Our Team
Jyrki Ollikainen, COO, Partner, Board Member
Jyrki is a Partner, Member of the Board, and COO of LocalBiorefinery. He has a long history in SME business strategy development, and logistics. In LocalBiorefinery, he is in charge of our biomass logistics, and takes care of our vital partners and clients.
Jyrki is also gaining his expertise in LCA and sustainability management, vital part of our operations, as he is educating himself as a Sustainability Manager at SYKLI Environmental College, Helsinki.
Esa Wrang, Board Member, Advisor
Esa has more than 35 years experience in food and beverage sectors, where he has worked as Marketing Manager, Export Manager, Export Director, Head of Food Industry and finally as Head of Food from Finland program (in Business Finland). He has also gained several years of experience when working as a Senior / Leading Consultant for internationalization strategies and export operations execution of Finnish companies. He has also worked as board member of Laitilan Wirvoitusjuomatehdas (4th largest brewery in Finland) and Moilas Oy (leading gluten free bakery in Finland). His experience of board memberships exceeds 10 years.
Kalervo Väänänen, Chairman of the Advisory Board
Kalervo has worked as the academic rector of the University of Eastern Finland, after which he served as the rector of the University of Turku. Before those, he was the professor of cell biology at the University of Turku and
In addition, Väänänen has served as the director of the Department of Biomedicine at the University of Turku, the scientific director of BioCity Turku, a member of the board of the Academy of Finland, and since 2014 the chairman of the board of the Finnish Universities Unifi ry. Väänänen has also been a visiting researcher at the University of Kansas and as a professor at Uppsala University.
Väänänen has numerous national and international expert and trust positions, and he has received several recognitions and scientific awards. Väänänen has actively developed a business based on research innovations and has been starting research-based companies.
Helena Karilainen, Partner, Medical Director
Helena is a Medical Doctor, and in addition to daily medical care work, she has been interested in health beneficial products, especially related to the gut health, inflammatory effects, and gut microbiome. Helena brings valuable knowledge to our product development team.
Heikki Vuorikoski, Founder, Chairman of the Board
Heikki is the Founder, and Chairman of the Board of LocalBiorefinery. He has over 15 years of expertise in circular bioeconomy, and research in health beneficial bioactive compound development.
Heikki’s passion is in research and development, and this has brought some major patents into his companies - as an example of this, LocalBiorefinery has patents pending on novel use of forest side streams in techno chemical industry.
Tomi Vuorinen, CFO, Partner, Board Member
Tomi is a Partner, Member of the Board , and CFO of LocalBiorefinery. In this role he takes care of our financials, company strategy, and especially our investor relationships.
Tomi has background also in engineering, so his skills are wellcomed also for our production and technology side.
Johan von Knorring, Member of Advisory Board
Johan has held several senior management positions within the chemical and petrochemical industry with companies such as, Ab Nanol Technologies Oy (founder), Bang & Bonsomer Group Oy (CEO 2005 – 10), Borealis AS, Neste Oy, Eka Nobel AB, and Kemira Oyj. During more than 14 years of international assignments with Borealis, he has gained a wide experience spanning from sales and marketing management to business and technology operations.
He also has a solid international experience in the field of acquisitions and integration of business portfolios, manufacturing assets, and research and technology activities. During his engagement with FIM Corporate Finance Oy (2003 - 2005) and Merasco Capital Ltd. (2010 - 2018) he has been involved in several M&A projects.
Currently he is chancellor of the Finnish House of Nobility. Additionally, he holds board positions both in start-ups and various associations.