Two senior leadership changes are taking shape in the Nordic wood industry, with Pfeifer Nordics preparing for a CEO handover in Finland and Bergs Timber appointing a new chief executive in Sweden.<\/p>\n
At Pfeifer Nordics, Alexander Kainer will hand over responsibility for the Finnish business to Josef Dringel and Roger Fr\u00e4nkel on October 1, 2026. Kainer will remain with the Pfeifer Group until February 28, 2027, concentrating during his final months on his sales responsibilities.<\/p>\n
Kainer has spent around ten years with Pfeifer and has held several senior positions across the Austrian timber group, including COO of the holding company, CEO of Pfeifer Nordics and management roles at Pfeifer Holz and Pfeifer Timber. He became CEO of the former P\u00f6lkky business in 2025.<\/p>\n
The management change comes shortly after Pfeifer completed another stage in the integration of P\u00f6lkky. The Finnish operations were brought under the Pfeifer Nordics name from June 1, 2026 and now form a separate segment within the group.<\/p>\n
Pfeifer acquired P\u00f6lkky in early 2023. The Finnish business includes operations in Oulu, Kuusamo, Taivalkoski and Kajaani, with production ranging from softwood lumber and glulam to pressure-treated timber and animal bedding.<\/p>\n
The Finnish operations have been one of Pfeifer's main expansion moves in Northern Europe, adding substantial Nordic softwood production to a group that already operates industrial sites in Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic.<\/p>\n
Bergs prepares CEO handover after 14 years<\/strong><\/p>\n A separate transition is under way at Bergs Timber, where Christian Krichau has been appointed President and CEO.<\/p>\n Krichau is expected to take over at the beginning of April 2027 from Peter Nilsson, who has led Bergs for 14 years. Nilsson will remain CEO until the handover and is then expected to move into the role of Chairman of the Board after a transition period.<\/p>\n Krichau most recently served as President and CEO of Swedish-listed Arla Plast and has previously held senior positions at Gunnebo and Biltema.<\/p>\n The change follows several years of restructuring at Bergs. The company closed its Estonian sawmill in 2023, divested its pellet operation in F\u00e5gelfors in 2024 and completed the sale of Latvian sawmill Vika Wood to HS Timber Group in January 2025.<\/p>\n Bergs has consequently moved away from its former profile as a conventional sawmill group and now operates as an owner of specialised wood-products businesses in selected markets. Its portfolio includes companies active in timber products, windows and doors, garden products and timber logistics.<\/p>\n The two changes are taking place against different corporate backgrounds. Pfeifer Nordics is still consolidating the former P\u00f6lkky operations within a larger European timber group, while Bergs has spent recent years reshaping its portfolio and reducing its direct exposure to traditional sawmilling.<\/p>\n Both transitions will extend into 2027, leaving two established Nordic wood-industry businesses under new senior leadership during the coming year.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Two senior leadership changes are taking shape in the Nordic wood industry, with Pfeifer Nordics preparing for a CEO handover in Finland and Bergs Timber appointing a new chief executive in Sweden.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":100122,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5204],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n