Management

Chief Executive Officer
Timo Laaksonen brings more than 20 years of executive experience from the ICT industry. At Xtract he develops company’s long-term growth and market strategies as well as leads the management team.

Prior to Xtract Timo was CEO of First Hop, now Airwide Solutions. At First Hop he performed a central role in the company’s growth to become a leader in Mobile Service Delivery and Business Management solutions defining the market strategy and positioning, setting up and controlling sales and product operations, as well as directing the related corporate financing activities. He has also held executive and business management positions at Sonera SmartTrust, Teamware Group (Fujitsu), ICL and Nokia Data.

Timo Laaksonen graduated with honours and gained a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Turku School of Business Administration in Finland.

Co-founder, Chief Strategy Officer
Jouko Ahvenainen is Chief Strategy Officer and Co-founder of Xtract Ltd. Jouko has 15 years experience in international business management. Before his serial entrepreneur career Jouko held progressively senior positions at diverse technology firms including Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, Powerwave Technologies Inc., Nokia, and Sonera in various sales, managerial and management consulting positions. Mr. Ahvenainen has vast experience of international business in Asia, Europe, and North America; he has lived and worked in Finland, Malaysia, UK, and the U.S. Mr. Ahvenainen also serves as a Senior Partner at Replicon, a financial and business services company, and on the boards of various start-up companies, and is a co-founder or seed investor in six companies. Jouko holds an MBA from Helsinki School of Economics, a joint program with McCombs School of Business, at the University of Texas, Austin and a M.Sc.(Tech.) from Helsinki University of Technology.

VP, Research and Development
Mika Lindholm is heading Xtract’s research and development. He has over 15 years of experience in product development and marketing with global software and solution providers. Mika has extensive knowledge and experience in delivering products and business solution in the area of decision automation and expert systems. Prior joining Xtract, Mika held senior management roles with global companies such as Solid Information Technologies, Capgemini, Ilog and Baan.
Mika pursued his studies in technology at the Helsinki University of Technology, Finland.

Chief Financial Officer
Klaus Rauhansalo is Chief Financial Officer at Xtract. He is responsible of Finance, Legal and HR functions at Xtract. Klaus has extensive knowledge and experience in international companies controlling and finance functions. He has over 12 years of Business Controlling and Finance experience with global companies such as Metso Automation prior joining Xtract.

VP, Sales
Gerry Gross is an international entrepreneur, with more than 20 years of executive sales and marketing experience. He has been focused primarily on software and data solutions businesses targeted towards telecoms providers. At Xtract, Gerry has complete revenue ownership and is responsible for building and managing the global sales and partners team.
Prior to Xtract, Gerry championed the worldwide sales efforts at First Hop, prior to its acquisition by Airwide Solutions. He has also held executive management positions at Surfkitchen in London and the online currency company – beenz in New York City. Gerry started his career with a 10 year tenure at Sprint Corporation in the USA, where he held various strategic sales positions within the National Accounts Division.
Gerry graduated from Baylor University in Texas with a major in marketing and currently resides in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.