Featured Speakers
Sunday February 15 - Saturday February 21, 2026. All sessions are online via Zoom.
Welcome! Tervetuloa! Välkommen!
Dr. Kaarina Kailo
Dr. Kaarina Kailo has worked in Canada and Finland as associate or full professor of women's studies (Concordia University, Oulu University, Finnish Academy, senior scholar). She is currently a fellow at the European Archeomythological Institute, a co-founder of Creatrix studies at Mago Academy, USA and thesis supervisor at the Institute of Integral Studies, California. She focuses now on her books, of which five have been on the bear religion and mythology, comparative sauna studies, gift economy and Finnish mythology (particularly Finnish and Nordic goddesses and Terra Feminarum). She illustrates her books with quilt art.
Gabriel Turner
Gabriel Turner is the co-founder of Fjord, a floating sauna experience in Sausalito, California that has quickly become one of the most unique wellness offerings in the Bay Area. He spends most days hands-on at the marina, shaping the guest experience, refining operations, and pushing the boundaries of a hospitality brand. Before launching Fjord, Gabe built a career across venture capital and startups, giving him the experience to grow a small idea into a real business. He’s passionate about creating spaces that bring people together and make them feel good. Outside of work, he’s usually with his family or experimenting with new ideas that blend wellness, community, and great design.
Lisa Steinmann
Lisa Steinmann is a writer, educator and textile artist with a deep interest in the cultural traditions of sauna and fiber arts and where the two meet as elements of the bathing experience. During the pandemic, family members helped her realize a long-held dream and built a sauna in the backyard. It was dubbed Bad Sauna in honor of Swedish heritage and Finnish sauna culture. In May 2024, Lisa launched a blog titled Bad Sauna / Good Stories where she reviews sauna experiences and celebrates the good life. Her involvement with fiber craft began with her mother and grandmothers who passed on the skills of knitting and sewing and an appreciation for household linens. She expanded her textile practice with the study of natural dyes and surface design at the Textile Center, a national center for fiber art in Minneapolis where her embroidered artworks have been part of A Common Thread, an annual exhibit. Her expertise led to six years of service on the Textile Center's board, and she continues her relationship with the organization as one of the annual judges at the Minnesota State Fair's Llama-Alpaca Costume Contest. Storytelling through text and illustration has been Lisa's hallmark over 25 years of teaching, journalism and arts projects. She has written for a number of local publications including, notably, the Twin Cities Daily Planet where she interviewed leaders and artists from Minnesota's Dakota and Anishinaabe nations, poet laureates, and international figures. From 2011 to 2015, she worked for the Saint Paul Almanac, a grassroots publication that honors the stories of Minnesota's capital city. Currently, she works as an educator at Great River School in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Eero Kilpi
Eero Kilpi is a Finnish native and a leading advocate for Finnish culture and sauna tradition in North America. As a founding member and former President of the North American Sauna Society, he has spent over 20 years promoting the cultural and wellness benefits of sauna, with his insights featured in The New York Times and Forbes. He currently serves as President of the Finlandia Foundation New York Metropolitan Chapter, working to preserve and celebrate Finnish heritage in the U.S. Kilpi is also the co-host of The Upper Bench podcast, where he explores the art, science, and significance of sauna with industry experts. Passionate about strengthening Finnish-American connections, he continues to champion innovation, cultural exchange, and new opportunities for Finnish businesses and traditions abroad.
Justin Juntunen
Meet Justin: Equal parts modern designer, sauna snob, and business owner. He has nearly 4 decades of practicing and building saunas. Justin is the founder and CEO of Cedar & Stone Nordic Sauna, a leader in the sauna industry. His team designs, builds, and creates beautiful thermic bathing experiences throughout North America. Over the next decade Justin is committed to hosting one million people to sauna so that we can build more resilient lives.
Dalva Lamminmäki
Dalva Lamminmäki (MA) is a folklorist and conducting doctoral research as a grant researcher at the University of Eastern Finland, on Finland's sauna culture and the (sauna) healing tradition as a living cultural heritage.
Robert Heinevetter
Robert is the founder and CEO of Aufguss Roots, driven by a deep passion for Aufguss and sauna culture. Since 2012, he has supported wellness businesses across Europe by advising operators, coaching sauna masters, and helping spa and hotel teams elevate their sauna experiences. With over 13 years of experience, he has developed a distinctive training methodology and innovative tools—including the proprietary Magic Towel—designed to enhance performance, comfort, and quality in the world of sauna. Through Aufguss Roots, Robert is committed to advancing professional education and excellence within global sauna culture.
Hannah Moran
Hannah Moran is a Commercial Lines Account Manager at TCA Insurance, specializing in sauna insurance through SaunaShield by TCA Insurance. What began in a small Northern Michigan town—helping a local mobile sauna find coverage—has grown into a specialized insurance solution supporting sauna businesses across 10 states. She is proud to be connected to and to support the growing sauna community.
Stig Arild Pettersen
Stig Arild Pettersen is the Secretary General of the Norwegian Sauna Association, a non-profit working to make sauna accessible to all Norwegians and host of the XIX International Sauna Congress 24th–26th September in Oslo, Norway.
Sam Wacha
Sam Wacha is an American advocate for authentic sauna culture and a passionate voice for the role of heat, ritual, and fellowship in modern life. Deeply influenced by traditional Nordic sauna practices, he focuses on preserving the cultural integrity of sauna while exploring how it can strengthen community, resilience, and personal well-being beyond trends or commercial shortcuts. Wacha is the co-host of The Upper Bench podcast, where he explores traditional sauna practice, modern applications, and the cultural significance of heat, resilience, and fellowship alongside builders, historians, and industry voices. Passionate about preserving authentic sauna traditions while fostering innovation and connection, he continues to champion thoughtful design, cultural exchange, and community-building through sauna.
Jaana Hjelt
Jaana Hjelt is a co-owner of Lapuan Kankurit, a family-owned weaving mill with a long tradition of producing high-quality linen and wool textiles in Finland. Her work centers on safeguarding craftsmanship and transparent in-house production, timeless design, and the multifunctionality of textiles made from traditional Finnish natural materials. Deeply rooted in Finnish culture, sauna textiles represent for Jaana a meaningful intersection of wellbeing and tradition—where textiles support the rituals of sauna life.
Elena Soini
Elena Soini is a retired U.S. Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer and founder of Finn Woodworking & Design, LLC and Newport Sauna, LLC, where she unites her passion for woodworking, the outdoors, fitness, and community. A New Englander from Boston, she has spent most of her life along the coasts of Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, blending craftsmanship with a deep connection to the sea. Trained in business management, boatbuilding, and design through IYRS and RISD, she has worked as a marine carpenter, boatwright, captain, and designer-builder of custom wooden stand-up paddleboards. In 2025 she launched Newport Sauna, LLC, creating Aquidneck Island’s first homegrown Finnish sauna experience while continuing to design and build custom furniture and installations. An avid traveler and outdoor enthusiast, she is active in several professional and cultural organizations and enjoys riding, hiking, swimming, and time with family, friends, and her two pets.
Karen Rue
Karen Rue (Ruohoniemi) is the founder of Saunamekko, a sauna-focused apparel line rooted in tradition and inclusive design. Crafted from 100% merino wool, Saunamekko garments are breathable, moisture wicking, temperature-regulating, odor-resistant, and designed so everyone—regardless of body type—can feel comfortable in the sauna.
Dori Graff
Dori Graff leads operations, partnerships, and growth at Saunamekko, helping bring comfortable, thoughtfully designed merino-wool saunawear to more sauna communities. With a background in brand-building and strategic partnerships, she focuses on smooth operations and logistics, meaningful collaborations, and sustainable growth.
Wendy Liu
Co-founder, Council representative of British Sauna Society, Board Member of Sauna Aid Architect, Yoga Teacher, Wellbeing & Creative Director Wendy is an architect and multidisciplinary artist exploring the dialogue between spaces and human experience. She led the Arts and Culture programmes while serving as a trustee of the British Sauna Society from 2019-2025. She merges the intersection of architectural design and holistic wellbeing. Her practice creates environments that engage all senses—from tactile materials to acoustic harmony—fostering transformative experiences that nurture both body and mind. Drawing on her yoga practice and sauna expertise, Wendy's design philosophy connects architecture, sensory perception, and wellbeing. With her Finnish partner Mika, she leads SaunaWave, blending Finnish and Chinese traditions with contemporary design. Her work builds community and mindfulness through thoughtful orchestration of space. Originally from China and London-based, Wendy brings global perspective to creating sustainable environments that promote wellbeing and cultural exchange.
Glenn Auerbach
Glenn Auerbach has been a sauna evangelist for over 40 years. In 2008 he started the website SaunaTimes as a go-to-source for sauna building and sauna culture. In 2016, he created the podcast Sauna Talk, now with over 120 episodes. Glenn wrote the book: “Sauna Build, From Start to Finish” which has helped several thousands build their own sauna. He is a Founding Board Member of the Sauna Research Institute and Board Treasurer for Sauna-Aid. “My best days always seem to be sauna days. And thankfully, a lot of my days are sauna days!”
Katri Tenetz
Katri Tenetz is a sauna culture developer based in Oulu, Finland. She serves as Producer for the Oulu Sauna Association and leads the European Capital of Culture Oulu2026 Sauna Project, including the concept development of the new public Tuiran Sauna. Katri is also Chair of the International Sauna Route Association, where she promotes sauna heritage and sustainable sauna tourism across Europe. Her organization has operated an iconic floating sauna on the Oulu River since 2004, and she produces a Finnish sauna culture and dialogue festival taking place June 5–9, 2026. Currently on leave from her role as Head of Children’s Culture Services for the City of Oulu, Katri brings a strong background in service design, holds a master’s degree in media production and literature, and is deeply committed to cultural accessibility. In her free time, she enjoys cross-country skiing, swimming, continuous learning—and, of course, Finnish sauna as often as possible.
Mark Babson
Mark grew up in the Finnish community of Lanesville in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where weekly family and community saunas fostered a deep appreciation for this ancient ritual. With 25 years of experience in the event marketing industry, and inspired by the U.S. Traveling Sauna tour celebrating Finland’s 100th Anniversary, he founded Got Sauna in 2018 as a wood-fired mobile sauna business. His focus is on delivering an authentic, old-world sauna experience that emphasizes enjoyment, relaxation, and connection. As Mark says, “The simplicity of sauna culture is a welcome oasis in our fast-paced world.” Today, he shares his passion through sauna rentals, consulting, and sales.
Elsa Havas
Elsa Havas is the founder and director of Warm Hearts Sauna, a volunteer-run, non-profit floating sauna in Amsterdam where guests “pay” with acts of kindness. Visitors can join for free after doing a good deed for a person or the planet. Each session brings together six strangers to reflect on the social change they want to see in the world. Warm Hearts Sauna has helped people from more than 70 nationalities move out of isolation and loneliness, connecting refugees and locals to build a community of belonging, purpose, and confidence.
Kate Butchart
Kate W. Butchart is the Creator and Owner of KOS, New York's first public floating sauna. Originally from New Jersey, she became happily and hopelessly devoted to sauna after moving to Oslo, Norway, in 2018. Sitting in a beautiful sauna, then dipping in the icy fjord brings peace, joy, focus, good health, community, and connection during the cold and dark winter months. As a proud Norwegian-American dual citizen, Kate is inspired to bring the best part of the Nordics home with her, where she believes people of all ages can benefit from this practice. Her career in international business, digital design, and innovation, combined with her passion for Nordic sauna history and culture, provide KOS with a solid foundation for growth. Kate is highly motivated to help shape the future of this industry in the US and set a high standard for where Nordic sauna and design meet American values and culture.
Lassi Liikkanen
Dr. Lassi Liikkanen is a designer, author, and founder. He is a recognized thought leader in Finnish sauna design and technology matters. With over a decade of experience in the Finnish tech industry, he has held pivotal roles in shaping digital products and services. Since 2016, Dr. Liikkanen has become an internationally respected expert in sauna technology, sharing knowledge through his platform Saunologia.fi, which reaches over hundreds of thousands of visitors annually. His first international book, Secrets of Finnish Sauna Design, first published in 2019, became available in English in 2021, Japanese in 2024, and German in 2026. His second book Finnish Sauna was published in 2025.
Walker Angell
Walker Angell is a researcher, writer and the author of Trumpkin’s Sauna Notes, named after a character in C.S.Lewis’ ‘Chronicles of Narnia’. He has been going to sauna for about 35 years, mostly in Europe prior to the pandemic.
Katie Moore
Katie is from Livonia, Michigan, and is 50% Finnish, a heritage that has long shaped her connection to sauna culture. Inspired by this tradition, she launched Sisu Mobile Sauna in 2024. Since then, her wood-fired barrel sauna has served hundreds of people at wellness events, festivals, local gyms, private rentals, and community drop-ins. Through this work, Katie has become deeply committed to expanding access to sauna and creating welcoming spaces where people can relax, connect, and recharge.
Greg Moga
Greg Moga is an entrepreneur and creative producer with a passion for values-driven storytelling. As founder of Bray’s Run Productions, he has executive produced acclaimed projects including an Emmy Award. Greg brings a background in angel investing and a deep commitment to global, environmentally conscious projects, partnering with leading filmmakers, networks, and distributors to bring powerful stories to audiences worldwide.
Daniel Sarya
Daniel Sarya is a fourth-generation Finnish American and a passionate advocate for traditional Finnish sauna culture. As the owner of MI Sauna, a public sauna in Traverse City founded in 2020, he is dedicated to sharing the full sauna experience—from cutting wood and tending the fire to embracing the heat, steam, and restorative cool-down. By training, Daniel is an orthodontist, a profession he sees as complementary to sauna: while his clinical work transforms smiles from the outside, sauna helps people reconnect with themselves from within. Born in the United States and deeply rooted in Finnish heritage, he spent time working in Tampere in 1990 and continues to visit Finland regularly. In recent years, he has led sauna pilgrimages from Michigan to Finland, further deepening his role as a sauna educator, practitioner, and cultural steward.
Becky Pelkonen
Becky Pelkonen is a sustainability educator, sauna entrepreneur, and community builder in British Columbia’s East Kootenays. She teaches Sustainable Business at the College of the Rockies and co-runs Kamu Sauna, where she creates inclusive and culturally grounded sauna experiences shaped by Finnish lineage and third-space design principles. She also supports international member engagement with Sauna from Finland, helping strengthen the growing North American sauna community. Becky is currently pursuing doctoral studies in Finland, where her research focuses on third spaces in rural communities, the cultural depth of sauna, and the role of regenerative tourism in sustainable livelihoods. Grounded in Finnish cultural roots and systems thinking, she explores how sauna rituals, hosting practices, and place-based storytelling shape wellbeing, cultural resilience, and ecological awareness. With more than twenty years of experience in sustainable development and regenerative tourism, including extensive work alongside Indigenous communities, Becky is committed to creating spaces that foster belonging, cultural care, and meaningful connection to place.
Olivia Raisanen
Olivia Raisanen is an Architectural Designer based in New York City. She received her education from Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State University; the University of Michigan; and University College London. Her architectural experience focuses on creating place-based projects that benefit the public, including a number of public schools, a local history museum, and several projects for New York city agencies, in addition to forensic investigations of buildings' technical failings. Olivia, as a Finnish-American with a desire to share Finnish sauna culture with a broader audience, is a 2025 Finlandia Foundation Grant Recipient for her project "Primer for Public (Finnish) Sauna Design," available 2026. Her background in designing for communities, her technical expertise as a forensic storyteller, and her personal architectural interests in saunas allows this resource to blend technical and cultural story-telling into something that feels personal, poetic, and experiential.
Marty Stewart
I am Marty Stewart, a recently graduated young architect from Finland. I’m from a Finnish-American family, my mother being from Finland and father from WA, USA. Finnish culture, such as sauna-bathing is a big part of my life. I live and work in Helsinki Finland with my wife and 1.5-year-old son. I work in an architecture office KOHE Arkkitehdit in Helsinki, designing mostly public and commercial buildings varying in size.
Bill Gifford
Bill Gifford is an author, journalist, and speaker specializing in health, longevity, and human performance, with a particular interest in how practices like sauna support resilience and long-term wellbeing. He is the coauthor of the global bestseller Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity with Dr. Peter Attia, and the author of the New York Times bestseller Spring Chicken: Stay Young Forever (Or Die Trying), a deeply reported exploration of the science of aging.
A longtime contributing editor at Outside magazine, Bill has written extensively about endurance, recovery, and the habits that allow people to stay strong and healthy across the lifespan. His work regularly connects cutting-edge biology with time-tested practices—including heat exposure and sauna—as powerful tools for health, performance, and longevity.
Cliff Miller
Cliff Miller provides leadership and strategic direction at TCA Insurance. He is passionate about business, risk management, and insurance coverage. Cliff recognizes that a client-centric mentality is key to hiring your next insurance counselor & risk manager. You will find Cliff invaluable in complex situations that require thoughtful strategy to navigating the unique challenges of today. He welcomes opportunities to invest in deliberate strategic planning through the ‘TCA-360’ risk management process.
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