Teemu Huutanen

Former Head of M&A and investments, Rovio

As executive vice president, Business Development and Communications, Sulake Corporation, Teemu Huuhtanen is instrumental in leading the continued development and growth of Finnish-based Sulake’s top property, Habbo, one of the world’s most popular online social networking and virtual world communities for teens. Huuhtanen is responsible for cultivating relationships with major music, television and motion picture studios, as well as retail, fashion and sports industries, to generate relevant and interactive brand partnerships. His mission is to bring real-world mainstream entertainment properties and brands that are important to Habbo’s teen user base into the virtual community. Huuhtanen also oversees global public relations efforts for Sulake Corporation. He leads the Sulake team responsible for the company’s communications and PR. As an accomplished thought leader for the digital entertainment landscape over the past five years, Huuhtanen has regularly been a speaker at the industry’s premier conferences and business forums. He frequently addresses issues such as in-game brand engagement, working with entertainment properties, social networking and online gaming monetization models, among many other topics. In 2008, The Hollywood Reporter ranked Huuhtanen on its “Digital Power 50 List” of top innovators who influence the creation and distribution of online content. In 2009, he was named one of Digital Media Wire’s “25 Executives to Watch in Digital Entertainment.” American Venture Magazine appointed Huuhtanen to their list of the “Top 40 Under 40” executives to watch in the technology industry for 2007. Huuhtanen served as a member of the 2008 Engage! Expo Advisory Board. Also, he was a panel judge at the Hollywood Netawards and Hollywood Mobile Awards during the 2008 Hollywood Film Festival. He currently serves as a member of the Digital Media Wire Advisory Board. Since Habbo’s launch in 2000, Huuhtanen has helped grow the teen virtual community to more than 15 million unique monthly users worldwide, in 31 countries on six continents. (Quantcast). Prior to joining Sulake, Huuhtanen held several senior consumer and B2B sales and business development posts for numerous digital start-up companies worldwide.