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Tarja Pääkkönen appointed as new CEO of Aito Media
Eero Hietala and Ilkka Hynninen are stepping down from their positions as co-CEO’s of Aito Media and MEDIAWAN has appointed Tarja Pääkkönen as CEO to take over their role.
Hietala and Hynninen formed Aito Media in the beginning of 2003. During this time, Aito Media has grown from a factual player into a leading Nordic production company with a strong pipeline in factual, entertainment and fiction.
Hietala and Hynninen are stepping down on their own initiative. They will stay involved with Aito Media during a period of 6 to 12 months to guarantee a smooth transition and be involved in certain productions.
“This is an emotional moment in our nearly 19-year-old journey at the helm of Aito. But now the time is right to start a new chapter and we are sure that Aito will continue its domestic and international growth with Tarja and within the MEDIAWAN Group.”, says Eero Hietala.
“We will work closely with Aito also in the future, and look forward to having a fruitful co-operation. We will continue creating and producing in the future. We both also might have some adventures outside the TV industry.”, Ilkka Hynninen concludes.
Tarja Pääkkönen is one of the most experienced audiovisual executives in Finland, and most recently acted as the CEO of Endemol Shine Finland.
“I am very honored to take over the wonderful company that Eero and Ilkka have created and look forward to continue Aito’s development with its talented teams.”, says Tarja Pääkkönen.
Aito Media was acquired by Mediawan as a part of Lagardère Studios takeover, which was completed in November 2020.
Mediawan is currently creating a strong content powerhouse around Europe and Aito is an essential piece in the puzzle.
“I am very happy to be able to continue the development of Aito by welcoming a renowned professional such as Tarja. I want to thank Eero, Ilkka and all AITO’s team to have introduced MEDIAWAN to the very creative and modern Finnish Production Industry.”, says Elisabeth d’Arvieu, COO of MEDIAWAN Pictures.
About Mediawan
Created in late 2015 by Pierre-Antoine Capton, Xavier Niel and Matthieu Pigasse, Mediawan is one of the main independent European studios producing audiovisual content. Mediawan brings together best-in-class talents in audiovisual creation by operating on the entire value chain:
Production of drama, unscripted, documentary, cinema and animated original content thanks to over 50 production labels in France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Finland and Senegal (Mediawan Studios)
Distribution of audiovisual content (Mediawan Rights, LS Distribution and Telmondis Distribution)
And publishing of channels and digital services (Mediawan Thematics)
