Heikki Lempinen is the CEO of Reima Group. After completing a PhD at Aalto University School of Business, he began his career in digital commerce at Zalando before joining Reima. His work is shaped by a long-standing interest in how leadership, purpose-driven brands, and digitalisation translate into long-term business and societal value.
“We are now in a new era of digital transformation where companies are faced with the challenge of turning digitalisation and AI into sustainable, profitable business growth in an increasingly complex and volatile environment. The Center for Digital Business Growth is important because it focuses precisely on this challenge”, Heikki reflects.
Having firsthand experience in how difficult it is to move from digital initiatives to real, measurable growth, and how critical leadership choices are in that journey, Heikki sees CDBG as a place “where complex issues such as AI adoption, platform economics, digital operating models, and organisational change can be discussed honestly, based on both evidence and experience”.
For Heikki, the timing could not be more pressing. While research can often remain abstract and practice reactive, as Heikki puts it, CDBG creates a bridge “helping companies make better strategic decisions rather than chasing the latest trends. As the global competition is intensifying, collaboration between academia and business is not just valuable — it is essential”.