Firstbeat HRV Summit 2019 Confirmed Speakers

DC Rainmaker, Influencer, Blogger

Ray Maker is behind DCRainmaker.com – which focuses on endurance sports technology and training and was ranked as one of the 50 Most Influential people in running by Runner’s World magazine. The site produces the most in depth reviews and analysis of sports technology products out on the web today, gathering more than 3 million views a month. Originally from Seattle, USA, Ray is now living in Amsterdam, sharing his stories to all fitness, sports and technology enthusiasts around the globe.

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/

Strength and Conditioning Coach

Strength and Conditioning Coach, Sport Scientist and Technologist

Martin Buchheit is a sport scientist, a strength and conditioning coach, and the head of performance for the Paris Saint-Germain Football (Soccer) Club. He is also a co-founder of HIIT Science, and an adjunct associate professor of exercise science for Victoria University in Australia. He previously worked as an exercise physiologist for ASPIRE Academy in Qatar, and has served as a lecturer, consultant, and strength and conditioning coach for various organizations.

Martin has as a PhD in exercise physiology and Masters’ degrees both in strength and conditioning (2 MSc) and statistics (1 MSc). His main research focuses on assessing, improving and monitoring the physiological determinants of team sport performance. He has published more than 160 papers in peer-reviewed journals, with more than 100 as a first author. His overall scientific work has been cited more than 10 000 times.

https://martin-buchheit.net/

Senior Researcher, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health

Sampsa Puttonen is currently working as a Senior Researcher at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health. He has a Ph.D in psychology and is an adjunct professor of personality and health psychology at the University of Helsinki.

Sampsa’s scientific output has focused on work stress, recovery, sleep and working times, both at the individual and organizational level. Sampsa has published over 100 original articles, many of which have been published in high-quality journals. His multidisciplinary studies have typically been made in close collaboration with companies and work organizations, which has made Sampsa a true expert in applied work-life research.

Chief Innovation Officer at Hintsa Performance, Performance Scientist

James Hewitt is a performance scientist, speaker and author, researching knowledge work as a cognitive endurance activity, and focussing on how knowledge worker’s health and wellbeing lifestyle influences cognitive performance.

James is based in Switzerland & the UK. In addition to his role as Chief Innovation Officer at Hintsa Performance, James is an active researcher at Loughborough University, ranked as #1 in the world in Sport, Exercise & Health Science by QS World University Rankings.

James’ fascination with human performance grew while he was a full-time racing cyclist, and subsequently during his work as a coach. He began to apply tools and frameworks from sports science to quantify and improve his understanding of knowledge work. This created the foundation for his work and research today, which includes consulting for Formula 1 drivers & teams, advising Fortune 500 C-suite executives, and academic research using novel methods to investigate sustainable high-performance in knowledge work.

https://jameshewitt.net/

Founder & Medical Director, Coronaria Sleep Clinic, Advisor Columbus Blue Jackets

Henri Tuomilehto is founder and medical director of Coronaria Sleep Clinic, the largest sleep clinic network in Finland treating over 1 000 patients annually. Henri has been involved in sleep research and clinical work for 15 years. He is a pioneer in combining the triangle of healthy nutrition, regular exercise and restoring sleep in his clinical practise. At the moment Henri’s studies address the association between sleep disorders, cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes and sports medicine. Henri is working currently with numerous top-corporations in Finland to promote working capacity management aiming at better work ability and vitality. He is also an advisor for the Columbus Blue Jackets NHL team and for several other top athletes to enhance their performance by better sleeping.

https://www.coronariauniklinikka.fi/en/frontpage/

Co-founder & Change Agent, Manpremo

Jason Howlett is the co-founder of Manpremo, a company that delivers biofeedback and data-driven development journeys to help people and organizations to thrive. Jason studied applied positive psychology at the University of East London and he has a degree in computer science from Royal Holloway, University of London. He is also a certified personal trainer and lifestyle coach.

Jason uses a combination of applied sciences (neuroscience, psychology and physiology), combined with data, to optimize brain performance and the ability to change mindset and behavior. For the past 9 years, Jason has been working with organizations and their employees on programs that develop personal leadership, resilience and well-being. Before focusing on people and their behavior, Jason worked in the IT industry for seven years.

https://manpremoperformance.com/

Sport Physician & Director, Nap@Work

Kasper Janssen is a sports physician, researcher, speaker and power nap specialist from the Netherlands. He has worked with several sports federations in recent years, including the Dutch national rowing team at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Kasper owns Nap@Work, which advises companies and gives workshops on utilizing power naps at work and is the author of The Powernap Paradox.

Market Analyst, Futuresource

James Manning Smith is a market analyst at Futuresource, leading Wearable and Mobile Technology research programs. James’ role spans a variety of research topics, with his core responsibility focusing on the consumer usage of mobile based technologies. James provides analysis covering sport and fitness technology, communications and media consumption devices.

James holds a M.Sc. in International Business from the University of Nottingham.

https://futuresource-consulting.com/

Founder, Made to Move

Rowan Gray is the founder of Made to Move and a qualified executive coach who supports businesses to build resilience using Firstbeat technology. He’s worked with FTSE 100 companies and high growth startups for the last fifteen years.

Rowan is training as a psychotherapist with a speciality in mental health and competes in 5K races, marathons and long-distance cycle trips.

Chief Flight Surgeon in Hungarian Defence Forces

Sándor Szabó is a Chief Flight Surgeon in the Hungarian Defence Forces, responsible for long-term health and effective working capacity of aircrew and other personnel. Szabó is especially interested in monitoring pilots’ lifestyle and health maintenance support in enduring aeromedical stressor settings like hypoxia or G-loads.

Szabó conducts research in ground-based aeromedical stress situations combined with VR simulation in order to study the main effects of vegetative neural responses on hypoxia tolerance.

Szabó is a Senior Lecturer in the Aviation Medicine Department at the University of Szeged, Hungary, and Head of the Aeromedical Center Kecskemét accredited by European Aviation Safety Agency.

CEO & Co-Founder, Firstbeat

Mr. Joni Kettunen, PhD, is a pioneer in physiological analytics and its applications. He is leading Firstbeat at the cutting edge of heartbeat analytics for wearables, fitness devices, wellbeing services and professional sports. As of today, Firstbeat analytics is used by hundreds of elite sports teams, thousands of corporations, and millions of consumers to improve their performance and wellbeing. Before founding Firstbeat in 2002, Joni has done and published research in the areas of psychophysiology, behavioral medicine, autonomic nervous system function and stress quantification.

Joni received his PhD from the Department of Psychology at the University of Helsinki in 1999.

CTO, Firstbeat

Dr. Ilkka Korhonen has 25+ years of experience in health technology, wearable physiological monitoring, algorithms and sensing technology, related scientific research, and product and business development. His vision is to bring health technologies for consumers and patients into their everyday life, making consumer the primary user of the health technology and health information. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Personal Health Informatics at Tampere University of Technology. Earlier, he held various research positions as a professor or principal scientist, as well as having been a co-founder and CTO of an optical heart rate pioneering company, PulseOn. He has more than 200 scientific publications, several patents, and has given invited lectures in numerous scientific and business forums.

Exercise Physiologist & Master Trainer, Firstbeat

Tiina Hoffman is a Master Trainer for Firstbeat’s international partners in wellness and performance services. She has a B.Sc. degree from the University of Alaska, Anchorage and an M.Sc. degree in Exercise Physiology from the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Before joining Firstbeat 11 years ago, Tiina worked as a cross-country skiing coach at the University of Alaska and in applied research in overtraining and heart rate variability studies at the Research Institute for Olympic Sports and the University of Jyväskylä. Tiina has significant experience in delivering heartbeat measurement based corporate wellness projects. She focuses on data-based findings about good stress management, high-quality sleep and the importance of physical activity.

CEO, Optima-Life

For the past 25 years Simon Shepard has worked in the sporting, corporate and health sectors. The combination of environments and experiences has produced a fresh and multi-dimensional approach that brings together technology, education and motivation, to help organizations develop Key Human Performance Indicators (KHPIs). He consults and delivers to the public sector, international businesses, sporting organizations. Simon is moderating the Firstbeat HRV Summit 2019.

Senior HR Manager (M.Sc), LähiTapiola Insurance Group

Kirsi Leskelä-Kelkka is a Senior HR Manager and a management team member. Currently, she is responsible for change management and cultural renewal at LocalTapiola General Insurance Company.

She is a business-oriented HR professional with a demonstrated history of working in the insurance & construction industry. She also has consulting experience in the field of workplace well-being and safety culture.

Kirsi has played basketball at a competitive level and coached junior players for about twenty years.

CAM Therapist, Lifestyle Specialist

Wim Gelderblom has been a CAM therapist for over 34 years and is currently a lifestyle specialist in the Netherlands. He has integrated HRV measurement into a unique process-based systems approach for a real systemic approach to health, vitality, and disease.

Together with a group of scientists, he is responsible for the development of a scientifically proven concept of creating a human systems code, correlated to vitality and biological aging. Because of this background, Wim is a specialist in the integration of behavioral aspects and physiological status of individuals.

Performance Director, Firstbeat UK

Nigel is a Sports Scientist with a career steeped in elite sport. His professional career started at Lilleshall National Sports Injury and Human Performance Centre before moving into cricket as Sports Science Manager to the England Team. He now combines his sport and exercise science knowledge and expertise with cutting-edge technology, delivering programmes that highlight the ever increasing link between corporate and sporting performance.

Head of Physiology Research, Firstbeat

Tero Myllymäki is the Head of Physiology research at Firstbeat with years of experience in exercise physiology and heart rate variability. Before joining Firstbeat, he worked as a researcher in multidisciplinary expert teams combining physiology, psychology, and personal health technologies. Tero has authored over 30 scientific publications or papers, 3 articles in published books, and has been an inventor on several patent applications. He is leading the development advanced performance analytics at Firstbeat with an ambition to turn scientific information on human physiology into meaningful innovations and insights that make a difference.

Managing director of Industrial & Healthcare Business Unit, Maxim Integrated

Andrew Baker joined Maxim Integrated in 2009. He has more than 20 years of experience in the electronics industry in roles ranging from development engineering to sales as well as business/product management. In his current role, he is responsible for leading Maxim’s wearable solutions initiatives for sensors and power management, as well as multiple other product lines. Andrew holds a B.Sc. with honors in electronic engineering from the University of Portsmouth, UK.

Resilience and Efficiency Strategist, Mentoritiimi

Director of Sports Performance Products, Firstbeat

Veli-Pekka Kurunmäki is in charge of Firstbeat’s work in the competitive sports arena with the world’s leading teams and athletes. He has over 10 years of experience in putting the physiological knowledge at play for coaches for making better coaching decisions in player development, performance optimization and injury prevention. Veli-Pekka has studied exercise physiology at the University of Jyväskylä and has personal experience in elite sports in international level.

CEO & Founder, Motivire

Tuukka Nieminen is a sales-oriented entrepreneur, coach and story teller. Tuukka has over 10 years of experience in the well-being industry. He is fascinated with combining good stories with ambitious goals.

Tuukka is the CEO and founder of Motivire, which provides companies with corporate wellness programs and services. The coaches of Motivire have worked in over 200 Finnish companies and coached over 20 000 employees.

Head of Occupational Health Physiotherapy, Terveystalo

Anna Gustafsson is the Head of Occupational Health Physiotherapy at Terveystalo, the largest healthcare service company in Finland. She is responsible for leading and developing the occupational health physiotherapy nationwide. Anna is highly experienced physiotherapist and she also works as a consulting specialist in Terveystalo’s client companies in order to promote health and well-being at work. In addition to B.Sc. in physiotherapy, Anna has completed non-degree studies in sales and marketing.

Running Coach, Author

Kuofeng Hsu is a well-known coach, author and translator of running science in Greater China. Kuofeng has also worked intensively with Garmin by implementing heart rate monitors and Running Dynamics Pods in training camps and courses.

Kuofeng is fascinated by biomechanics, physics, data analysis and algorithms. He is the master coach of Pose Method Inc. responsible for coach certification in Greater China. He is also the co-founder of RunningQuotient which focuses on analyzing data, personalizing training programs and optimizing individual’s running performance.

Transforming science into accessible and applicable knowledge inspired Kuofeng to write his latest book “Behind Running Data” (跑步關鍵數據), which guides self-trained runners to unite wearable and mobile devices, understand the meaning behind their running data, and eventually personalize their training program.

Partner Marketing Manager, Firstbeat

Hilkka Aronen is part of the Firstbeat Consumer Technologies team. She works with world-renowned brands that license Firstbeat’s analytics. Hilkka has M.Sc. degrees in Sports Management and Business & Economics.

Hilkka is leading the customer facing activities for Firstbeat’s partner brands, and, internally, she is the link between the Consumer team and Marketing team.

Sports Scientist & Athletic Coach, German Ice Hockey Federation

Johannes is Athletic Coach for the German Ice Hockey Federation and helped prepare the German National team ahead of their Olympic silver medal-winning performance in South Korea last year. He was also actively involved in the world championship preparations for 2016, 2017 and 2018 and is currently responsible for the U20 DEB team. Johannes studied sports science in Munich and has worked with ice hockey and soccer clubs around Germany including Würzburger Kickers and VfR Aalen. In 2004, he founded his own company “Sports Performance”, where he is coaching elite level individual athletes and teams. He has also participated twice in the Ironman World Championships Hawaii.