Keit Paal becomes new chairman of the management board of Merko Ehitus Eesti

A change will take place on 14 November in the management of Estonia’s leading construction company AS Merko Ehitus Eesti –Tiit Roben will be replaced by Keit Paal as chairman.

“Tiit has been in charge of Merko Ehitus Eesti, and before that, the Merko Ehitus Group for a total of over eight years, doing so in very complicated times for Merko and all through the recession. As a result, it’s hard to overestimate his contribution to the company. Under Tiit, a professional team with a great deal of solidarity was founded; helping to make Merko the long-standing leader on the Estonian construction market,“ said chairman of the management board of the AS Merko Ehitus Group, Andres Trink. “Very rapid changes and developments are taking place on the construction market and the construction sector, and Merko must keep up with them if it is to hold on to its position. We have to act efficiently and in a future-oriented manner. We’re glad that the new chairman of the management board comes from inside the company. Under Keit Paal, Merko has already experienced rapid development of construction processes and technologies in the general construction sector, which he can now in his new position transfer to the level of the entire company, and to all other sectors,“ Trink added.

Outgoing CEO of AS Merko Ehitus Tiit Roben said: “Merko has great potential both in the form of strong engineering personnel and financial capability. I think that the forthcoming period, during which many complicated infrastructure projects will enter the construction phase, will give Merko a chance to successfully continue in the role of market leader.”

Incoming CEO Keit Paal said: “I’d like to thank the Merko management for the trust they placed in me. I am honoured to accept the challenge of leading Estonia’s construction market leader. My goal will be to guide the company to more boldly implement contemporary solutions and I’m certain that we’ll be able to carry it out with Merko’s professional team. Today’s construction market requires openness and innovativeness, which we can offer thanks to our better cooperation with customers and partners as well as with the companies in the Merko Group.”

Starting 14 November, the new AS Merko Ehitus Eesti management board chairman Paal will be responsible for general management and the engineering sector. Jaan Mäe is in charge of the general construction, residential construction and real estate development division, while Veljo Viitmann heads up the division of construction preparation and Alar Lagus is head of the finance division.

Tiit Roben joined Merko back in 1988 as a project manager. From 2008 to 2012, he was the chairman of the management board of AS Merko Ehitus and from January 2012, the chairman of the management board of AS Merko Ehitus Eesti.

Keit Paal has worked in the construction sector for around 20 years. From 2014, he has been in charge of Merko Ehitus Eesti’s general construction division, where modelling design systems were adopted under his leadership. Before that, Paal worked for Merko in 2002–2011 as a site manager, project manager and project director and from 2011–2014 he was employed at Skanska as a division head. His biggest construction projects include Viru Keskus shopping mall, Tallinn University’s BMF building, Porkuni School and Viimsi Nursery School and Elementary School, the Veerenni office building and Viru Prison and House of Detention.