Vuorineuvos (literally "mining counselor") (Swedish: bergsråd) is a Finnish honorary title granted by the President of Finland to leading industry figures. The title is honorary and has no responsibilities and no privileges. All Finnish titles are non-hereditary. The only title of equal rank is valtioneuvos.
There is no official or established English translation, and it is best left out. The title literally means mining counselor (c.f. German Bergrat), but it has long since lost all connection with the mining industry. It is usually erroneously translated (even in current dictionaries) as (honorary) mining counselor or even mountain counselor (or Finglish variations such as counselor of mining). Even most Finns are not aware that vuori does not mean mountain in this context.
If it cannot be left out, it is best used untranslated as "the Finnish honorary title of vuorineuvos".[1]
In cases in which translators are not able to convince their customers that it is best left out or at least untranslated, customers can usually be persuaded to accept the paraphrase "the highly respected industrialist X". Otherwise, a possible translation that does not ridicule the title holder would be "senior industrialist X", but this still conveys a very incorrect picture of Finnish society. "X, senior industrialist" would be a bit better.
The recipient is required to pay a stamp duty to the state that is so large (48,400 euros in 2007) that it is customarily paid by the company or other organisation that requested the title for the person receiving it. Due to the high stamp duty, the title is held by only few people, and these have had distinguished and long careers and are usually chief executive officers or chairmen of the board of major corporations. As of 2007, the title has only been held by one woman, Irja Ketonen, the principal owner and CEO of Turun Sanomat corporation.
Antti Ahlström, the founder of Ahlstrom, Jorma Ollila, the former CEO of Nokia and Pekka Herlin of KONE have refused the title out of personal preference.
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