Jussi Pesonen, who was UPM president and CEO from 2004 to 2023, is one of the proposed new members of CMPC's board of directors; Chilean firm explained that Pesonen 'led the development strategy that expanded UPM's business potential' beyond paper, wood

April 22, 2025 (CE Noticias Financieras (Latin America)) –

Next Thursday, the ordinary shareholders' meeting of Empresas CMPC will be held, a day in which changes to its board of directors are expected. The most relevant is that Bernardo Larraín Matte will take over as chairman of the holding replacing Luis Fernando Gazitúa, in the return of a member of the controlling family at the head of the board after nine years, since Eliodoro Matte left on April 29, 2016 in the midst of the public controversy generated by the so-called toilet paper collusion, in which the subsidiary of the CMPC Tissue group, later renamed Softys, participated.

After leaving CMPC, Gazitúa will go to preside the new bank resulting from the merger of Bice and Security.

However, Larraín Matte's arrival is not the only change planned for the board of directors of the Matte group's flagship company.

On Monday night, it was announced that the controlling group of Empresas CMPC will present as a candidate to the board the former advisor to the board for the last three years, the former vice-president and former general manager of SQM, Patricio de Solminihac .

In addition, former CMPC CEO Hernán Rodríguez , who was head of another company of the group, the electricity generating company Colbún, will join the board. Rodríguez is also a director of the Sociedad de Fomento Fabril (Sofofa), a director of the telecommunications companies GTD and Telefónica del Sur , and also sits on the boards of companies upstream of the Matte group such as Inversiones Porto Seguro (the family office of Eliodoro Matte and his family) and Minera Valparaíso.

The foreign surprise

Perhaps one of the biggest novelties of the new composition of Empresas CMPC's board of directors is that of a Finn. He is Jussi Pesonen , who was president and CEO of the Finnish pulp and paper company UPM between 2004 and 2023. The Chilean firm explained that Pesonen "led the development strategy that expanded UPM's business potential, adding to the production of paper, wood and cellulose products; biofuels, biomaterials and other products derived from natural forest fiber". It also carried out two large pulp mill projects in Uruguay .

The list of candidates proposed to the board by the controller is completed by Ximena Corbo , Bernardo Matte Izquierdo and Pablo Turner , who are running for reelection.

The current board is made up of eight people, despite having nine seats, given that Jorge Matte resigned in May 2024 , so now there will again be a board of nine. In addition to Gazitúa, Carmen Sfeir and Jorge Marín will leave the board.

The board of Softys, the tissue paper and personal care products subsidiary, will also have a new member from outside the paper industry. Chilean David Kahn , who is the general manager of the Southern Cone unit of the U.S. multinational Pepsico, where he has worked since 2002 and has worked in several Latin American countries, will join the board. His experience is mainly in market development, sales and commercial strategies in mass consumption products.

"In a turbulent global context and with great challenges in both the Pulp and Biopackaging and FMCG businesses, we felt it was important to add global experience and specific knowledge in our core businesses, such as those brought by Jussi and David", commented Bernardo Larraín about the new additions to the board of directors.

Softys' board is composed of Gazitúa (who is leaving), María Laura Santos , Francisco Ruiz-Tagle , Pablo Turner , Bernardo Matte Izquierdo , Jorge Larraín Matte and Washington Williamson .