Finnish Floorball Federation appoint Pekka Ilmivalta as their new Executive director. Pekka Ilmivalta joins Finnish Floorball Federation from national betting company Veikkaus as new Executive director.
The recruitment process for the new executive director for Finnish Floorball Federation has come to a successful result. The board of the federation has appointed 50-year old Pekka Ilmivalta as the new Executive director in its meeting on 13th of May.
Pekka Ilmivalta joins Finnish Floorball Federation from Veikkaus where he has worked as Senior Vice President, Legal Affairs and CSR. He will start his work at the Finnish Floorball Federation on 1st of September.
Former Executive director Kari Lampinen’s last day was Friday 15th of May. Until September, Jari Kinnunen will take over his responsibilities as acting Executive director.
– In total we had 38 applicants, six of which were interviewed, president of the Finnish Floorball Federation Risto Kauppinen says.
– The overall quality of applicants was high, and everyone interviewed was an excellent prospect for the job. With Pekka, it all came together as whole as it turned out he had all the qualifications we had had in mind. Finnish floorball gets a leader who is well known, has a lot of credibility and is extremely well-connected, he concludes.
Pekka Ilmivalta is a Master of Laws with court training and he worked for Veikkaus for 17 year as SVP, Head of communications and Human resources manager. He has been secretary of the board and supervisory board since 2004. Prior to his career at Veikkaus, Ilmivalta practiced law.
– It feels inspiring, Pekka Ilmivalta says about his new position.
– For a sports person like me it is an honour to work at sports. Naturally, I also feel a bit ambivalent and moody as leaving Veikkaus after 17 years. Yet most of all I look forward to something new with a lot of energy.
In addition to his career at Veikkaus, Pekka Ilmivalta has held an impressive amount of other important positions in sports. He has worked as Executive Director and chair of Finnish Ice Hockey Players´ Association, president of the elite hockey club Pelicans, chairman of The Finnish Anti-Doping Agency and The Finnish Center for Integrity in Sports as well as a member of the Disciplinary Committee of the Finnish ice hockey league. Now, he is a member of the Board of Directors of the Finnish ice hockey league and Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
– First of all, I will have to get to know the federation and the clubs thoroughly. All basic functions of the federation are in good shape and I get to start my work at a good moment. Floorball has a good image and the sport already has established itself as a competitive sport at the highest level but there still is a lot to do. Naturally, floorball is also an activity for everyone that you can practice regardless of your age. There is a great number of floorball players both in the series administered by the Finnish Floorball Federation and elsewhere which creates an excellent base for building our floorball community. It is up to the federation to create even better conditions for both players and the clubs, Pekka Ilmivalta says.
Pekka Ilmivalta’s own player career was in ice hockey where he played as a goalie in 1st Division in Vantaa and two seasons for Reipas Lahti in the Finnish hockey league. He retired at the age of 24 to concentrate on his studies. As the father of a floorball-loving son, he is also very familiar with floorball as a junior coach for Esport Oilers, team manager and announcer.
-I have followed floorball in several different roles, though recently more as someone who roots for his son’s team and pays the bills. Not to forget our student team in the 1990’s lower divisions: Helsinki Bratwurst, he laughs.
Source: Finnish Floorball Federation
