Sharon Waxman Founder, CEO & Editor in Chief TheWrap, USA

Sharon Waxman is the founder, CEO, and Editor-in-Chief of TheWrap News, the leading media company covering the business of Hollywood through news and live events.

An award-winning journalist and best-selling author, Waxman is one of the world’s top experts on Hollywood, the business of entertainment, and popular culture. She is a former Hollywood correspondent for the New York Times and a frequent commentator on CNN, CBS, and other leading outlets.

Waxman became an entrepreneur in 2009 when she founded TheWrap, leading it to the top of the entertainment media landscape. The Wrap is known for its high-caliber news gathering and journalistic independence, winning numerous awards. Waxman was named 2021 Online Journalist of the Year by the LA Press Club's SoCal Journalism Awards, with WaxWord named as the best blog that same year.

Claire Léost President, Prisma Media, and Member of the Management Board Vivendi, France

Claire Léost is a graduate of Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (1997) and HEC (1999).
She began her career at McKinsey, where she was a consultant from 2000 to 2003. In 2003, she joined the Lagardère Active group, where she held the positions of Editor and then Managing Director.

She was appointed Chairman of CMI France in February 2019. In 2021, she was appointed President of Prisma Media within the Vivendi group.
She is also a novelist.

Stephanie Kaplan Lewis Co-founder and CEO Her Campus Media, USA

Stephanie Kaplan Lewis is the Co-founder and CEO of Her Campus Media, the #1 media company for college students and Gen Z, as well as a full-service youth marketing agency. She co-founded this company during her time as an undergraduate at Harvard in 2009. Her Campus Media encompasses multiple brands, including Her Campus, College Fashionista, Spoon University, InfluenceHer Collective, and Generation Hired. HCM reaches over 10 million monthly users on more than 1,500 college campuses, leveraging the power of its 50,000+ community members to connect brands with Gen Z through its comprehensive suite of services. 

Her Campus Media has received recognition as one of Fast Company's World's Most Innovative Companies and has been honored with the Campaign of the Year Award from Adweek. Stephanie also serves as an Expert-in-Residence at the Harvard Innovation Lab, is an EY Entrepreneur of the Year, and has been named to Forbes 30 Under 30 and Inc. 30 Under 30, among other accolades.

Paul Miller CEO Questex, USA

As the CEO of Questex, Paul is responsible for shaping Questex’s growth strategy and enhancing its offerings to better serve its customers as the leading information services company focused on the experience economy. 

Paul is an award-winning visionary leader with a keen ability and a track record of growing businesses. He has a passion for creating winning cultures and high-performing teams. Paul has successfully led and grown businesses with revenues ranging from $30 million to $250 million in both privately and publicly held companies. Notably, he was a member of the Executive Leadership team that completed the sale of Penton to Informa for $1.2 billion.

Before joining Questex, Paul served as the President of Informa’s Industry & Infrastructure Intelligence division, where he brought a high level of innovation and creativity to help customers achieve superior ROI on marketing investments and drive subscription revenues. Earlier in his career, Paul was the President of Penton’s Industry Group, where he had responsibilities that encompassed energy and buildings, design engineering, sourcing and manufacturing, and supply chain markets. Paul enjoyed a long and successful career with UBM, where he held several leadership positions. His last role was as CEO of UBM Tech, where he drove the business unit into digital content and services, completed several M&A transactions, and led international expansion into Europe, Asia, and Latin America. 

Paul is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM).

Andrés Rodríguez Founder and CEO Spainmedia

Andrés Rodríguez is a Journalist from the Complutense University of Madrid. After his time as editor and director of the most historic newspapers in Spain, in 2007 he decided to found the publishing group SpainMedia. Since then, he has consolidated a prestigious and profitable position in the lifestyle publications market, both in print and digital format. 

In 15 years, Spain Media has edited Esquire, Forbes, Harper’s Bazaar, Robb Report, L’Officiel, Tapas and T Magazine. In addition, Andrés is a board member of the newspaper El Español, a member of the board of directors of the Press Association of Madrid, founder of Club Matador, member of the board of protectors of the Teatro Real, 2016 Spanish National Gastronomy Award for Tapas magazine and in 2018 received the First Amendment Award by the Eisenhower Fellowship Association. He is also president of the Spanish Media Association (ARI).

Lucy Kueng Strategic Advisor, Board Member, Author and Speaker, Switzerland

Professor Lucy Kueng is an expert on strategy, innovation and leadership and focuses on successful responses to the challenges of digitalization. She is Senior Visiting Research Associate at the Reuters Institute, Oxford University and Non-Executive Board Member of the NZZ Media Group and formerly of Swiss PSM broadcaster SRG and VIZRT, the media tech provider. Lucy advises leading companies worldwide industry on digital transformation strategy and implementation. She keynotes frequently at international conferences and is the author of numerous books including Hearts and Minds: Harnessing Leadership, Culture and Talent to Really Go Digital, Going Digital, Innovators in Digital News, Strategic Management in the Media, and Inside the BBC and CNN. She holds a PhD and Habilitation from the University of St Gallen and an MBA from City Business School/Ashridge. 

Lina Calzado Vice President Revenue Strategy Europe Condé Nast, Spain

Lina leads revenue strategy for Condé Nast in Italy, France and Spain across the whole brand portfolio (video, audio, platforms, partnerships, e-commerce, native and data-powered display media). Before her current role, Lina was the Chief Digital Officer of Condé Nast Spain. Lina started at Condé Nast in 2010 as Digital Business Manager. Before then, she was with Unilever. Lina holds an executive MBA from IESE Business School and also studied at the University of Navarra and Universitat Pompeu Fabra.

Sam Baker Founder-Publisher The Shift with Sam Baker, UK

Sam Baker has spent more than 30 years in women’s media. She is the award- winning former Editor of the British magazines J17, Company, Cosmopolitan and Red. In 2015, she co-founded the Webby- and Lovie-winning women’s digital media brand, The Pool, with broadcaster Lauren Laverne. Late 2020 she launched the acclaimed podcast, The Shift, which has since expanded into a community and newsletter. 

She is a regular contributor to The Times, The Guardian, The Mail on Sunday and The Telegraph, amongst others, on a wide range of women’s issues, but particularly those affecting midlife women and beyond. She has written five novels and one work of non-fiction.

Kritasha Gupta Head of Business Development Financial Times, UK

Kritasha Gupta is the Head of Business Development, leading the FT's vertical growth strategy, responsible for leading the launch and growth of editorial verticals across topics like ESG, Climate, Private Equity, Markets, Work & Careers, etc. She works across editorial, product and commercial (subscriptions, advertising, events) teams to discover, test and scale vertical-led initiatives that support the FT's primary revenue streams.

Andy Burt MD CFO.com and Proformative.com at Industry Dive, USA

Andy is a 20+ year veteran of business and finance media. At Industry Dive, he focuses on strategy, operations, building new products, cultivating strong team culture, and building teams who excel.

Simon Michel-Berger Editor-in-Chief agrarheute, Landwirtschaftsverlag, Germany

Simon became Editor-in-Chief of agrarheute, an award-winning specialist media brands for farmers, in early 2020. Together with his team, agrafheute has set out to bridge the digital gap in specialist media journalism as evidenced in the growth of agrarheute from 2.4 million page visits in February 2020 to 11 million in October 2023 while at the same time maintaining the highly successful printed magazine. The website of agrarheute is currently the most widely read of any German special interest media and one of the largest internet sites covering agricultural news in the world. Before joining Deutscher Landwirtschaftsverlag, the publisher of agrarheute, Simon worked in various positions in journalism as well as media and government relations in Germany, Belgium, the UK and the US.

Reed Phillips CEO Oaklins DeSilva+Phillips, New York

Reed Phillips is a managing partner at Oaklins DeSilva+Phillips in New York, which he co-founded in 1996. Reed specializes in sell-side M&A in a number of industry sectors, including consumer and B2B media, advertising, market research, consulting, events, information, social media, marketing services and subscriptions. His recent transactions include the sale of Advertising Week, the leading events company for the advertising industry, to Emerald; the sale of Purpose, a social impact agency, to Capgemini; the sale of TechMedia, a conference business, to RLJ Equity Partners; and the sale of three divisions of Bonnier Corporation—two magazine divisions and the leading advisory business in DE&I for the Fortune 100. He also acquired the consumer media company Essence from Time Inc. and the B2B media company Kiplinger for Dennis Publishing.

Reed has been an investment banker for 33 years and has completed over 200 M&A transactions. In 2021, his book “QuickValue: Discover Your Value and Empower Your Business in Three Easy Steps” was published by McGraw Hill. The book provides a new valuation methodology for midsize companies. From 2017-2021, Reed was president and chairman of Oaklins International. In 2007, he was awarded “Media Deal of the Year” by Mergers & Acquisitions. Reed is frequently called on to comment on M&A by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg TV and the Financial Times and he has published articles in Harvard Business Review, The Washington Post, Advertising Age and The Deal. He is a graduate of Duke University.

Jason Clampet Chief Product Officer Skift

Jason Clampet is the Chief Product Officer and co-founder of Skift, the world's leading source of travel news and research, where he has spent the last 12 years building online editorial products. Jason started Skift as Head of Content and eventually grew his role to overseeing engineering, marketing, and design as Skift rapidly expanded. In 2019 Skift launched a custom-built subscription stack designed to support multiple plan types across multiple brands, as well as enable event registrations.

Prior to Skift, Jason worked on print and digital both in-house and freelance for leading travel guidebook companies including Frommer's and Rough Guides, and ran editorial operations for multiple online travel and city guides for InterActiveCorp.

Jason has lived in London with his family since shortly after Skift's staff went fully distributed after March 2020.

Victor Potrel Senior Vice President of Partnerships and Creator Services TheSoul Publishing, London

Victor Potrel is the Senior Vice President of Partnerships and Creator Services at TheSoul Publishing. Based in London, he oversees the company’s global distribution and content strategy, including partnerships with the largest social media and streaming platforms such as YouTube, Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, Samsung TV, and Roku. He also leads the innovative creator services team, which is helping creators globally scale and reach millions of new viewers. Victor joined TheSoul in 2019 and previously held positions at YouTube, Google, and LEGO, where he managed relationships with the world's largest content creators and businesses, as well as led dedicated content innovation teams.

Natasha Christie-Miller Former CEO Ascential Intelligence and Senior Advisor to TED conferences LLP Walking on Earth, Bayy Agency

Natasha Christie-Miller, is the former CEO of Ascential Intelligence,  Non-Executive Director and Chairwoman, Remco, and Senior Advisor to TED Talks, among others.

As CEO of Ascential Intelligence, the information services division at Ascential Plc, she built core, high-growth products in scale industries delivering high-value intelligence and connections for our powerful, professional audiences.

She started her career in sales and led the commercial teams on consumer brands such as Elle, Red, and the Emap parenting portfolio before taking on the role of Publishing Director of Drapers, the fashion industry bible at Emap B2B in 2005. She then became Managing Director for the Retail portfolio in 2007. Natasha was appointed CEO of EMAP in 2010 and CEO of Ascential Intelligence at Ascential Plc in 2015.

A Non-Exec Director of a media turned generalist VC for 13 years Natasha has overseen the buying, scaling, and divestment of over 200 companies. 

She is a Senior Board advisor to 3 fast growth companies (Walking On Earth, BAYY Agency, and EDITED) and a Senior Advisor to the world-famous TED Talks LLP.

Jacob Donnelly Publisher, Morning Brew, and Founder, A Media Operator Morning Brew and A Media Operator

Jacob Donnelly is the Publisher at Morning Brew, overseeing the rapidly growing B2B business. In his time there, it has grown from $5 million to over $25 million. He is also the founder of A Media Operator, which is targeted toward media professionals that are building or working on sustainable, audience-first media companies.

Andrew Losowsky Head of Community Product Vox Media LLC

Founder and innovator with expertise in journalism, product leadership, community, and preventing harmful speech.

Michelle Brister Head of Audience Development The Telegraph, UK

Michelle Brister is Head of Audience Development for The Telegraph in the UK, overseeing the editorial strategy for audience growth with responsibility for social media, newsletters, and community. Michelle has 13 years of experience in digital editorial roles and joined The Telegraph in 2021.

Alan Soon Co-founder and CEO Splice Media, Singapore

Alan Soon is the Co-founder and CEO of Splice Media in Singapore, the outfit that supports the growth and viability of media startups and creators across Asia. He's been working in media for almost three decades. Connect with him on LinkedIn.

Victoria Mellor Co-founder and Chairperson Kademy, UK

Victoria has been an entrepreneur for almost three decades. Her career started as a business school teacher more than 25 years ago, and she continued that passion, honing her skills as she led Melcrum from very humble beginnings to a leader in the industry, providing thought leadership and services to the top Internal Communication leaders and organisations around the globe. She is also actively involved with Novatum Group, The Day News and Media, and is an investor in the B2B community platform Guild. 

Victoria firmly believes that, when you unleash the full potential of people, extraordinary things happen. That belief continues her determination to elevate the communications profession as a critical driver of superior performance. Aside from her day-to-day work, Victoria also actively helps other B2B businesses develop new strategies to scale and develop. She holds a degree in Economics from the University of Exeter in the UK, TEFL Certificate from the University of Westminster, and Business Growth Programme certificate from Cranfield School of Management.

Bettina Widmer Head of Vertical Hub at Blick Gruppe Ringier, Switzerland

Bettina has worked in the media sector for the past seven years in various roles including editorial, social media, and product development. Since 2021 she has been Head of Vertical Hub at Blick, a Swiss national daily newspaper with 1.2 million daily online users and 750k registered users. Her team develops verticals targeting new audiences, acquiring registered members, and increasing monetisation through sponsorships.

Àlex Poderoso Chief Digital Officer Grupo RBA

Àlex Poderoso is a Technical Engineer in Computer Science and a Graduate in Multimedia from the Open University of Catalonia. He began his professional career in the first digital department of the public broadcaster of Catalonia. Later, he was the Digital Director at the magazine publisher Sàpiens. He then leapt at the chance to be part of the founding team of the newspaper Ara, the first integrated print-digital newsroom in Spain.

That experience led him to become the Head of Technological Development at El Periódico de Catalunya, a national newspaper based in Barcelona. 

Alex is currently the Digital Director of the RBA group. In this position, he helps general management with all issues related to digital business: product, technology and organisation.

 RBA has managed to take its leadership in the print world to digital, growing more than 1,300% in users in just 5 years and ranks among Spain’s most popular digital entities. The transformation of RBA included refocusing teams, specializing in verticals, and drawing upon quality content and people to adapt to dynamic changes in the media landscape while focusing on growth.

George Montagu Head of Insights FT Strategies, UK

George is Head of Insights at FT Strategies and an expert in the media industry and its accompanying business models. George has led and contributed to a number of high-profile projects including the News Sustainability Project, the National Theatre, and various leading European news publishers. Prior to joining FT Strategies, George spent 4 years guiding FT's data strategy and their future approach to marketing & advertising.

Jane McCallion Deputy Editor IT Pro, UK

Jane is deputy editor at ITPro, and its sibling titles Cloud Pro and ChannelPro. She started with the brands as a staff writer specializing in cloud computing. She went on to become a senior writer and reports editor, managing the content and creation of ITPro's quarterly whitepapers. During this time, she broadened her expertise to include cyber security, data centers, and enterprise IT infrastructure. In 2016, she became a features editor, managing a pool of freelance and internal writers, while continuing to specialise in enterprise IT infrastructure, data centers, and business strategy. In 2019, she helped launch the ITPro Podcast and remains one of the co-hosts today.

In October 2021, Jane became the site's deputy editor and now has a more strategic role, although she is still a specialist in enterprise IT infrastructure and business strategy.

Jane holds an MA in journalism from Goldsmiths, University of London, and a BA in Applied Languages from the University of Portsmouth. She is fluent in French and Spanish and has written features in both languages.

Before joining ITPro, Jane was a freelance business journalist writing as both Jane McCallion and Jane Bordenave for titles such as European CEO, World Finance, and Business Excellence Magazine.

Erika Marzano Project Manager: Audience Development Deutsche Welle, Germany

Erika Marzano is a Project Manager in the Audience Development team at Deutsche Welle (DW) in Bonn. She specialises in fostering connectivity between newsrooms and journalists and their audiences through social media strategies and engagement online. She leads central platform management for TikTok and X (formerly Twitter) in Audience Development. Her academic background spans linguistics to European and international studies, and journalism.

Richard O’Connor CEO B2B Marketing/Propolis, UK

Richard’s career has spanned B2B and B2C media, events and SaaS. He has run commercial teams at several leading private and public businesses, including Centaur,  The Independent Newspaper, UBM, Informa and RELX. He also led a multi-year commercial transformation programme for UBM, which involved the design and delivery of a sales and marketing operating model in EMEA, Asia and the US. He was also on the integration team following the acquisition of UBM by Informa.

Richard currently leads B2B Marketing, a Community Intelligence business with a portfolio of specialist conferences, awards, marketing services and Propolis - the multi-award winning global community for B2B Marketing Leaders. Launched in 2021, Propolis has grown rapidly into the go-to community for many of the world’s leading B2B brands

Jean-Paul Reparon Managing Director Agri Media, The Netherlands

Jean Paul Reparon boasts over 17 years of experience in the Dutch magazine production industry, with a significant portion of his career at Senefelder Misset. His roles involved aiding small and medium-sized publishers and foundations in both print and digital publishing endeavors. As the general manager of Dock35 Media & Marketing, another component of Senefelder Misset, Jean Paul provided with his team a wide range of services to publishers, including ad sales, design, online marketing, web development, video production, and digital magazine creation. This period also saw the publication of specialized magazines targeting niche markets, including real estate agents (Vastgoed), DJs (under the licence of DJ Mag), and hobby carpenters (under the licence of Selber Machen).

Since 2019, Jean Paul has assumed the role of publisher and co-owner at a publishing house, called AgriMedia, focused on Dutch agriculture. Their portfolio includes eight brands specializing in agricultural machinery and animal health. They also organize knowledge events, including the "Nationaal Geiten Event," featuring exhibitions, symposiums, and goat examinations. In recent years, the company has transitioned from a print- centric operation to a brand-focused one, has adopted a new tech-stack, established new content services, introduced a new (digital) subscription strategy, developed new digital business models for advertisers, and explored international licensing opportunities. By concentrating on high- value content, particularly in the field of agricultural machinery and animal health, they have achieved success within several B2B and niche communities.

Rachel Arthur Founder and Editor Boom Saloon, UK and Malaysia

Passionate about championing the arts and creative industries, Rachel Arthur founded boom saloon via Kickstarter in 2016. Having previously studied fashion and design management, she initially embarked upon a stint at Conde Nast before moving to a pivotal role as Head of Content at Scotland’s fastest growing fashion tech company, where she led a small team. Here, the power and importance of data was truly brought to light whilst learnings on management and startup business were made. 

Three years at Creative Edinburgh further ignited her passion for nurturing creative growth across sectors whilst understanding the importance of a diverse creative ecosystem, which was further developed into boom saloon’s mission to democratise creativity for good across print magazine, community projects and creative studio. In her work to build a global movement around this mission, Rachel has been named as an Industry Expert for Create Hub, FIPP Rising Star in Media and Young Women’s Movement’s 30 Under 30. She has spoken for Google, Monocle, FT Strategies, Media Voices and FIPP, covering topics including environmental sustainability, how to consistently marry the vitality and possibility of data with the tangibility of print and the belonging of community, and the move from subscription to membership to movement.

Mike Chaffe CEO Wolves Summit, Poland

Michael Chaffe is the CEO of Wolves Summit. He spent a decade working up to 250m under the Ocean as a Saturation Diver in the Oil & Gas industry, before entering the European VC industry in 2017.

Initially assisting UK-based startups in closing their funding rounds, he went on to acquire Central & Eastern Europe’s flagship innovation conference, Wolves Summit in 2019. Together with a rapidly expanding team, he is leveraging the summit to build valuable bridges between the CEE innovation ecosystem and global partners & investors.

Outside of the professional realm, Mike is an avid Crossfitter, enjoys hiking in summer and skiing in winter throughout Central & Eastern Europe with his young children.

Marco Olavarria Consultant Berlin Consulting, Germany

Awaiting Biography.

Lexie Kirkconnell-Kawana Chief Executive Impress

Lexie Kirkconnell-Kawana is the Chief Executive of Impress, the UK’s only approved press regulator and a champion of news that can be trusted. Lexie is a New Zealand qualified barrister and solicitor who has worked in all forms of media regulation, in the UK and New Zealand, in investigations, research and semi-judicial capacity.

Samantha Eales Head of Commercial Audience Data Mail Metro Media, UK

As Head of Commercial Audience Data at Mail Metro Media, Sammie Eales is responsible for supporting the commercial team with first-party data strategies, optimising campaigns, and evaluating the effectiveness of all campaigns run across Mail Metro Media’s digital portfolio. Since joining the team in 2017, Sammie has been instrumental in developing the company's data capabilities, including the launch of our award-winning proprietary identity solution: dmg::ID. She is passionate about data storytelling and communicating data in an accessible way, with her work in this area reverberating across the industry.

John Gallagher Head of New Business EMEA Permutive, UK

John Gallagher is Head of New Business at Permutive, putting publishers in control of their revenue by enabling them to reach and monetise 100% of their audience while respecting consumer privacy. He is a multilingual enterprise sales professional with demonstrated experience in high growth venture-backed SaaS businesses. John completed his postgraduate studies in the Peruvian Highlands where he conducted ethnographic research.

John Barnes Chief Digital Officer William Reed

John has been the Chief Digital Officer at William Reed since June 2020 and is responsible for driving digital transformation across the business. William Reed was the 2021 AOP UK digital publisher of the year. Prior to William Reed John was Managing Director of Sloop Media.

He was the Chief Digital Officer (CDO) at Infopro Digital following its acquisition of the Incisive Media Insight Group in spring 2017. Infopro was named UK digital publisher of the year twice during this time.

Prior to this he held the same role at Incisive Media and was responsible for driving change in its digital strategy and delivery globally across the group. During this time Incisive Media was named UK digital publisher of the year a record four times.

He was Chairman of the AOP from 2010 to 2015 and remains a non Executive director of the organisation.

He was Managing director of VNU Business Publications prior to Incisive Media acquiring it in 2007. He has over 30 years experience in B2B Media.

John has a wealth of experience in paywalls and meters, lead generation, ABM, online and hybrid events and content strategies, ad and martech and continuous payment models.

Colin Morrison CBE Director, Consultant & Investor, and Editor-Publisher Flashes & Flames - The Global Media Weekly, UK

Colin Morrison CBE writes the award-winning Flashes & Flames: The Global Media Weekly He was formerly a CEO of media companies in Europe and the AsiaPacific, including for: Axel Springer, Future, Hearst, Reed, EMAP and Australian Consolidated Press.Flashes & Flames features deepdives on companies, markets and trends and exclusive weekly interviews with industry leaders who don't give interviews anywhere else. Have you subscribed yet? With Colin’s expert analysis and wide range of industry interviews and features, Friday will never be the same. 

www.flashesandflames.com

Yolanda Ausin CEO ARI Spanish Magazine Association

Yolanda Ausin, joined ARI as CEO in September 2011. She is also Vice President of INTROL and Board Member of FIPP and EMMA.

Before that, Yolanda had a successful TV career. In 1999, she was one of the founders of Cosmopolitan TV and VP Country Manager until 2006 when she joined Discovery Networks as VP Country Manager for Spain and Portugal.In 2008, she was appointed Telemadrid Managing Director, Madrid PBS.

Yolanda began her career as a marketing professional working at Johnson & Johnson, Sanitas Bupa Group and Vodafone, where she was Marketing Director.

She is a frequent speaker on media-related topics: TV, magazines and digital. She is committed to equal opportunities and diversity promotion in business and society and is an IWF, International Women Forum, member.

Yolanda is a passionate traveller, loves gardening and cooking and, overall, enjoys her private time with family and friends as much as she can.

She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Politics and Sociology at Madrid Complutense University and holds an MBA from IE Business School.

Preethi Nallu Executive Director Report for the World, Spain

Preethi Nallu is a journalist, film-maker, press freedom advocate and executive director at Report for the World, part of the Groundtruth Project. She was a founding editor at News Deeply.

Born in Iran, raised in India, Preethi's career spans 14 countries across the global north and south. She has researched, reported and campaigned about humanitarian and media development issues. Her films and reports won multiple Webby awards, Migration Media awards, and the Human Rights Press Prize. 

Preethi has worked for mainstream media outlets such as Al Jazeera English and Foreign Policy, global think tanks such as Chatham House, and led multimedia campaigns for the UN, and global NGOs such as the Norwegian Refugee Council and International Media Support (IMS). 

Carolyn Morgan Founder and Managing Consultant Speciall Media and Non- Executive Board Member, UK

Carolyn Morgan has launched, acquired, grown and sold media businesses across print, digital and live events.

She was formerly an Exec Director at EMAP, specialising in marketing, events, digital development and strategy. Carolyn was a co-founder of the Specialist Media Show, which she sold to SIIA in 2013.   Carolyn has wide experience of niche publishing businesses and advises many independent media owners on digital strategy through her consulting business, Speciall Media. She regularly curates and chairs conferences on digital media strategy. She moderates an online community of 190 media leaders, the Speciall Media Group on Guild.

Carolyn is a Non-Exec Director for Thomas Telford, the commercial and publishing division of the Institute of Civil Engineers, and also Executive Grapevine International, an independent niche B2B media business.

James Hewes CEO PRCA, UK

James Hewes started his career in media working at BBC Worldwide (now BBC Studios), the commercial division of the BBC, the UK state broadcaster. He worked in their publishing business, BBC Magazines, for 12 years, building a track record of success in marketing, digital and print media, events and international business development. James was a key member of the team that sold BBC Magazines to private equity in November 2011 for £120m, leading to the creation of Immediate Media.

As Publishing Director of Dubai-based Gulf News Publishing from 2013 to 2016, he had responsibility for more than 30 product areas and launched new brands across digital, live events and print including the group’s first consumer title in Arabic. He was then Interim CEO of The Art Newspaper from 2016-2017 whilst also running his own company, Soho Consulting.

He was President & CEO of FIPP from September 2017 to the end of 2023, re-positioning the 100-year old media trade association as a business focused on learning, knowledge sharing, skills development and networking. Having successfully steered the business through the pandemic, he led the outsourcing of their events business and launched FIPP Consulting, the association’s in-house consulting arm.

In January 2024, he was appointed CEO of PRCA, the world’s largest and most influential PR professional body.

Neil Thackray former Co-founder and CEO, Agribriefing, Non-Executive Director Gambit Media, and Host, Media Makers Meet – Mx3, UK

Non Exec Director of Gambit Media (Risk Leadership Network) – a subscription enterprise tool for risk managers around the world to network share and collaborate in next risk management practice. Advisor to PE funds on media investments and strategic advisor to media companies.

Co Founder and formerly CEO of Agribriefing. The business began as a self funded start up delivering content, events and strategy analysis for the media industry and through a series of private equity investments pivoted to be a world leading agri commodity/protein price reporting agency. Serial investor in media start ups, most recently Axate – an ingenious solution to the content micro payment challenge.

Earlier career as CEO Quantum Business Media, Nexus Business Media, The Industry Standard Europe. Former Executive Director Miller Freeman Uk (later UBM) and divisional director at Reed Business Information. Neil is a good friend of Media Makers Meet – Mx3, where he often (he says reluctantly, but we believe otherwise) does us favours by speaking at or hosting our events.

John Schlaefli Co-Founder & CCO Media Makers Meet - MX3

John is the Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at Media Makers Meet - MX3, leveraging over three decades of extensive experience within the media industry. His expertise covers a comprehensive range of verticals within the sector, where he has been instrumental in leading teams, fostering business development, and driving significant growth. 

Before establishing MX3, John also held the position of Director at FIPP Ltd.