Tommi Haavisto

My journey at Kalmar has allowed me to grow significantly, personally and as an employee

In 2017, I started as a corporate HR trainee in Cargotec, the former parent company of Kalmar. I joined the Corporate HR team to work on a project, where our task was to model global HR processes in an external software. After my internship, I continued part-time on the project and completed my Master’s Thesis for Cargotec on M&A integration. I have an M.Sc. in Economics, majoring in International Business.

After graduating in 2018, I’ve worked full time first with Cargotec, then with Hiab, and now, since 2023 with Kalmar, when I joined Kalmar Terminal Tractors division as Sales Development Lead, Europe. This role is my first commercial role, where I'm responsible for profit and loss in the region. The role has been rewarding, allowing me to work closely with our customers and to see the direct impact of my work on Kalmar's strategy.

Key Milestones and Achievements 

During my time at Cargotec and Kalmar, I have had the chance to work in different roles across different business areas, which has helped me to gain a lot of different knowledge and perspective on work life. Achieving results and creating impact together with your team is the most rewarding feeling you can feel in worklife and the desire to live those moments gets me up every day. I find it impressive that no matter which location you are at, the Kalmar culture can be felt very strongly through the way we work and interact – even outside of office hours! The most memorable individual achievement during my career at Cargotec was winning the go-kart race at a Christmas party in 2019. An achievement that jokingly motivated the SVP to hire me to the Strategy team!

Company Culture

Kalmar’s culture places a lot of responsibility on individuals, enabling significant personal and professional growth. As a summer trainee, I was given tasks typically requiring years of experience, leading to excellent results with the right guidance and support. Kalmar is a very Nordic organisation with flat hierarchies, which I find appealing. Kalmar has put in a great deal of focus on leadership development, and I have been extremely lucky to work with great leaders and line managers during my time at the company. Each of them had their unique leadership styles, which have given me a lot of tools to drive change, address conflicts and communicate an appealing vision.

Tips for New Talents 

Be active, and get to know people across the organisation. Remember to treat everybody with respect and always do what you promise.