–2001, Timberjack Group
Since 1986 in various communications positions serving Finnish industry

Photo: Studio Tomi Parkkonen
Written by Kati Suurmunne (Riitta-Ilona Hurmerinta, ed.)
Revised by John Calton

Litmus testing with communications

Communications can be seen as a sort of litmus test for companies. If you cannot clearly communicate a decision to your stakeholders, you might need to revisit it. One of the key roles of communications is to understand various stakeholders and their expectations – to look from the outside in. A communicator must also be able to interpret from engineering to plain English or translate financial figures into stories.

I am currently responsible for Fortum's financial communications. In practice this means stock exchange communications and annual reporting. We also support investor relations and finance in the quarterly interim reporting. Crises communications and issues management are part of my job description, as well. My team consists of four communications professionals, and we work closely with Corporate Relations, Sustainability, Strategy and M&A functions.

By May, my busiest time of the year is over: the annual report and the first quarter interim report have been published, and the Annual General Meeting has been held. At the moment, for example, I am working with Fortum Energy Review, which this time focuses on hydropower, the communications plan for tax issues, renewal of the release and the blog process, communications risk assessment and a change in the communications plan.

Kati Suurmunne currently works in Fortum's financial communications. Fortum aims to mitigate climate change with, for example, increased use of hydropower and electric cars. Picture: Fortum.​
Kati Suurmunne currently works in Fortum's financial communications. Fortum aims to mitigate climate change with, for example, increased use of hydropower and electric cars. Picture: Fortum.​

 

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