Alumna of the Year Reetta Keränen helps growth companies thrive: "To infinity and beyond"

There was a special way of learning, the physical environment was unlike school. ‘Dreams come true here’ – that was the first feeling, and that's how it turned out. A sense of community, teamwork and self-realisation unite Proakatemia members.

Reetta Keränen

A springboard to entrepreneurship

At Proakatemia students set up a company as soon as the studies begin. Reetta Keränen and her fellow students continued running the company after their studies.

– When I graduated from Proakatemia at Christmas 2005, six of us students left to continue the company, Persoona Oy. The name was later changed to Sivupersoona. I became an entrepreneur and the CEO of the company.  

Studies at Proakatemia are based on strong dialogue and learning together. Team-building and leadership skills as well as the ability to recognise people's strengths are important.

We went through a lot of identifying our own development targets, self-knowledge, finding our own strengths, and building our own professionalism based on those strengths. Proakatemia helped me to be aware of the fact that you can always learn and there is room for development. It gave me the confidence to move forward even when I didn't feel completely ready.

Reetta Keränen

In Keränen's opinion, none of the skills gained at Proakatemia have become obsolete but are still usable. However, time has changed the character of entrepreneurship.

– At that time, there was no start-up buzz and there were not a lot of female entrepreneurs and role models, and there was no team entrepreneur model in the big picture.   

Continuous learning with an entrepreneurial mentality 

Reetta Keränen became interested in master's studies at a university of applied sciences after a few years as an entrepreneur and CEO.

– Combining a master's degree in service business and management with entrepreneurship and business development felt very natural.

While working on her master's degree, Keränen went on a six-month long student exchange to OCAD University in Toronto, Canada. There, she participated in a multidisciplinary master's programme on strategic foresight and innovation. The programme brought together business, engineers, and designers.

– It was a break from entrepreneurship for me, and an important part of my studies. I am glad that TAMK made the exchange possible.  

While Proakatemia was about learning by doing and starting a company, the master's degree supported more personal professional development. Elina Merviö and Mika Boedeker were important mentors for Keränen at TAMK.

– Elina Merviö was my team coach and a significant figure throughout my time in Proakatemia, both in creating the team and the atmosphere as well as professionally. Meanwhile, my thesis supervisor Mika Boedeker had a good grip on my work, and I felt he was the right counterpart for me. Mika had defended his doctoral dissertation, and he inspired me with his own example. Our mindsets fit together.  

Even after completing her master's degree, Keränen has remained eager to learn and develop herself. After about 20 years as an entrepreneur, Keränen began to move from the role of founding partner-CEO to the role of chairman of the board. She sold two of her companies, Sivupersoona and Joiku of Life, together with the other partners. After that, she wanted to focus on strategic development, business development, futures thinking, strategic foresight and, above all, board work.

The experience in Canada stayed with her. Keränen tried to find out what kind of studies in Finland or internationally could take her further on the path of board work. She could not find such studies.

– I realised that I had to start researching myself. The dissertation gave me the opportunity to dive deeper into board work. My focus was especially on the board work of growth companies.  

Keränen wrote her doctoral dissertation alongside her daily work. The dissertation, which was publicly defended in spring 2026, deals with the concept of board ambidexterity, the board's ambidextrous growth practice. It focuses on creating something new and building growth, but at the same time managing what already exists.

The research topic rose from my own personal need.

– I had experience of board work in growth companies, and I needed support and research-based information as a basis. The literature related to board work has focused on either large listed companies or established companies. Board work focusing on growth was an area that was not sufficiently known or understood. 

I am very grateful that such a path is possible, and I want to tell others about it as well. The university of applied sciences plays an important role in this: the combination is particularly compelling. There have certainly been untapped opportunities in putting academic research data into practice. That is another reason why this approach is so interesting.

Reetta Keränen

Now the chairmanship of the board and board work have taken Keränen with her.

– It's in that role that I've found myself the most and I get to make the most of my strengths. 

Entrepreneurship provides a strong foundation for board work 

Good board work enables the company to grow in a controlled manner and gives the CEO a lot of support, help and opportunities for success. It ensures that the company does not grow too fast, and that the company does not go bankrupt.

Reetta Keränen

Today, Reetta Keränen is a board member and chairman of several growth companies: Auroora Group Plc, Polar Electro Oy, OAC Finland Oy and Kolmas Persoona Oy. In addition, she is a member of the Supervisory Board of OP Pirkanmaa. She is also active in board work networks, such as DIF, Board Partners, and the Boardman competence network.

– I have been able to build a new kind of career and phase out my own passion and expertise. Growth management is also comprehensive company management.

In board work, an entrepreneurial background is very useful. As a young entrepreneur, Keränen didn't have the same kind of toolbox available as she does today. The challenges she faced as an entrepreneur have proven invaluable in board work, where she now supports CEOs and executive teams. Thanks to her own experience, she is able to identify, support, and react quickly to challenging situations.  

Her weeks are filled with board meetings, committee work, and strategic discussions with company leadership.

– The other side of the job is that I am constantly developing my own skills and keeping myself up to date. The dissertation was an important tool for that. The other tools include various networks, events and trainings, as well as following international media.

The work requires a solution-oriented nature and a curiosity for continuous learning.

– A special feature of growth companies is to do something new all the time, for the first time. It also requires the board to take control of new things. You constantly find yourself in situations that no one has ever been before.  

Raising the management's eyes to the future

On her own career path, Keränen first worked as a CEO, which gave her the skills to lead a company comprehensively. Since then, she has served as a board member and chairman of her own companies. Later, she has was asked to join other companies as an independent board member.  

The Board of Directors as a team ensures that the company is future-proof. The Board of Directors is responsible for the strategy and its continuous updating, supports the CEO in business development, and supervises the executive management.  

– The idea of ambidextria is strong here: the value of the board does not only come from supervision – from making sure that people are doing things right, and not just from creating something new, the future and strategy. We need both. The ability to govern is to understand what needs to be emphasized at any given time.

In Keränen's opinion, people are the most important resource for companies and at the heart of their operations. All the companies she is involved in also make use of artificial intelligence.  

– Some CEOs and management teams make excellent use of artificial intelligence in their own work, while others are still developing their capabilities. Companies are at very different stages, but it is a very important agenda for all companies at the moment.

"As an alumna, I can spread the good"

Reetta Keränen is an active alumna whose way of working as an alumna has changed in twenty years. In the early stages, being an alumna involved sparring with younger students, especially in student entrepreneur teams, and mentoring individuals. In recent years, Keränen has lectured at TAMK and Tampere University.

Photo: Hamza Ahmad

Keränen has been involved in the creation of the Future Board Competence course, which is a joint project of the Board Partners, Future Board, and the Tampere Universities community. The course combines universities of applied sciences and universities, academic expertise and practical expertise, and all lecturers are involved in board work. In addition, Keränen has given guest lectures to Proakatemia teams.  

– I've received a lot from mentors and sparring partners both as an entrepreneur, and a board member. I want to spread the good. You learn from it yourself. It's interesting to hear what people are thinking about.  

Moving from entrepreneurship to board work in a listed company is not a typical career path.

– I didn't have clear role models. I want to give current students examples of what kind of paths and possibilities there are to move forward. By studying, you can clarify your own direction throughout your working life. Choices are not mutually exclusive for the rest of your life.  

Keränen encourages people to work with something that they feel passioned about.

– For me, first Proakatemia and later entrepreneurship have made this possible, and nowadays I get to develop and lead companies that are meaningful to me from the board's viewpoint. That way I feel inspired in the working life.