From Mexico to Finland’s forests and the forefront of the AI transformation – Laura Corpus Kivikangas’s career at UPM is a story of continuous learning

The career story of Laura Corpus Kivikangas, AI for Growth and Hub Lead at UPM, is about an employee who is curious to keep learning - but perhaps even more about UPM’s work communities, which enable professional growth across organizational boundaries.

Laura Corpus Kivikangas leads teams that are accelerating the adoption of AI in UPM’s sales, marketing, and customer experience, while contributing to a broader transformation in how UPM engages with its customers. With a business degree and extensive experience across UPM’s businesses, she says she taught herself to code and expanded her studies at Tampere University of Technology so she could bridge business and technology.

"I enjoy working at that intersection, where I can speak with technical teams while also understanding what the business needs."

Corpus Kivikangas describes herself as curious and eager to grow, always driven forward by new challenges and continuous learning. This mindset first brought her to Finland as an exchange student. After meeting her spouse here, she eventually made Finland her home. The family was living in Mexico City, Corpus Kivikangas’s hometown, when she was invited to an interview that led to a job at UPM’s newly established service center in Tampere in 2011.

She quickly felt at home in the international work community. Her role in accounts payable included travel to different countries and mills. At the same time, she became interested in moving beyond processes and closer to the business. Corpus Kivikangas moved into a business analyst role with UPM Forest in Valkeakoski, close to Tampere.

"The forestry professionals in Valkeakoski supported me strongly with their expertise. They were patient and understood that I came from a very different background."

Forestry experts in the Pirkanmaa region quite literally took Corpus Kivikangas into the forest and to meet forest owners. She learned what forests mean to Finns and how wood raw material is bought and sold. Along the way, she developed a personal connection to forests, became a forest owner herself, and took up orienteering as a hobby.

“Learning Finnish took as long as it took, but the work community was committed to making sure I could participate in everything. At the same time, I gained insight into the foundations of UPM’s business: the importance of raw materials and sustainable forest management.”

Transformation drives career growth

In Valkeakoski, Corpus Kivikangas advanced to a business controller role. With this new perspective, she became interested in the data behind business metrics. Where do the numbers come from? How could they better support decision-making? As data was moving to the cloud, Corpus Kivikangas was given responsibility for an organization that developed reporting and data visualization for executive team use, while also renewing how data was used and making related processes more efficient.

What I have appreciated at UPM is that there is room to grow even when there is no ready-made path. When you are proactive, deliver results, and move things forward, new opportunities can emerge.

Building a data analytics team was an entirely new kind of challenge. Corpus Kivikangas began with strategy work and also had to define a vision for the team based on what would best support UPM Forest’s strategy and business objectives. She remembers working with the UPM Forest management team fondly.

“Once again, although our areas of expertise were very different, my knowledge and perspectives were valued. We were able to develop a shared understanding of what we wanted to achieve and why it mattered.”

An early pioneer in AI development

Corpus Kivikangas became an AI developer even before the current AI transformation, when she was put in charge of a project that introduced machine learning to support wood sourcing at UPM.

In early 2025, she joined UPM’s AI program. She says that harnessing AI to create business value requires engaging people, clarifying a shared goal, and putting change into practice.

Corpus Kivikangas says she is now learning how to bring people together around a shared goal, work effectively with executive teams, and increase impact.

"AI transformation does not happen because of technology; it happens because of people. Taking the time to understand and consider others is not the shortest route, but I remember how people in Valkeakoski made time for me. When people feel valued and are able to share their perspectives, the outcome is usually a good one."

Learn more about UPM as an employer

Writer: Juha-Pekka Honkanen

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