Executive Management Team
Tatu Ylönen,
Chief Executive Officer
After founding SSH Communications Security in 1995, he grew the company to $20 million in sales and 190 employees in five years, and led the company to a public listing on NASDAQ OMX Nordicin 2000. He is an experienced entrepreneur with significant technical achievements:
- Developed the SSH (Secure Shell) protocol for secure remote access and SFTP for file transfers.
- Implemented the original free SSH client and server, which later became OpenSSH.
- Developed patented NAT Traversal technology, which is now included in most major smartphones, computers, and 3G/4G telecom equipment.
Tatu has authored several IETF standards and NIST IR 7966, and is the inventor in 30+ US and international patents, including several essential patents on major telecommunications standards. Prior to his current role as Chief Operating Officer, Tatu has held various roles including CEO and CTO, and is also a Board Member at the company
Tatu holds a Master of Science degree from Aalto University, Finland.
Jussi Mononen,
Chief Operating Officer
Jussi brings nearly 30 years of international high technology management, sales, and growth experience to SSH Communications Security. He is responsible for global sales and day-to-day operations of the company. He has worked for over 13 years internationally, mainly in the United States.
Jussi has been the CEO of several growth companies, including Ekahau Oy, Portalify Oy, and VDSL Systems Oy. He has also considerable experience from enterprise sales and marketing, M&A, management consulting, venture capital, and entrepreneurship.
Jussi holds a Master of Science degree in Corporate Strategy and International Marketing from the Helsinki University of Technology. He has undertaken further studies at UCLA and University of Helsinki. He is also a certified Strategic Product Manager.
Jyrki Lalla,
Chief Financial Officer
Jyrki is responsible for financial management, treasury, human resources, corporate development and corporate governance. He also acts as secretary to the board of directors.
Prior to joining the company in February 2012, Jyrki held several senior financial management positions at Nokia Corporation and Nokia Siemens Networks in Finland, Italy, Great Britain and Germany.
Jyrki has headed finance and control for global software and service businesses in Europe, Middle-East and Africa. He has gained extensive experience in ramping up international operations in high growth organizations with specific responsibilities for functional areas such as acquisitions, divestments, outsourcing and mergers.
Jyrki has a Master of Science degree from Turku School of Economics and Business Administration, Finland and further studies in finance from Hanken School of Economics.
Matthew McKenna,
Chief Strategy Officer and VP of Key Accounts
Matthew brings over 15 years of high technology sales, marketing and management experience to SSH Communications Security and drives strategy, key account sales, and evangelism. His expertise in strategically delivering technology solutions that anticipate the marketplace has helped the company become a market leader.
Prior to joining the company, Matthew served as a member of the executive management team of ADP Dealer Services Nordic and Automaster Oy, where he was responsible for international channel operations and manufacturer relations. In addition, he was responsible for key accounts including Mercedes Benz, General Motors, and Scania CV. Before this, Matthew played professional soccer in Germany and Finland.
Matthew holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in German from the University of South Carolina and an MBA from the Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration.
Markku Rossi,
Chief Technology Officer
Markku brings close to 25 years of software engineering and architecture experience to the company, is responsible for the global R&D and directs the company’s technology strategy. Markku has extensive knowledge and experience with SSH Communications Security products, having served the company from 1998 through 2005 as a Chief Engineer, leading the contribution to the SSH software architecture. Prior to re-joining the company in 2015, Markku founded several companies such as Codento and ShopAdvisor, served as CTO at Navicore, Chief Architect at Nokia, and is currently member of the board at Codento and partner at Prominda Revolution.
Markku holds a Master of Science degree in Computer Science from the Helsinki University of Technology (Aalto University) in Finland.
Kalle Jääskeläinen,
VP, Enterprise Key Management
Kalle has over fifteen years of experience in information security services, R&D, and product management. As the VP, Enterprise Key Management, Kalle is responsible for delivering customer-driven and high performance security solutions and services that protect our customers’ critical data and infrastructures. Kalle’s combination of extensive customer-facing experience and technical background is ideal for understanding the market and customers’ challenges, and how those can be resolved in enterprise environments.
Kalle received his Bachelor of Science from the Vantaa Institute of Technology, Finland where he specialized in Telecommunication and Computer networks. Kalle carries a CISSP certification.
Petri Helenius,
VP, Network Protection
Petri has over 20 years of software engineering experience in networking technologies. At SSH Communications Security, he is responsible for the development of our next generation critical infrastructure protection firewall. While engineer by heart, Petri has also successfully managed businesses – for example, at ROMmon, he guided the company from founding to acquisition. He has worked closely with companies such as Cisco Systems and Juniper Networks, and enjoys pushing emerging technologies into the mainstream.
Petri has held various positions at EUnet, Santa Monica Software, KPNQwest and F-Secure. He is a member of the board and investor in sustainable urban planning startup Skenariolabs.