Tankmar Horn

Early years and studies Horn's parents were officer Walter Horn and Zelia née Buttenhof. He was born and lived his childhood in Viipuri, where his father was positioned. The family followed Walter Horn when he was later ordered to Helsinki and for period 1940–1944 to Berlin as military attaché. Horn did his matriculation exam in 1943 and in 1943–1944 he studied in Hungary. For 1944–1945 he got an office job in the Finnish embassy in Stockholm. In 1947 Horn studied in Spain and in the following year he got his diploma in economics. In the same year he first worked as secretary in the Finnish Foreign Trade Federation until he got a position in the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Beside his work, Horn continued his studies and in 1951 he graduated Bachelor of Economics, and in 1953 he did his master's degree. and moving of operations was on-going when Horn started his directorship.

When Horn started as manager, a previously prepared plan of building a new shipyard in Turku was launched as a project. Construction of Perno shipyard was started on 16 May 1974. The first stage of construction comprised dry dock, 600-tonne bridge crane, workshops and other buildings. Operation were gradually moved from the old Turku yard to the new facility and the yard reached full production ability in 1979.

During Horn's era Wärtsilä started to internationalise increasingly. Wärtsilä-owned porcelain producer Arabia merged with the Swedish Rörstrand, after which Wärtsilä took control of the entire share capital. Wärtsilä also acquired the Swedish sanitary porcelain producer IDO and diesel engine business from NOHAB. The company built a diesel engine factory in Singapore and opened many branches in a number of countries. By gaining ownership of Appleton works in the United States in 1983, Wärtsilä got a foothold in the North American paper machine business. Wärtsilä became enlisted on Stockholm and London stock exchange markets.

The company structure was changed in small steps during Horn's leadership. His previous experience in foreign affairs proved useful when Wärtsilä negotiated about icebreaker deliveries to Soviet Union. In 1978 Wärtsilä changed to system of two managers; Horn focused high-level management and public relations, and the operative management was given to Tor Stolpe. The arrangement worked well in Wärtsilä and was kept until Horn's retirement in 1987.

Shortly before leaving his post, Horn participated in a large-scale ownership arrangement between Wärtsilä and Valmet. Wärtsilä sold its paper machine production to Valmet, and shipyards of both companies were put under one company, Wärtsilä Marine, from which Wärtsilä's share was 70%. Wärtsilä Marine fell in a scandalous bankruptcy in 1989. Horn was chairman of board in Wärtsilä until it merged with Oy Lohja Ab. He continued still for a few years as board member of the succeeding Metra company.

During his Wärtsilä leadership Horn held positions of trust in employers' associations. His strength was a good relationship with president Urho Kekkonen, whom he consulted in trade political questions. Due to his statements regarding oil crisis, he went to disputes with the Neste manager Uolevi Raade. Horn took part in forming Finnish Business and Policy Forum EVA and in the 1980s he was member of board also in other Finnish industrial companies.