The former ST. Louis Blues assistant GM Jarmo Kekäläinen has been appointed as the new GM of Columbus Blue Jackets, stated as a "multi-year contract".
Kekäläinen has been working as the GM of Helsingin Jokerit (SM-Liiga) from 2010. Jokerit are leading the SM-Liiga regular season at this moment, so I guess he did a good job there, getting a player like Erik Karlsson to play for them during the lockout won't hurt his resume.
Kekäläinen is now the first European GM in NHL history.
http://bluejackets.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=655430
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“Hockey is a truly global game and there are very few people whose knowledge of the game in North America and abroad surpasses that of Jarmo Kekalainen,” said Davidson. “He is intelligent, hard-working and a tremendous evaluator of talent. He is a terrific addition to the Blue Jackets family and will play an important role in our efforts to move our organization forward in the coming years"
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More about Kekäläinen:
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During his eight years in St. Louis, the Blues drafted players such as David Backes, Roman Polak, David Perron, T.J. Oshie, Patrick Berglund and Alex Pietrangelo.
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Prior to his arrival in St. Louis, Kekalainen was a member of the Ottawa Senators hockey operations department from 1995 to 2002. He served in a variety of roles, including as the club’s director of player personnel for three years. He also oversaw the amateur draft and the club’s scouting efforts in Europe. Among the players selected by Ottawa during this time were Jason Spezza, Marian Hossa, Martin Havlat, Antoine Vermette and Ray Emery. While working with the Senators, he also served as general manager of IFK Helsinki in the Finnish Elite League from 1995 to 1999 and led the club to the league championship in 1998.
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Personal thoughts: I think this is a good hire, because Europeans are having bigger roles in contending teams and sure it won't hurt to have an European GM who knows pretty much everything about European hockey, and knows what is needed to get in to the NHL level from there.