BlueSky Executives

Risto Savolainen – Founder and CEO at BlueSky Positioning

Risto is a serial entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience in international wireless and IT markets, with a successful track record in developing and marketing new hi-tech businesses. Risto founded the company in 2005.  Risto has held various senior management positions in blue-chip companies including Sonera SmartTrust and Reuters, where he founded Reuters Wireless Services unit. He was CEO of SST Wireless Information Servers, which was later acquired by Ztango Inc.

Risto has an MBA from the Edinburgh Business School at Heriot-Watt University, in addition to a degree in telecommunication technology and computer science studies from the Helsinki University of Technology.

Patrick-Gilles Maillot – Chief Technology Officer at BlueSky Positioning

Patrick-Gilles has over 25 years of product management and R&D experience in Europe, Asia and the USA. In his current position as CTO of BlueSky Positioning, Patrick-Gilles manages R&D including, hardware & software development, lab prototype assembly and product deployment. As a member of BlueSky Positioning’s management team, he is involved in the strategic development of the company. Patrick-Gilles is also in charge of product evolution, both in the sense of supporting new functionality and enhancing current products. His responsibilities include the selection of, and relationships with, key component suppliers.

Patrick-Gilles began his career at Secapa and Thomson-CSF CIMSA-SINTRA. He joined Sun Microsystems in California as Technical Architect and Software Manager. Returning to France in 1994, Patrick-Gilles held several engineering positions at Hewlett-Packard. His most recent positions have been with Wavecom as NPI Director and VP Engineering at Wiz4com in France. Patrick-Gilles is also a co-founder and board member of Neli Technologies.

Patrick Gilles holds a Ph.D. in Computer Graphics Architectures from Lyon University.

Barry King – Chief Financial Officer at BlueSky Positioning

Barry has over 30 years financial management experience in major technology companies culminating in a number of senior positions. Most recently  Barry was the Director, Finance and Administration EMEA for Intermec Technologies Inc. after a period in their Seattle USA headquarters, as Global Sales Controller. Prior to this appointment he was the VP Finance, Product Development for Fujitsu Computers Europe Ltd.  Barry worked for several years for International Computers Ltd (ICL) being appointed VP Finance North America Sales in California and Virginia after progressing through Business Strategy and  Product Investment Analysis roles in their Group Planning department.

Barry has a B.Sc. in Mathematics from the University of Sussex, and a Certified Diploma in Accounting and Finance from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

Velipekka Kuoppala – Vice President of Sales & Marketing at BlueSky Positioning

Velipekka has spent over ten years in professional sales management, gaining worldwide experience and knowledge of international business relations, sales and marketing communications. At BlueSky Positioning Velipekka oversees all aspects of the Sales and Marketing process and forms a crucial part of its management team.  Velipekka has extensive expertise in the smartcard market, and works with network operators, device manufacturers and solution providers on a global basis. Prior to joining BlueSky Positioning, Velipekka was Global Account Director at Oberthur Card Systems, where he directed the USIM programme and launched the world’s first 3G SIM cards.

Velipekka has a BSc. in technology from the University of Applied Sciences in Finland, during which he also studied international marketing at the University of Giessen-Friedberg in Germany.