Event speakers

Christer became CEO of Paf 2016 and has over 19 years experience in the online gaming industry. Previously Christer was an entrepreneur and management consultant with Bain & Co.

Fredrik Wastenson is the Nordic Director for LeoVegas, a Swedish online gaming company and a subsidiary of MGM Resorts International. Fredrik has extensive experience in the igaming industry and most recently held the position of CEO at Svenska Spel Sport & Casino, where he served for almost 13 years. In addition to his operational role, Fredrik also sits on the board of the Swedish Advertisers Association.

Jaakko has an extensive background in business and tech and holds an MBA. He jumped into iGaming in 2020 and learned the industry leading customer operations at Finnplay. From 2021, Jaakko has been leading Finnplay as Managing Director. Helping the company achieve record growth while fulfilling his vision of customer-centric operations. He has also overseen the company’s exit from unregulated markets after acquisition by Entain PLC.

Olli Sarekoski is the President and CEO of Veikkaus Oy, the Finnish national money gaming company. Veikkaus Oy holds the exclusive right to operate all gambling in Finland.  Olli has been leading Veikkaus as a CEO since 2017 but has an extensive twenty years of history with Veikkaus as he joined already in 2003.  Prior to his present post, he held different executive positions in business operations, strategy and planning. Additionally, Olli holds the Supervisory Chair of the European Lotteries Responsible Gaming and Sustainability Working Group, and he has also acted as the chairman of the board of Lotteries Entertainment Innovation Alliance (LEIA).

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Dainis is the Chief Operating Officer for North and Central Europe at Entain, bringing nearly 20 years of experience in the gambling and entertainment industry. He specializes in marketing, operations, and business development, and holds an Executive MBA from the Stockholm School of Economics.

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Mika Kuismanen is the CEO for the Finnish Trade Association for Online Gambling. Mika earned Ph.D in economics from the University College London. He has previously worked, among others, as an Executive Vice-President and Chief Economist at the Federation of Finnish Enterprises, Director at the Ministry of Finance and Senior Economist at the Bank of Finland and European Central Bank. In addition, Kuismanen has worked as a consultant for the European Commission and he also has a background as an entrepreneur.

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Jari has worked in the gambling industry for a long time. At the beginning of 2020, Jari co-founded a consulting company specializing in gambling called The Finnish Gambling Consultants (FGC). FGC has helped dozens of operators, suppliers, and some start-up companies worldwide develop their gambling operations further. Jari has followed and analyzed the development of the Finnish gambling system for years.

Tuomas Airisto is the Commercial Director for B2B at Sanoma Media Finland. He has held his position since 2018 and has over 25 years of leadership experience in the media and digital industry, with strong expertise in media digitalization.

Erkki Nikunen is the CBDO and Partner of Air Dice. He has been expanding Air Dice to over 12 new regulated markets and hundreds of new operators in the last 2 years. Erkki has been in the iGaming industry for 2 decades and majority of that time as an entrepreneur. He has extensive experience in entering new regulated markets from different provider point of views including platforms, games and payments.

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Reetta is a Marketing Strategist at Sanoma with over 10 years of experience in brand and e-commerce marketing. She works closely with some of Finland’s largest brands, helping them grow through effective marketing, strong brand positioning, and customer-focused strategies. With deep knowledge of the Finnish advertising landscape and consumer behaviour, Reetta understands what kind of marketing truly resonates with Finnish customers.

Brian is an experienced commercial leader with a strong background in sales, business development, and strategic partnerships within the technology sector. As Commercial Director at Finnplay, he leads the company's commercial operations, helping operators succeed in regulated iGaming markets across Europe. He is actively involved in Finnplay's expansion into new regulated markets and frequently represents the company at industry events, webinars, and conferences.

Minna Ripatti is a Finnish Attorney at Law who has over 14 years of experience in the iGaming sector. Minna has lived in Austria, Switzerland, and Malta for over 12 years and worked in the iGaming industry. As the Founding Partner of Legal Gaming Attorneys Law, she specializes in providing legal services to clients in the iGaming sector.

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Joonas Partanen is a managing editor at Iltalehti (Alma Media), who has a long experience both in sports journalism and in developing new media products. Partanen's role in his current position combines content management with commercial potential and interests.

Christoph is Director of Business Operations at Bauer Media Audio. With a background in strategic development, he is leading Bauer Media Audio Finland’s business development efforts in the area of iGaming.

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Henri Lindgren is a games industry veteran with 15+ years and 200M+ downloads to his name. He is the founder and CEO of Kokoon Games, a Helsinki-based studio on a mission to bring people together through play, currently building its flagship title The Liberators. Henri has seen both sides of the table. For years he headed Veikkaus Game Studio (now part of Fennica), running casino game development inside Finland's monopoly. Today at Kokoon Games he is leading a collaboration with Skillz (NYSE: SKLZ) — a platform sitting squarely between iGaming and mobile entertainment — developing real-money skill-based games for global markets.

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Karri Ahonen is a B2B Sales Director at Sanoma with over 20 years of experience in marketing, media, and commercial leadership. Before joining Sanoma, Karri worked in leading media agencies in strategic leadership roles, including as Strategy Director. At Sanoma, he has held several senior leadership positions across sales and commercial development. With a broad and deep understanding of marketing as a whole, Karri specializes in helping advertisers grow in Finland. He is passionate about building strong partnerships and helping brands succeed in a rapidly changing media landscape.