Chancellor Emeritus Matti Lehti: I feel great gratitude towards the School of Business

Matti Lehti, Chancellor Emeritus of the Helsinki School of Economics, accepted an invitation to come to the School of Business on 13 March 2025 to share his thoughts on his studies and career. We also wanted to hear about his experiences of giving and what he thinks of Aalto University.
Matti Lehti was born in Kuusankoski, and he has called himself a boy from Kymenlaakso who grew up with pulp. ‘My family lived in Kouvola, and I went to Kouvola Lyceum. In the mid-1960s, Paavo Lankinen, the first vocational guidance counsellor at our school, gave us fifth-grade boys an intelligence test. After seeing the results, he said to me, ‘You should continue in upper secondary school and then apply to the School of Economics’. Tuija Soanjärvi, who was at a later stage my Chief Financial Officer at Tieto, had received similar advice from her own career counsellor in Central Finland. It was a good thing that she also followed the instructions, came to study at the School of Economics, and has since served as my excellent “right hand".
After secondary school, Matti Lehti attended the Reserve Officers‘ School, then began his studies at the School of Economics in 1967, graduating as a bachelor in 1969, a few years later as a master, and then in due course as a PhD. ‘I encourage current and future students to make the most of their studies and enjoy every moment. It's a great time.’
‘For me, that greatness also included the best achievement of my life, to meet and marry my wonderful wife, Eila. We first looked at each other at Jouko Paakkanen's economics lecture, and then at the KY Officers' Club Christmas party I got to talk to her. I was able to walk Eila home from the party to Runeberginkatu. I myself lived 2.15 minutes run away from the school on Fredrikinkatu. From those moments our life together began. I was also active in AIESEC and promoted internship exchanges abroad.’
A business school-centred career
For Matti Lehti, the business school became a very important point of reference in his life. ‘My dissertation on corporate growth strategies proved to be very useful in my later career. During the 20 years that I was CEO and Chairman of the Board of Tietotehdas (now Tietoevry), from 1989 to 2008, Tieto's staff increased tenfold to around 17000 people and the company made around 100 acquisitions. Tieto was very active in its growth strategy.’
Lehti also gained very concrete benefits for his career from Leo Ahlstedt's advice from the lectures: ‘A company cannot fail to succeed if it increases turnover and keeps costs under control’. ‘I added just one thing to that: investing in people. Make sure you have the best talent you can and that they are motivated and creative. The key to developing your people is equipping them with the tools and skills to make the job easy.’
‘I have worked twice for the School of Business. During my studies, I was a volunteer assistant in the Business Administration Department, an assistant in the same subject and a course secretary at the Centre for Management Education (JOKO). I was the second secretary of JOKO and proposed the name JOKO for the management training programme, which was then established. More than 20 years later, in 2005, I returned to Kauppis as Chancellor for five years.’
A wide range of donations
Matti Lehti followed the financial challenges faced by the Rector during his years as Chancellor, so he knows how important it is for school management to have financial flexibility. ‘Donations can make this possible, and especially the further development of good ideas! This is extremely important. I have never wanted to interfere in the decision-making process regarding the use of donations, but I have always assumed that the Dean and the management team of the School of Business do know what the money is needed for.’
Matti Lehti once tried to donate his five-year salary as Chancellor to the School of Economics. Coming from a business background, it was hard to understand why such a thing could not be done. ‘The reason was that, according to the law, it would have made my decisions, such as the professors' appointments, illegal. That was incomprehensible!’
The second proposal for a donation by Lehti was successful. ‘The board of Tieto wanted to commemorate my 60th birthday. I told them that I appreciated it very much and suggested that the money earmarked for the purchase of the title of vuorineuvos could instead be used to support business research and teaching. The President was surprised and said that he would put the matter to the other members of the Board. The Board gave its full support. ‘The board thought the proposal was so wonderful that it announced it would double the amount. I, for my part, replied that I appreciated the Board's decision and thought it was so good that I too would double the amount.’ The government's counterpart funding at the time increased the impact of donations to universities by giving an additional multiplier of 2.5 for every euro donated.
‘I decided to make this donation because I felt that donations made to the School of Business live on for a long time and benefit future generations, unlike titles.’
A great friend of Aalto
Matti Lehti says he is a great friend of Aalto and that change is more friend than foe. ‘Looking back, change has usually led to better things. People often think that change is scary and difficult, and you have to fight it. This merger of three fields was a step in the same direction the whole world was and still is going. Many of the leaders of the world's successful start-ups have a background in the arts, including Steve Jobs. There really is a lot of room for creativity in the world, as long as business leaders see and understand it.’
‘At the time of its establishment, the School of Business was the strongest representative of the view that the university world needed a new kind of concentration of forces and integration of disciplines. Timo Saarinen, Vice Rector of the School of Business, said it perfectly when the Aalto University was being set up: ‘We (the School of Business) must have the confidence that if we have succeeded as a state university, we will also succeed as a foundation university.’ It was a very wise thing to say, and I agreed with him: ‘I agree. I believe that competence and activness will ensure success within Aalto.’
‘I feel a great sense of gratitude towards the School of Business. I received both an education that has taken me forward in business and an excellent spouse. One of our children is also a graduate of the School of Business. Today, I also serve as a grandfather, and I do it better than I once did as a father to our three children.'
'I would also like to say to all the alumni of the School of Business that because we have received so much, it is a privilege to give back. Young people need support. As for the students, I encourage optimism, continuous development of skills and activity. That will take you a long way.’
Interview by Jonna Söderholm, Terhi Ollikainen and Fiona Jokivuolle
Text by Terhi Ollikainen
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