News 9 Jan 2020
Pasi Henriksson, Johanna Laiho-Kauranne, Mikko Lindholm and Ville Vertanen appointed Statistics Finland's Deputy Directors General
Statistics Finland's new Deputy Directors General have been appointed. On 1 February 2020, Pasi Henriksson, Johanna Laiho-Kauranne, Mikko Lindholm and Ville Vertanen will start their work as Deputy Directors General. They will be responsible for Statistics Finland’s four strategic entities. These are information process, partnerships and ecosystem relations, enabling services, and development and digitalisation. The selected Deputy Directors General will form Statistics Finland’s new strategic management together with Director General Marjo Bruun. The management team will also lead the reform of Statistics Finland’s activity and organisation.
The information process includes Statistics Finland’s statistics and information production. Johanna Laiho-Kauranne was appointed Deputy Director General for information process. She has previously worked as Director of Statistics at the Natural Resources Institute Finland.
“Development of living conditions and population, structural changes in the economy and the effects of globalisation on the economy must be described in a reliable way in the future as well. As the environment is changing, statistics production and its methods must also be reviewed. I am very eager to become involved in reforming Statistics Finland’s activity together with the strategic management team and personnel,” Laiho-Kauranne says.
More extensive use of information generated in society requires close cooperation between different organisations. In the following, Ville Vertanen will be responsible for networks and stakeholder relations at Statistics Finland as Deputy Director General for partnerships and ecosystem relations. He has previously worked as Director of Economic and Environmental Statistics at Statistics Finland.
“I hope we can build such networks that will enable versatile and effective utilisation of information generated in society. It would be useful for us to identify together the strengths of different actors to be utilised in cooperation. I expect to find completely new partnerships in future as well,” Vertanen envisions.
Statistics Finland's reform also aims to utilise the possibilities of digitalisation and review development practices. Mikko Lindholm, who starts as Deputy Director General for development and digitalisation, comes to Statistics Finland from the post of Director at the Helsinki Region Environmental Services Authority. He sees much potential in the data processed by Statistics Finland.
“Statistics Finland is a key operator in Finnish society, and it holds nationally significant data warehouses. I expect that with digitalisation we are able to utilise them and the strong professional skills of Statistics Finland employees in wholly new ways, and in our part, bring Finnish public administration into the future,” says Lindholm.
Needs of society and data users guide the reform
The needs of customers and society form the key bases of Statistics Finland's reform. They are also important to Pasi Henriksson, Deputy Director General responsible for Statistics Finland's internal services or enabling services.
“In reforming the services enabling the organisation’s basic task, it is important to keep in mind external customers and stakeholders for whose sake we are here. I hope that when we lead Statistics Finland as a uniform whole, understanding the needs of data users, we can fill our important position in society in future as well,” says Henriksson.
Statistics Finland is reformed in stages. The now appointed strategic management will plan and implement development and the next stages of the restructuring alongside the Director General together with the personnel.
Statistics Finland aims to develop from a producer of statistics to a provider of influential information with the support of its 800 experts and support more efficient use of reliable information.
“We have access to a wealth of data generated in society. By reforming our activity and by cooperating more closely it can be used in the best possible way for the benefit of society in future,” says Statistics Finland's Director General Marjo Bruun.
Further information: Director General Marjo Bruun, firstname.lastname@stat.fi