Sakari Heikkilä has worked as a university relations manager and as a part of the corporate relations team at Wärtsilä since 2018. His key responsibilities are developing and maintaining needed networks between Wärtsilä businesses, support functions, and higher education institutions. In his role, he is interested in the broad sphere of higher education institutions and what they offer; research, talent and skills, and the innovation ecosystems surrounding universities.

Prior to Wärtsilä Corporation, Sakari worked at Aalto University as development manager and at the international office at the University of Oslo. He has also a background in education policy; he has worked as an adviser in a national student association and served as a member of the Higher Education Evaluation Committee in Finland. Sakari holds a master's degree in international relations.