By clicking the link below, you may watch today´s press meeting when Juha was nominated as a new CEO for SYSOPENDIGIA.
WEB CAST from the press meeting
The Board of SYSOPENDIGIA PLC has appointed Juha Varelius, MSc (Econ), 44, to be the new CEO of the company. He is one of the most experienced Finnish executives in the international mobile services field, having previously participated in turning into international success stories such companies as Yahoo! Mobile and Sonera Zed. Varelius will start in his new position at the end of the year. He will be responsible for implementation of company´s growth strategy and globalising SYSOPENDIGIA in accordance with the previously defined strategy.
"SYSOPENDIGIA wants to meet the challenges posed by growth by entrusting the leadership of the company to the hands of an experienced and proven professional in the international mobile software and services sector. In Juha, features that are needed to turn SYSOPENDIGIA into a trusted supplier in the international software business, particularly in solutions for the telecom, finance and trade sector, are combined," explains Chairman of the Board, Pekka Sivonen. "Juha is among the most significant Finnish business leaders. Throughout his career, he has built new, growing business activities. Being a pioneer in the mobile phone and Internet services sectors, he has in the past seven years been a founding member of two profitable and globally expanding organisations, whose total combined turnover is hundreds of millions euros in 2007," Sivonen continues.
"In SYSOPENDIGIA, I have an excellent opportunity to utilise my international experience and skills in a modern Finnish software company. This globally acknowledged smartphone expert and the key real-time enterprise systems organisation have, in my mind, excellent prerequisites to secure a significant competitive advantage to their customers. The company's comprehensive knowledge in selected areas of focus, its established client contacts and partnerships and its professional staff are a winning combination that can be built upon to guarantee success in Finland and abroad," states Juha Varelius.
At the time of the appointment, the Board of SYSOPENDIGIA Plc has decided to adopt a new performance-based incentive system in the shape of shares, which is intended to match the shareholders' goals with those of the company's CEO in order to increase the company's share value, and thus improve the CEO's commitment to the company. The system covers the years 2008-2010 and the possible profit will be based on the company's dividend-adjusted share price. Profit will start to accumulate when the company's share price exceeds EUR 4.50 and the CEO is entitled to the full 210,000-share incentive when the company's share price reaches EUR 7.50. The system stipulates that the first shares cannot be assigned until 31 March 2011 at the earliest.
The Interim CEO, Juha Sihvonen, will continue working for the company as Deputy Managing Director and as a head of the Industry and Trade division.
JUHA VARELIUS
Varelius' career started at Sonera in September 1993 in the company's Cable TV Unit, where he advanced to the position of Manager in January 1995. At the beginning of 1998, Varelius was put in charge of Sonera's Media Communication Unit, through which Sonera Plaza operated 40% of Finland's Internet connections.
In March 1999 Varelius was appointed to Sonera's Management Group and from December 1999, he also assumed the role of Managing Director of Sonera Zed. In that post, he increased Zed's turnover to more than EUR 100 million and made the company financially profitable. In 2004, Zed was acquired by Lanetro of Spain and last year its turnover was EUR 320 million, with a trading result of EUR 61 million.
Juha Varelius worked at Sonera until August 2002. Aside from his position as Managing Director of Zed, Varelius led the Sonera Services Division, where he was in charge of an organisation of 5,000 people and a turnover of EUR 1.6 billion. The division was in charge of all Sonera's consumer and corporate services.
After Sonera, Varelius transferred to London, where he worked as a managing director at Yahoo! Mobile Intl, in which role he remained until September 2006 and was, for instance, in charge of overseeing several acquisitions and mergers involving the company. Since November 2006, Varelius has worked for Everypoint Inc of Boston, as the technology company's President and CEO.
Juha Varelius is married with three children and his hobbies include skiing, sailing and motorcycling.