Team

Managers

Anu Helin, the CEO and founder of Likel, brings over 20 years of experience in sports marketing, sponsorship, brand management, media, and event production. She is driven by one passion: helping athletes reach their full potential. She’s built her career on creating meaningful partnerships and innovative commercial concepts that authentically connect athletes and brands. Known for her hands-on approach, Anu is always there for her athletes when it matters most.

Arja Joutsen is a dedicated professional focused on supporting managers and athletes through every stage of the athlete lifecycle. With a background that combines elite sports experience, HR leadership, and coaching expertise, she helps build sustainable lifecycle services for athletes. A former national team and club-level floorball player, and captain in both, she understands high-performance environments firsthand. Arja has also held trusted roles in the sport’s High-Performance Committee and at board level. Certified in Business Coaching (BCI) and holding a Master’s degree in Economics, she believes that holistic well-being, purpose, and mindset form the foundation of an athlete’s success. Her mission is to provide managers and athletes with the guidance, structure, and support needed to navigate the full athletic journey, both in sport and beyond.

Heli Vepsäläinen leads sales development, productization, and sales reporting at Likel. She has worked as a sports manager since 2018 and brings over 25 years of experience in sales and marketing. Her extensive background in sports marketing, sponsorships, and networking allows her to create the best possible solutions for partnerships between athletes and companies. Her passion is to help athletes focus fully on their core work, training and competing, while she ensures everything around them runs professionally. She is a tough professional with soft values.

Kimi Jaakkola comes from the creative field into the world of athlete management, bringing a strong background in filmmaking and photography for many of Finland’s leading sports brands and associations, including Helsingin Jokerit, Red Bull, Helsinki Seagulls, Gilla FC, the Finnish Tennis and Football Associations and OnePlus. He has also worked within the influencer industry, creating high-impact visual content for leading creators. His passion is to bring stories to life and create collaborations that truly stand out, moving beyond simple product placement to high-quality, emotionally engaging content. Over the years, Kimi has built a trusted network of top creatives across Finland, producing some of the country’s most compelling sports visuals. Known for his bold ideas and outside-the-box mindset, Kimi believes that creativity and authenticity are the keys to meaningful impact. His guiding motto is “Professional athletes can influence but influencers can’t be professional athletes.”

Elias Räisänen brings over 20 years of basketball coaching experience from Finland and abroad, working with players from youth to professional levels. He is especially known for developing young athletes and helping them take the next step in their career through long-term, purposeful work rather than quick wins. His strength lies in building genuine trust and deep connections with players, always seeing the person first. Today, Elias combines individual coaching with long-term career support and athlete representation.

Beata Leppilampi (Papp) is a former elite figure skater and the founder of Beata Papp Skating, bringing years of competitive experience and deep technical expertise to her work as a coach and manager. Her background as an athlete gives her a unique advantage. She understands the pressure, discipline, and emotional demands athletes face, allowing her to support them with empathy and strategic insight. Beata has built her career on creating training environments and camp concepts that focus on confidence, strong fundamentals, and overall well-being. Known for her hands-on, heart-led approach, she is equally present on the ice and behind the scenes, guiding her athletes where it matters most. With additional experience as a content creator, Beata also helps athletes navigate today’s digital landscape, helping them in communicating authentically and building meaningful connections with their audiences.

Kiti Kalymialaris works with many top Finnish and international track and field athletes, as well as Finland’s leading ice dance duo. With more than 25 years of experience in sales with global brands, she understands the dynamics of media, sponsorship, and branding inside out. She loves bringing sports and business together, and is at her best when supporting athletes in chasing and achieving their biggest goals.

Advisory Board

Pekka Ilmivalta

Pekka Ilmivalta brings decades of sports governance and legal expertise to our advisory board. Throughout his career, he has held key leadership roles in Finnish sports governance, including Legal and Responsibility Director at Veikkaus, Executive Director and Chair of the Finnish Ice Hockey Players’ Association, Chair of Pelicans, and member of the Liiga Board and its disciplinary committee. In addition, he serves as a member of the Board of SM-liiga Oy. Pekka has been instrumental in advancing clean and fair sport through his work with ADT and SUEK, and serves as an arbitrator at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). As CEO of the Finnish Floorball Federation and now as an attorney-at-law running the Finnish office of Nordic Legal, a law firm specializing in gaming legislation, he continues to shape the intersection of sport, law, and ethics in the Nordic region. His deep understanding of the sports ecosystem, governance, and responsibility helps Likel ensure young athletes build their careers on sustainable and ethical foundations.

Erkko Simsiö

Erkko Simsiö is the founder of 10.team and a versatile sports-business professional with a long career in the corporate and media world. With a Master’s degree in Economics and Business Administration from Aalto University, he has built a strong background in developing new digital businesses and launching companies that have reshaped the media and marketing landscape. Erkko has channeled this expertise into advancing the sports industry. Through 10.team, his mission is clear: to make running sports partnerships easy, fast, and secure for marketing teams, athletes, and brands everywhere. A lifelong sports enthusiast and former competitive ice hockey player, he recognized the need to modernize sports partnerships and saw an opportunity to combine his entrepreneurial mindset with his passion for sport. He brings to Likel a visionary perspective on digital innovation, sports marketing, and the evolving landscape of sports partnerships.

Ville-Veikko Laukkanen

Ville-Veikko Laukkanen is an experienced leader in the Nordic finance sector, having worked with organizations including Sampo, AIG, Nordea, Varma, and Tryg, as well as in start-up and growth businesses at Snowfox.ai and Kivra. He holds several board and senior advisory positions, including with BearingPoint. Ville-Veikko is currently a Doctoral Researcher at the University of Turku Faculty of Law and serves as an active oldersman of the National Defence Course (220). He is a father to three young national team level athletes and practices long-distance sports daily, including triathlons, having played soccer and ice hockey in his youth. He is passionate about supporting teams to build long-term value for both people and businesses while respecting planetary boundaries. His guiding principle is that “Tomorrow beats yesterday!” He brings to Likel a forward-looking mindset, deep leadership experience, and a strong belief that success is built on curiosity, collaboration, and integrity.