Two candidates were put before the supervisory board, said EHIF supervisory board chairman and Minister of Health and Laboir Jevgeni Ossinovski (SDE).

In accordance with EHIF statutes, the new CEO had to be backed by two-thirds of supervisory board members, and Laane did earn enough votes, Ossinovski said.

The supervisory board highlighted Laane's extensive managerial experience as his asset.

Laane worked as Microsoft country manager for Estonia from 2005 to 2012, in which year he was appointed Microsoft country manager for the Baltics, where he worked through March 2017. He will begin work in his new position on Oct. 16.

The health fund was seeking a new CEO to take over after the term of incumbent Tanel Ross ends. No winner was chosen by the original deadline, Sept. 25, and the supervisory board canceled the competition, citing shortcomings in documentation. A new competition with a very short application period was subsequently announced.

Ossinovski explained that according to EHIF statutes, candidates for CEO of th fund must be found in a public competition, and if such a competition fails to attract a sufficient number of candidates, it must be canceled. As one of the two candidates in the final round had not filed an application to stand for the position in due time, the supervisory board decided to announce a new competition.

The Estonian Health Insurance Fund is the sole organization in Estonia responsible for managing the country's system of mandatory health insurance. The fund's annual budget crossed the €1 billion mark for the first time in 2016, and mandatory health insurance expenditures equaled 5.1 percent of the country's GDP, according to the fund's annual report.