Richard Askam Speaker and Broadcaster

Richard Askam spent 30 years working in the Wine Business before he took a career turn in 2010 to launch the first personalised champagne gifts in the UK as an antidote to the commoditisation of the wine market in the UK. Ultimately, this lead him to the doors of Coca-Cola where he created and executed the online ShareaCoke campaign across Europe in 2014. Over the following 2 years, Richard created similarly successful personalised campaigns for the likes of Unilever, Barclays, Vodafone and McVities before becoming a renowned full time speaker, debuting as a TED Talker in 2017 and he has worked extensively across the world for the likes of HP, Xerox, Canon and many more. Richard is a master of conversation, an invaluable skill in a world where businesses have to adapt to the conversation of their customers, and over the last few years has become an accomplished host and MC for business events both online and in person!

Lisa Macleod Principal and Publishing Lead FT Strategies

Lisa MacLeod is a Principal and Publishing Lead at FT Strategies. Her recent projects include a 9-month subscription programme with 8 European publishers, and a digital revenue launch project. Lisa has more than 25 years experience in print to digital convergence and transition programmes, most notably working for 12 years at the Financial Times in London where she headed up newsroom operations, was Head of Operations for FT.com, an Assistant Editor and Managing Editor.

She contributes to Women in News as a trainer, consultant and advisor on digital transformation in newsrooms across the globe, and has led digital transformation at two of Africa’s largest media companies: Tiso Blackstar (now Arena Holdings) in South Africa, and Naspers’s 24.com.

She was Vice-President of the World Association of News Publishers, is a long-standing board member of the World Editors Forum, Leader-in-Residence at the University  of Lancashire, and a mentor on the Journalism Innovation and Leadership Programme.

Steffen Damborg CEO Author of Mastering Digital Transformation and Digital Transformation Specialist, Denmark

Steffen Damborg (MBA) is a digital transformation specialist with 10 plus years of experience in all aspects of running an online business in the media industry. He is a former Digital Director and Chief Development Officer at the leading Danish publisher, JP/Politikens Hus, and is currently focusing on Digital Transformation for global media organisations accrued from his knowledge of working extensively in the Scandinavian market. His digital transformation experience includes different aspects of online media management, strategic development and emergent approaches towards new sustainable digital business models in the disrupted Nordic media market and beyond.

Mr. Damborg holds a MBA degree from Aarhus School of Business and a MSc degree in political science from Heidelberg University/Aarhus University. In 2016 Steffen Damborg was appointed Media & Entertainment Group Discussion Leader at Harvard Business School.

Luke Magerko Luke Magerko, Managing Partner, Strategic Consulting, and Head of Data Science, Mather Economics, USA

Luke Magerko is Managing Partner, Strategic Consulting, and Head of Data Science at Mather Economics. Luke has over 15 years of experience leading data science and business intelligence teams across media organizations. Luke’s teams produce significant incremental revenue and cost savings by focusing on a holistic view of subscribers and data-process automation.

Luke leads teams focused on value creation through data storytelling:   strategy, governance, analytics, data science, and MLOps for multiple business disciplines, including hundreds of media brands and websites representing 150 million unique subscribers.

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.

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.

Tom Allum Co-founder Baytree

Tom Allum is a seasoned media professional with over 15 years of experience running digital transformation projects. He is the founder and managing director of Baytree, a company that is at the forefront of leveraging cutting-edge technology to drive growth in publishing organisations.

Tom has spearheaded numerous initiatives in the content management space, and his innovative approach to helping publishers take advantage of headless content management systems has earned him recognition as a trailblazer in the media industry. As a speaker, Tom brings a wealth of knowledge and practical insight that is invaluable for anyone looking to understand how headless CMS technology can unlock unprecedented growth and fuel success in today’s highly competitive publishing landscape. His talk promises to offer up a dynamic roadmap for thriving amidst the industry’s evolving complexities.

Dan Pacheco Peter A. Horvitz Endowed Chair in Journalism Innovation S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University

Dan Pacheco is the Peter A. Horvitz Chair of Journalism Innovation at the Newhouse School at Syracuse University and author of the upcoming book, Experimenting With Emerging Media Platforms: Field Testing the Future, (Taylor & Francis / Routledge, launching June 2023). The book is based on an approach and set of exercises Pacheco has developed over the years to help students of journalism, film, public relations and advertising conduct controlled tests of new technologies to solve media-related problems.

Pacheco has a long history as an innovator in major media companies. He started his digital career as online producer for Washingtonpost.com, where he produced Interact, one of the first online news communities. Subsequently, as a principal product manager at America Online, he oversaw some of the internet’s first truly global community products. In 2005, after pioneering the first implementation of a social networking platform at a U.S. newspaper, he received an NAA “20 Under 40” award. In 2007, he received a Knight News Challenge grant to build a democratized publishing service that evolved into an eBook platform which he ran as a startup for four years. In 2014, he started and co-produced the USA TODAY NETWORK’s Harvest of Change VR project for the Oculus Rift, which was the world’s first large-scale use of virtual reality by a commercial news organization. Harvest of Change earned an Edward R. Murrow Award for its innovative use of 360-degree video for virtual reality.

Joris van Lierop CEO The Content Exchange

Joris van Lierop has a successful track record as publisher of some of the biggest media brands in the Netherlands. He worked for Sanoma, Financieel Dagblad and for eight years he was responsible for the news brands of RTL. In 2020 he founded The Content Exchange (TCE). A global syndication platform that supports collaborations between publishers, content creators and editorial teams worldwide. TCE’s mission is to create more value for great stories.

Andy Macharg CTO Hello! & HOLA!

Andy is one of the most experienced technology leaders in publishing today, with unrivalled experience in acquiring and creating systems to grow publishing businesses.

Andy is leading Hello! and Hola! through an ambitious product portfolio overhaul, building on experience in technology leadership working with brands including The Week, FourFourTwo, What HiFi?, Stuff, Volkswagen Group, the Army, and World Athletics.

With more than 15 years experience in senior Technology roles, including steering UK media firm Dennis Publishing to a successful sale to Future PLC, Andrew has a unique insight into building, rebuilding and running media businesses, and building high performing teams and technology.

Richard Bean CRO Affilizz

Richard Bean has a 20-year record of building global brands and businesses. He has held leadership positions in the international operations for globally renowned companies such as Future plc., Dennis and Hearst Magazines.

For the past few years, he has worked for SaaS technology companies helping tier-1 content media businesses diversify their revenue streams and maximise the opportunities offered through licensing intellectual property and affiliate eCommerce.

Alastair Lewis Interim MD FIPP Ltd

Alastair is a former Managing Director at Haymarket and Future PLC running some of the UK’s best known consumer media brands including Autocar, Stuff, FourFourTwo, How It Works and What Hi-Fi? amongst others. His 20 years in media have seen him focus on Digital Brand Development, Content, Audience and Commercial Growth as well as International Business Development and Partnerships, Digital Subscriptions, E-Commerce and Affiliate revenues. 

In 2019 he founded his own business, Quested Consulting, that works with media companies to help them find opportunities to diversify revenue streams, launch new products and develop existing brands and with solutions providers who are looking to work with and understand specialist media. 

Having launched FIPP Consulting in 2023, the FIPP Board asked Alastair to step in as Interim MD of FIPP in January 2024.

Mbali Soga Editor-in-Chief Media24

Mbali Soga spent 10 years working with TRUELOVE in various roles, including as editor between 2017 and 2022. In 2019, the vision and new direction that she brought to TRUELOVE captured the attention of FIPP and UPM, who named Mbali as the overall winner of their Rising Stars Award.

Local and international advertising and marketing authorities also took note. Over the past two years, during her time as Head of Content at South Africa’s no.1 online fashion retailer, Superbalist.com, Mbali worked on two Loerie award-winning campaigns as well as one Effie award-winning campaign.

Mbali’s eye for style and her knowledge of our local design community made her an essential part of the Superbalist team that created the corporate uniform for SA’s newest airline, LIFT. She was also on the creative team that brought you the hottest retail collaboration with visual artist Lulama Wolf.

Now, after a year stretching her wings in the digital space, Mbali is back at TRUELOVE to lead this exciting new part of our journey, where she takes on the role of Editor-in-Chief.

Mbali represents the journey of, and has gathered lessons about, why content and storytelling are the foundation of what makes the world go round.

Alastair Lewis Interim MD FIPP Ltd

Alastair is a former Managing Director at Haymarket and Future PLC running some of the UK’s best known consumer media brands including Autocar, Stuff, FourFourTwo, How It Works and What Hi-Fi? amongst others. His 20 years in media have seen him focus on Digital Brand Development, Content, Audience and Commercial Growth as well as International Business Development and Partnerships, Digital Subscriptions, E-Commerce and Affiliate revenues. 

In 2019 he founded his own business, Quested Consulting, that works with media companies to help them find opportunities to diversify revenue streams, launch new products and develop existing brands and with solutions providers who are looking to work with and understand specialist media. 

Having launched FIPP Consulting in 2023, the FIPP Board asked Alastair to step in as Interim MD of FIPP in January 2024.

David Clinch VP of Partnerships Mather Economics and Media Growth Partners

David has more than 30 years of experience working in the news and media industries, working as an international journalist at ITN and then CNN, and then as a media executive at both Storyful and Mather Economics. As a co-founder and Managing Director of Partnerships, David leads strategic partnerships for Media Growth Partners. MGP helps media companies access the resources and technology that they need to support a successful revenue strategy.

Rafat Ali CEO Skift

Rafat Ali, CEO and Founder of Skift, and a Board Member of the International Women’s Media Foundation, USA

Rafat is the CEO and Founder of Skift, the most influential business media company in the global travel sector providing news, research, events and marketing services to key sectors in travel.

Previously, he was the founder of paidContent, which he sold to UK’s Guardian News and Media in 2008. Prior to that, he was managing editor of Silicon Alley Reporter.

Rafat was the Knight Fellow at Indiana University, where he completed his Masters in Journalism, 1999-2000. Prior to that he completed his
BSc in Computer Engineering, from AMU in Aligarh, India.

Charlotte Ricca Performance Psychologist, Podcaster, and Content Strategist

Charlotte Ricca has worked in the media industry for almost three decades, as a journalist, editor, presenter and podcaster. She has written for leading titles, including the Guardian, Independent and BBC, and created content for big brands, including Samsung, American Express and TDK.
During this time, Charlotte has also interviewed leaders in business, sport and entertainment and has always been fascinated with what it takes to stay at the top of your game. This curiosity took her back to university, where she studied to become a performance psychologist. It certainly passed the time during lockdown… Alongside her ‘day job’ Charlotte coaches teams and individuals on how to block self doubt and unlock their true potential.

Ganesh Baniya Media & Technology Entreprenuer Impact First Media Entrepreneur

Ganesh is co-founder of Icarus Media with five vertical brands in the digital product portfolio. He specializes in sustainable media development in volatile markets. 

GandaWinTM, one of his brain childs created in 2013 when Myanmar became independent. It is the first and largest women empowerment brand in Myanmar which encourages social dialogues on both sensitive & fun topics with a reach of 11 million people per month. 

After going dark for nearly a year due to the 2021 political upheaval in Myanmar he is on a journey to reviving the brands. The other brand focuses include skills development for the Myanmar labor market, parenting psychology and mental wellbeing.

His experience goes beyond MediaTech and expands into the TravelTech, MarTech & FinTech industry. He is a qualified Agile practitioner and played key leading roles in a few digital transformation projects.  

He is passionate about customer experience, product design and creating constructive social changes. He is an ICF registered coach and mentors a few media startups in Asia for sustainability and growth.

Richard Askam Speaker and Broadcaster

Richard Askam spent 30 years working in the Wine Business before he took a career turn in 2010 to launch the first personalised champagne gifts in the UK as an antidote to the commoditisation of the wine market in the UK. Ultimately, this lead him to the doors of Coca-Cola where he created and executed the online ShareaCoke campaign across Europe in 2014. Over the following 2 years, Richard created similarly successful personalised campaigns for the likes of Unilever, Barclays, Vodafone and McVities before becoming a renowned full time speaker, debuting as a TED Talker in 2017 and he has worked extensively across the world for the likes of HP, Xerox, Canon and many more. Richard is a master of conversation, an invaluable skill in a world where businesses have to adapt to the conversation of their customers, and over the last few years has become an accomplished host and MC for business events both online and in person!

Lisa Macleod Principal and Publishing Lead FT Strategies

Lisa MacLeod is a Principal and Publishing Lead at FT Strategies. Her recent projects include a 9-month subscription programme with 8 European publishers, and a digital revenue launch project. Lisa has more than 25 years experience in print to digital convergence and transition programmes, most notably working for 12 years at the Financial Times in London where she headed up newsroom operations, was Head of Operations for FT.com, an Assistant Editor and Managing Editor.

She contributes to Women in News as a trainer, consultant and advisor on digital transformation in newsrooms across the globe, and has led digital transformation at two of Africa’s largest media companies: Tiso Blackstar (now Arena Holdings) in South Africa, and Naspers’s 24.com.

She was Vice-President of the World Association of News Publishers, is a long-standing board member of the World Editors Forum, Leader-in-Residence at the University  of Lancashire, and a mentor on the Journalism Innovation and Leadership Programme.

Kiessé Lamour Global Head of Media, Commerce Wunderman Thompson Commerce & Technology

Kiessé is Global Head of Media, Commerce at Wunderman Thompson, which she joined in August 2021 to establish and scale the business’ commerce media practice and operations globally, as well as embed new capabilities and processes across various regions.

Before joining Wunderman Thompson, Kiessé was Head of Industry Partnerships at Pinterest UK, where she was responsible for building and leading a team to help marketers drive business growth on the platform.

Prior to that, Kiessé held various leadership roles in programmatic, paid search, social and brand safety within Omnicom Media Group UK, where she worked for 8 years. At Omnicom Media Group UK, Kiessé has been responsible for establishing operational excellence, driving commercial efficiency and pushing the standards for brand safety, fraud prevention and viewability. She also led strategy and planning for Programmatic and Paid Search across a vast portfolio of clients whilst building Omnicom’s Programmatic Audio offering from the ground up.

Early in her career she worked in Ireland and France for companies like Google, Unilever and Société Générale.

Kiessé studied British, American and Afro-American studies at the Université Grenoble Alpes, and also holds a Master’s of International Business from the Grenoble School of Business.

She is married with 2 daughters (12 yo and 6 yo) and enjoys African fashion, travelling, reading, cooking with her husband, going out with her girlfriends, binging Nollywood on Netflix and Amazon Prime and spending quality time with her daughters.

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.

Ruwayda Mustafah PR Manager Rûdaw Media Network

Ruwayda Mustafah is the Manager of Public Relations at Rudaw Media Network, which is a multilingual platform that runs in English, Arabic, Kurdish, and Turkish.

She is also an advocate for women and children’s rights in Iraqi Kurdistan Region. Ruwayda has written a series of illustrated children’s books to highlight the unique Kurdish culture for diaspora communities, and is the founder of multiple initiatives that advocate for the well-being of children and women.

Charlotte Ricca Performance Psychologist, Podcaster, and Content Strategist

Charlotte Ricca has worked in the media industry for almost three decades, as a journalist, editor, presenter and podcaster. She has written for leading titles, including the Guardian, Independent and BBC, and created content for big brands, including Samsung, American Express and TDK.
During this time, Charlotte has also interviewed leaders in business, sport and entertainment and has always been fascinated with what it takes to stay at the top of your game. This curiosity took her back to university, where she studied to become a performance psychologist. It certainly passed the time during lockdown… Alongside her ‘day job’ Charlotte coaches teams and individuals on how to block self doubt and unlock their true potential.

Jacqueline Loch EVP Social + Emerging Platforms SJC Media

Jacquie is a content strategy and media executive specializing in delivering multi-platform content solutions across social, digital, video, print, SEO, research and e-commerce. With 25+ years of experience, she’s a branded content and revenue generation expert who drives engagement and results, and cultivates C-level relationships. She works closely with SJC’s largest clients to create innovative cross-platform content solutions that deliver on revenue goals. As VP Group Publisher at SJC Media and TC Media she oversaw a portfolio of consumer media brands including FASHION, ELLE Canada, Canadian Living, and Style at Home. She held the roles of VP Content Solutions and VP Client Solutions at Rogers Media. A recognized leader in marketing solutions and media innovation, Jacquie Chairs The Content Council (New York) and is a Board Member for the National Media Awards Foundation (Canada). A frequent speaker across North America and Europe, having created award-winning programs for a wide range of top-tier clients. SJC Media is Canada’s largest English language Publisher, publishing media brands that include Chatelaine, Maclean’s, Toronto Life, FASHION, Canadian Business and Today’s Parent.

James Elliott President James G. Elliott Co., Inc

Jim Elliott has over 40 years’ experience in the advertising industry. Before founding his own national media sales company in 1984, he held numerous executive positions, including CBS Magazines and Road & Track Magazine.

His hands-on work with more than 450 media clients has given him a tremendous breadth of knowledge about the challenges faced by publishers and media owners today. He has developed and executed strategies for clients of all sizes and managed sales for b2b and b2c media including digital publishers, a research company, single-title publishers, large media conglomerates and associations. Mr. Elliott has served on a number of industry boards, and is currently a member of the CEO Council, composed of C-suite executive members of SIIA in the business information, events and technology industries.

Alastair Lewis Interim MD FIPP Ltd

Alastair is a former Managing Director at Haymarket and Future PLC running some of the UK’s best known consumer media brands including Autocar, Stuff, FourFourTwo, How It Works and What Hi-Fi? amongst others. His 20 years in media have seen him focus on Digital Brand Development, Content, Audience and Commercial Growth as well as International Business Development and Partnerships, Digital Subscriptions, E-Commerce and Affiliate revenues. 

In 2019 he founded his own business, Quested Consulting, that works with media companies to help them find opportunities to diversify revenue streams, launch new products and develop existing brands and with solutions providers who are looking to work with and understand specialist media. 

Having launched FIPP Consulting in 2023, the FIPP Board asked Alastair to step in as Interim MD of FIPP in January 2024.

Gonçalo Gil Barreiros Partner and Head of Intellectual Property PRA-Raposo, Sá Miranda & Associados

Gonçalo Gil Barreiros is a lawyer, partner and head of Intellectual Property at PRA-Raposo, Sá Miranda & Associados. Gonçalo has a law degree at University of Coimbra, and is postgraduate in Business Law, University of Coimbra with a  Masters in Corporate Law and Business, Catholic University – Porto.

Gonçalo was awarded the Prize Dr. Paulo Merea by the University of Coimbra, Faculty of Law and was a lecturer of Intellectual Property Law in the Masters in Corporate Law and Business, Catholic University – Oporto, and, on Copyright and Related rights of law degree from Catholic University – Oporto, Faculty of Law . Member of the Editorial Committee of the legal magazine “Intellectual Property” (Catholic University Publishing), Gonçalo is also author of several papers on copyright matters, and a recognized lawyer by Legal 500, Chambers and Iberian Lawyer.

Carlos Eugénio Executive Director Visapress

Carlos Eugénio is a graduate from ISLA Lisbon in Management Computing.  He did a post graduate in Web Technologies and Computer Systems at UAB.  He is also a student of law at the University of Law of Lisbon.

Until 2017, he was responsible for the anti-piracy department of FEVIP – ASSOCIAÇÃO PORTUGUESA DE DEFESA DE OBRAS AUDIOVISUAIS.  From 2010 to 2020 was General Secretary of Mapinet – Movimento Cívico Anti Pirataria na Internet, today he is a consultant to the Board of this entity.

He is an Executive Director of VISAPRESS, a collective management entity for the remuneration of press copyrights, since 2015.  He is also a member of the Board of AGECOP – Associação para a Gestão da Cópia Privada and a member of the Board of Directors of PDLN Press Database Licensing Network, a global organization of collective management entities.

Isabel Reis Rodrigues Chief Marketing and Digital Development Manager Cofina

With more than 30 years of experience in the media area where she has accumulated several transversal experiences and with a high level of specialization in the areas of Marketing and Digital.

With a degree in History from Universidade Clássica de Lisboa and with various degrees in Marketing, Leadership, Management and Communication, Advertising and Digital, she is currently Chief  Marketing and Digital Development Manager at Cofina, a group she joined in 2003 after starting her career in Diário de Notícias.

At Lusomundo, she was responsible for launching several digital products such as Lusomundo.net and the first Portuguese classified ad site and consultant for the group’s regional press, in addition to ensuring the Marketing Department and later Marketing and Distribution.

At Cofina, as Chief Marketing Manager, she was involved in the launch of the magazine Sábado and the CMTV channel and coordinates three areas of intervention Brand & Communication; New Business  and Brand Activation (events and brand activation)

In 2016 she accumulates with the general direction of Digital Development which includes Programming, Systems, UX &WebDesign,  and also Data & Analytics and  Reader Revenue

Collaborates regularly with specialized press and has taught at CENJOR and the Autonomous University; integrates specialized forums on topics such as digital transformation in the media, leadership, diversity and new audiences. In 2021, was recognized one of the Top Ten Best Marketeers to Work in Portugal ( by Scopen).

Reid DeRamus Head of Growth Substack

Reid has served in various growth roles helping launch and scale Hulu, Crunchyroll, and HBO Max. More recently, Reid founded a company Yem to help individuals and small teams build their own media businesses. Yem was acquired by Substack, where Reid currently works on the growth team.

Alan Hunter Co-founder HBM Advisory

Alan is the co-founder of HBM Advisory, which partners with publishers to help them maximise the value of their digital content.

He advises publishers and other subscription businesses on aligning their content and product strategies for growth, paywall modelling, customer journeys, data insights and revenue development. HBM Advisory’s clients have included Future plc, Harvard Business Review, the Royal Opera House, Monocle and MIT Technology Review.

Prior to setting up HBM Advisory, Alan served as Head of Digital at The Times and The Sunday Times for seven years from 2013. He was responsible for the titles’ journalistic output in digital, both on and off platform, and also led their digital transformation, both in terms of strategy and newsroom organisation, as they moved to a subscription-first model. Digital subscriptions more than doubled – to 366,000 – during his time as Head of Digital.

In 2016, he combined the titles’ websites and launched the innovative edition-based publishing model. He also launched Red Box, the politics-based email that became an established part of the Westminster landscape and spawned first a podcast and now a radio show. He also led the development of a bespoke data analysis tool.

Prior to assuming his role in digital, Alan was Executive Managing Editor of the titles, primarily responsible for the Sunday Times budget and personnel issues. Before that he had served in senior journalistic roles on the Sunday title, ranging from News Review Editor to Deputy Sports Editor.

A graduate of Oxford University, Alan has undertaken professional education at Cambridge University (digital strategy), Stanford University (design thinking), Warwick University (behavioural insights) and Ashridge Business School (strategy and finance).

Kerin O'Connor CEO Atlas

More details to follow.

Xu Qiuhan Editor Natural History Magazine

Xu Qiuhan graduated from the Department of Sociology at Peking University in 1990s. Before the age of thirty, he used to be a traveler, freelance writer, and music producer. In this century, he became a magazine editor and successively served on “Civilization”, “Chinese Scientific Exploration”, and “Chinese Heritage”. Since 2006, he has been the editor in chief of “Natural History” and has been working there ever since.

Li Qizheng President of the Periodicals Agency at Sci-Tech University and President of the Journal of Silk Journal of Silk

Mainly engaged in research work on journal evaluation and management, academic platform construction, textile color science and non-heritage protection and development. He has published more than 20 core and above research papers, including 6 SCI/EI indexed papers, been granted 3 national invention patents, presided over and participated in more than 20 various scientific research projects, served as the project leader and executive deputy editor of the compilation project of Zhejiang General Magazine(Textile Industry), and published many articles in People’s Daily, World Silk Website, Qianjiang Evening NEWS and other platforms.

Richard Askam Speaker and Broadcaster

Richard Askam spent 30 years working in the Wine Business before he took a career turn in 2010 to launch the first personalised champagne gifts in the UK as an antidote to the commoditisation of the wine market in the UK. Ultimately, this lead him to the doors of Coca-Cola where he created and executed the online ShareaCoke campaign across Europe in 2014. Over the following 2 years, Richard created similarly successful personalised campaigns for the likes of Unilever, Barclays, Vodafone and McVities before becoming a renowned full time speaker, debuting as a TED Talker in 2017 and he has worked extensively across the world for the likes of HP, Xerox, Canon and many more. Richard is a master of conversation, an invaluable skill in a world where businesses have to adapt to the conversation of their customers, and over the last few years has become an accomplished host and MC for business events both online and in person!

Andrii Vdovychenko CEO Burda Ukraine

Andrii started his carrier in Burda Ukraine (daughter company of Germany based Hubert Burda Media) in 1998  as Advertising sales director, in 2004 was appointed as Chief operation officer. In 2013, he was promoted to Chief executive officer. In 2019 as a result of management buyout deal with Hubert Burda Media became the owner of the company. 

Prior to Burda Media, he worked at different positions in marketing of British American Tobacco in Germany and Ukraine and at  Kyiv office of confectionary producer Huhtamaki oy Leaf ( Finland).

Andrii is a member of Supervisory Board of WAN-IFRA, member of the Directors Board of Ukrainian Media Business Association, co-chair of the Media Committee in American Chamber of Commerce Ukraine (2019-2020.

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).

Anita Zielina CEO & Founder Better Leaders Lab

Anita Zielina is an experienced digital media executive, strategic advisor and board member with a focus on digital transformation, modern leadership and management, and product and business strategy. She is the founder and CEO of Better Leaders Lab, a Do and Think Tank for good leadership and strategic management that also acts as a boutique consultancy firm. Anita is an Executive in Residence at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY in NYC and serves as a non-executive board member at the Austrian Public Broadcaster (ORF), as well as the inaugural board chair of the News Product Alliance (NPA). She holds an Executive MBA from INSEAD and a Master in Law from Vienna University.

Styli Charalambous Co-founder and CEO Daily Maverick

Styli Charalambous co-founded the Daily Maverick, in 2009, with editor-in-chief, Branko Brkic. Over the last decade he has helped launch new products and the organisation’s membership plan while navigating industry disruption and the country’s politics. 

His official role at Daily Maverick is that of publisher and CEO which translates into “he who constantly fights fires – sometimes successfully but always only after morning coffee.” 

Daily Maverick has grown to from a 5 person start-up to 100 full-time staff, reaching 9m monthly unique visitors, sending out 20m newsletters per month and generates a 1/3rd of revenue from its 20k members. 

In 2020, Styli also helped launch Daily Maverick’s weekly newspaper with innovative distribution model. 

He is passionate about solving the disruption of media industry and focuses most efforts on new revenue models, product, technology and membership. 

Agustino Fontevecchia Digital Director Editorial Perfil

Agustino Fontevecchia is the digital director for Editorial Perfil, one of Latin American’s largest publishers with a big presence in Argentina and Brazil. He oversees digital strategy including newsroom, technology, sales and subscriptions in Argentina while working in tandem with Perfil’s teams in Brazil. Previously he was a markets and wealth reporter for Forbes in New York. Agustino has degreees from NYU and Columbia University.

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. 

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