Erika Grahm
GM, Brynäs

Grahm was recently named one of Sweden’s Top 20 Future Female Leaders, and she brings those leadership qualities to her role as GM at Brynäs. A two-time Olympian, she also represented Sweden in six World Championships.

Pierre McGuire
Broadcaster, executive

There are few jobs in hockey McGuire hasn’t held. He’s a former player, coach, scout, director of player personnel and assistant GM who also has a 25-year career in broadcasting under his belt. 

Jakob Westerlund
Commercial, Brynäs

Westerlund joined Brynäs in 2020 to work on the club’s community outreach program. In 2023, he was named Head of Commercial, responsible for business operations, sustainability initiatives, and communications.

George McPhee
President of Hockey Ops, Vegas Golden Knights

George McPhee, the first-ever President of Hockey Operations and General Manager of the Vegas Golden Knights, laid the foundation for the expansion team that reached the Stanley Cup Final in its inaugural season and went on to win the Cup in 2023. Prior to that, he served as the General Manager of the Washington Capitals for 17 seasons.

Erik Wilderoth
Assistant GM, Färjestad 

As Assistant GM of Färjestad BK, Wilderoth leads the club’s analytics operations, supporting strategic decision-making across the organization. Prior to Färjestad, Wilderoth was a part of the hockey analytics show "Hockeylabbet" on C More, which brought data-driven insights to a broader hockey audience in Sweden. 

Henry C. Staelens
CEO, Ice Hockey UK

Staelens joined Ice Hockey UK and England Ice Hockey in March 2023. His aim is to deliver a hyper-efficient governing body that delivers ground-breaking social impact programs and a world-class talent pipeline of GB athletes across both the men's and women's game.

Angelica Lindeberg
CEO, SDHL
In her seven years with the league, Lindeberg has played a key role in developing the SDHL business model and communication strategy. She’s the driving force behind the ground-breaking transition to broadcast SDHL games on YouTube. 

Janne Vuorinen
GM, Tappara Tampere

Before Tappara, Vuorinen was the sport director of Ässät Pori, Helsinki Jokerit (both in Liiga and the KHL), and Espoo Blues in the Finnish Liiga.
He’s also been the Chief European Scout of the NHL Central Scouting’s European operations since 2005. 

Christina Philippou
Assoc. Professor, University of Portsmouth

Dr Christina Philippou has advised on men’s and women’s football, as well as professional rugby union, and her football finance research has been used by the UK Government. She has worked as a forensic accountant and is  a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. 

Johan Forsberg
SHL, CHL champion, M.Sc. Psychology

After retiring from the game, Forsberg acquired a master’s degree in psychology and today, he, for example, serves as the performance coach and team psychologist for Sweden’s World Juniors team. Most recently, he co-authored a groundbreaking study on the relationship between psychological states and performance in NHL players. 

Raeto Raffainer
IIHF Council Member

Raffainer is the CEO of Swiss University Sports, a multi-sport federation. He has been the chairman of the IIHF Coaching Committee and the Associate Member Group since 2021. He took an active strategic role in developing the 3x3 discipline further in 2021 and oversaw the second 3x3 cross-ice event edition at the 2024 IOC Youth Olympic Games in Gangwon, Korea.

Florian Mayer
Sport Manager, IIHF

Mayer was named Sport Manager for 3x3 ice hockey at the IIHF in 2024. A seasoned event veteran, Mayer has worked at the European Youth Olympic Festivals, UEFA EURO 2024, the IIHF World U18 Championship, Champions Hockey League AG, and IIHF events between 2018 and 2023. 

Steve Thornton
Sports Dir, Belfast Giants

In his dual role as Sports Director of the Belfast Giants and Head of Commercial at the Odyssey Trust, Thornton builds winning teams and powerhouse partnerships in Belfast. On the ice, he leads everything from player recruitment to coaching strategy and culture creation and off the ice, he drives commercial success. Nine trophies in six seasons speak for themselves.  

Robert Fitzpatrick
Chairman, Belfast Giants

Robert Fitzpatrick is the driving force behind the Belfast Giants and one of the key figures shaping Belfast’s entertainment and education scene.  
The 2023 EHC Leadership Award turned Northern Ireland’s Millennium project into a powerhouse of sport, science, and spectacle during his tenure as CEO of The Odyssey Trust between 2007 and 2025.  

Henni Laaksonen
Director of Auroraliiga

Laaksonen, who joined the Finnish Ice Hockey Association in 2023, led the brand work that led to the new name and a higher profile for the league. The first season was a success, with records broken in the stands, on TV, and on social media.

Paolo Angeloni
Director, Leagues & Cup

Angeloni oversees the operations of the PostFinance Women’s League in Switzerland. The federation recently extended their naming rights deal with PostFinance to cover the 2026-27 season, to give the women’s league a boost.

Ashley Ehlert
Dep. Director General, IIHF

In her 15 years with the IIHF, Ehlert has seen it all in international hockey, from forming a European ice hockey league to negotiating global sponsorships to rights agreements, reformulating the IIHF governance and disciplinary structures, and licensing programs as well as managing IIHF cases in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Peter John Lee
Eisbären, Vice Chairman

It’s hard to find a more international hockey executive than Peter John Lee, the English-born Canadian and former Montreal Canadiens first-round draft pick who came to Germany to play – and stayed. Under his leadership, Eisbären Berlin has won eleven DEL championships since 2005.

Freddie Sjögren
Performance Facilitator

With more than 15 years of experience in elite sports, including nine years as a Strength & Conditioning Coach and four as Performance Director at Malmö Redhawks, Sjögren aligns performance structures with a club’s vision and strategy by strengthening the team behind the team.
 

Markus Hövel
Director, Operations

With decades of experience from events such as the UEFA Champions League – he has 12 UEFA Champions League Finals as Project Leader under his belt – and Euros, as well as the Vienna New Years Concerts and the Eurovision Song Contest, Hövel knows what it takes to organise an Event. He was also part of Kings League, the new football format. 

Aisling Rafter
Player, Coach, MD

The Belfast native captained the GB Student's University Women's team in the FISU University Games in Lake Placid 2023 and was an Assistant Coach at the 2025 Torino Games. She recently founded the Glasgow Thistles, the first women's club to operate out of the Braehead Arena, the largest capacity ice rink in Scotland.

Elena Mirandola
Sport Business Advisor

Former CEO of F.C. Como Women (Serie A femminile), Mirandola brings a unique blend of insider leadership and outsider perspective, shaped by 20 years across media and data. She currently supports senior leaders of clubs, leagues and investment funds to accelerate the sustainable growth of sport, with a particular focus on women’s teams