Helsinki, Finland, January 2026 — Sanoma, a leading European learning and media company, has announced the appointment of Kaisa Aalto-Luoto as its new Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO), effective no later than 1 July 2026. Kaisa will be based in Helsinki, Finland, and will join Sanoma’s executive leadership as the company continues to advance its long-term strategic ambitions across learning, media, sustainability, and digital growth.
Kaisa joins Sanoma from Finnair, where she has served as Chief People Officer since October 2023, leading people strategy during a highly dynamic and transformation-driven period for the aviation industry. Notably, she also brings prior direct experience within Sanoma, having worked as Chief Human Resources Officer of Sanoma Media Finland (2021–2023), giving her strong familiarity with Sanoma’s business, culture, and leadership agenda.
The appointment follows the earlier announcement that Sanoma’s current CHRO, Jelena Sutic, will step down to begin a new entrepreneurial chapter focused on working with senior leaders and boards on executive development. Jelena will continue in her current role until the end of March 2026, ensuring continuity and a smooth leadership transition.
Welcoming the appointment, Rob Kolkman, President & CEO of Sanoma, expressed confidence in Kaisa’s leadership and her ability to accelerate Sanoma’s strategic direction. He also acknowledged Jelena Sutic’s contribution and impact in strengthening Sanoma’s organisation and culture.
With deep experience across complex, global organisations, Kaisa’s appointment underscores Sanoma’s continued focus on building a future-ready workforce and strengthening leadership capability, engagement, performance culture, and organisational effectiveness.
In her most recent role at Finnair, Kaisa has served as Chief People Officer for over two years, contributing to people strategy, leadership alignment, and organisational transformation in one of Europe’s most recognised aviation brands. Her experience at Finnair further strengthened her ability to operate at the intersection of business turnaround, workforce planning, culture, and customer-centric transformation.
Before Finnair, she was the Chief Human Resources Officer at Sanoma Media Finland for more than two years, where she worked closely with leadership teams to strengthen HR strategy and align people priorities with business performance and cultural direction — a highly relevant foundation for her return to Sanoma in a group-level CHRO role.
Kaisa also brings extensive HR leadership experience from Outotec / Metso Outotec, including senior executive roles such as SVP, Human Resources & Communications and Member of the Executive Board, along with multiple HR director roles spanning delivery, supply, minerals processing, and business area leadership. These assignments reflect her depth in organisational transformation, HR governance, large-scale leadership enablement, and operating model execution.
Earlier in her career, she spent close to six years at Mandatum Life, progressing through leadership roles such as Vice President, Human Resources, and Vice President, Human Resources and Customer Experience, strengthening her expertise in integrated HR strategy, employee experience, and customer-centric organisational design. She also worked with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in HR roles earlier in her career, and began her professional journey as an HR Consultant at Legioona Oy.
About Sanoma
Sanoma is an innovative learning and media company impacting millions of lives daily. Its sustainability strategy aims to maximise positive societal impact (“brainprint”) while minimising environmental footprint, aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and as a signatory to the UN Global Compact.
Sanoma’s learning products and services support teachers and students through printed and digital content and advanced learning platforms, while its Finnish media brands deliver independent journalism and entertainment for future generations. Sanoma operates in 12 European countries, employs more than 5,000 professionals, and reported net sales of approximately €1.4 billion in 2023, with an operational EBIT margin excl. PPA of 12.6%. Sanoma shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki.
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