Speakers.

Bernd Adam has been Managing Director of the Verein Deutsche Fachpresse (German B2B Media Association) since November 2008. Deutsche Fachpresse represents around 450 members in an industry with a total of over 5,600 print magazine titles and sales of 7.99 billion euros in 2021. Bernd was previously CEO of Print & Media Forum AG, an economically independent subsidiary of the German Printing and Media Industries Federation (bvdm) and the regional printing and media associations. After studying journalism, political science and business administration, Bernd worked for IBM Germany, ZDF Enterprises, MFG Medien- und Filmgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg and the strategy consultancy Diebold Deutschland. In 2001, he joined Pro Print Forum GmbH, which shortly afterwards changed to Print & Media Forum AG. From October 2001, he was CEO of the business media publisher, which published specialist information and created communication platforms for the print and media industry.

Bernd is active as a guest lecturer at the Popakademie Baden-Württemberg as well as the Johannes Gutenberg University in the field of publishing.

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!

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.

More details to follow.

Since 1998, Helen Coetzee has led the marketing strategies, operations, and campaigns for over 100 B2B specialised information brands globally – across a variety of sectors, and within a range of business models.

With her team of MPG’s 20 marketing specialists based in London, Helen is an evangelist for marketing as key driver of customer value, revenue and profit growth, and business value growth. Helen has always championed a community-focused and data-led approach to marketing. This has led to MPG’s pioneering work in B2B community marketing frameworks, as well as marketing performance analysis and benchmarking specific to community-focused organisations. As such, Helen is the lead author for MPG Insights, a widely read blog and resource centre for hundreds of business leaders and senior marketers focused on monetising audiences via subscriptions, memberships, event attendance, advertising, sponsorship and exhibitions.

To further support MPG’s own community of B2B media and events business and marketing leaders, Helen plays a key role on the Renewd board as chair of a working group focused on international growth strategies.

Chloe Combi’s debut nonfiction title Generation Z: Their Voices, Their Lives (Random House 2015) is a shocking, illuminating, heart breaking and sometimes hilarious journey through the lives of the teenagers born between 1994 and 2005 as told in their own voices.

Chloe has continued her work with Generation Z and Generation A, emerging as one of the foremost experts on young people, having interviewed thousands. Her critically acclaimed podcast aired in 2021, You Don’t Know Me (Podimo/Mermade), and was given 5* in The Times with podcasts of the week in the Guardian, iPaper, Financial Times, Telegraph, The Week, Sunday Post – with particular praise given to her incisive and skilled interview technique.

Chloe writes for a number of publications including the Times, Guardian, Vice and the TES, and has a regular column with The Telegraph on the lives of Generation Z.

Chloe has spoken around the world about her work and advises some brands, companies and governments. Her areas of expertise are Generation Z, Generation A, young people’s relationships to institutions, education, technology, social media, self-esteem, relationships, identity and the future. Her approach is both to identify trends and also prepare for them, with a focus on big ideas and solutions rather than the problems. A skilled and charismatic communicator, Chloe can bring enormous value to events, corporate affairs and audiences interested in a rapidly changing world.

More details to follow.

Alexander Drößler is the Head of Digital Products at Landwirtschaftsverlag Münster, a publisher that supports the professionals who produce, process and market food. Since March 2022, the thirty-two year old leads a new cross-functional team of 20, focusing on digital transformation of top agrar, the publishers main title. In his previous roles at Nordkurier and Neue Westfälische, he worked on digital transformation and product management at two German regional newspaper groups.

In 2020-21 he was part of the inaugural cohort of the Executive Program in News Innovation and Leadership at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. He is holding a master’s degree from the University of Hamburg in Journalism & Communication and spent an academic year at the Missouri School of Journalism as a Fulbright grantee.

Sebastian is a journalist and entrepreneur in Berlin, Germany, and the founder of member-funded digital magazine  Krautreporter and of Steady, a membership platform for independent publishers. Krautreporter was crowdfunded in 2014 and publishes one story a day on politics and society. The cooperative specializes in ad-free, independent, engaged journalism. Krautreporter has 17,000 paying members today. Steady, founded in 2017, helps independent publishers easily launch membership programs. It has paid out 25 million Euros to 1,700+ member-funded publications across Europe so far.

More details to follow.

Rachael has worked in publishing for 25 years, with 21 of those years spent publishing ACNR (Advances in Clinical Neuroscience & Rehabilitation). Despite not having a medical background, Rachael has an interest in the field of neurology, neuroscience and rehabilitation inspired by a sibling with brain injuries.

ACNR launched in 2001 as a free magazine before the concept of ‘Open Access’ was fully developed, and when PDF to print was cutting edge. Since then the magazine has become a respected medical journal still published in paper form, with international reach through the website, email newsletters and social media.

Having held various positions in his 12-year stint at the BBC, James Hewes was part of the team that sold the business to private equity in November 2011. He was then Publishing Director for Top Gear, Good Food, Easy Cook and Lonely Planet Magazine and a Director of BBC Haymarket Exhibitions.
He spent five years in Dubai, running Gulf News Publishing and responsible for more than 30 product areas. He launched the group’s first consumer brand in Arabic – wheels Arabic.
Appointed President & CEO of FIPP in September 2017, he joined from The Art Newspaper, having been Interim CEO since December 2016.

He is also a member of the Advisory Board at Dojoko, an education-focused start-up and a member of Oxford Brookes University’s Journalism Advisory Board.

Day speakers

A journalist by training, Alan served as Head of Digital at The Times and The Sunday Times of London for eight years from 2013. Responsible for the titles’ output in digital, both on and off platform, he led their transformation to being a subscription-first business. He also successfully unified, redesigned and replatformed the titles’ smartphone apps and websites and built a bespoke analytics tool. He launched a number of newsletters, including Red Box, a political daily email which later inspired a podcast and a radio programme. Alan also served as Managing Editor, News Review Editor, Focus Editor and Deputy Sports Editor of The Sunday Times. During his time as Head of Digital, digital-only subscriptions doubled in number to 360,000.

More details to follow.

More details to follow.

Professor Lucy Kueng is an expert on strategy and leadership and focuses on successful responses to digitalization. She is Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Reuters Institute, Oxford University and Board Member of the NZZ Media Group. Lucy advises leading companies worldwide including the BBC, CNN, NRK, Schibsted, and Der Standard. She keynotes frequently at international conferences and is the author of many books including Hearts and Minds – Harnessing Leadership, Culture and Talent to really Go Digital, Innovators in Digital News and Strategic Management in the Media. She holds a PhD and Habilitation from the University of St Gallen and an MBA from City Business School/Ashridge.

John McGovern is CEO & Owner of Grimes, McGovern & Associates (GMA), a Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory firm specializing in media, events, information services and related markets.

GMA is a market leader in M&A Advisory, handling 1500+ transactions since its inception in 1959 and currently managing 20+ transactions per year, including such high- profile event deals as representing MJ Biz’s in their sale to Emerald X in early 2022. 

Recent transactions include the sale of:

• MJ Biz to Emerald EX
• UK-based SMI Group to SAE
• UK-based Vinelake LTD’s IOT Event Platform to Cambridge Innovation Institute
• UK-based Ultima Media Auto Events business in 10 countries including China, Russia, India and Brazil to Suddeutcher VMI
• Kestrel Health’s online event platform Woundcon to HMP Communications
• Quartz to G/O Media
• Creative Age Communications beauty magazines to Allured Media.
• Culture magazine to private investors
• The Running Event and running magazines to Diversified Communications.
• Today’s Bride and Mode Accessories to Newcom Media

John brings nearly 40 years of corporate development & strategy in the global media, events and online services industries, holding positions such as Senior VP of Thomson Financial, Senior VP at the Fair Disclosure Financial Network (sold to Warburg Pincus) and various positions early in his career at Dow Jones/Factiva.

Headquartered in New York City, with offices in Atlanta, California, Florida, Philadelphia and South America, Grimes, McGovern & Associates continues the tradition of nearly 60 years of W.B. Grimes’ industry expertise advising B2B and B2C media, information services and event companies.

More details to follow.

More details to follow.

More details to follow.

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. 

Brian Morrissey is the founder of The Rebooting, a publication focused on the methods of building sustainable media businesses. Until October 2020, he was the president and editor-in-chief of Digiday Media, a vertical media company that has titles covering media and marketing (Digiday), fashion and beauty (Glossy) and retail (Modern Retail). At Digiday, he was responsible for all editorial across the brands, memberships, product, events programming and design. Prior to joining Digiday in 2011, he was digital editor at Adweek for six years. He’s spent two decades in digital media.

More details to follow.

After a successful media career leading commercial teams, Daniel Pitchford co-founded Futurum Media, and launched the AI Business brand, which became the world’s largest AI news platform. AI Business’ global events series; ‘The AI Summit’ delivers over 40,000 attendees annually, across Europe, US, Asia, and Africa. The business was acquired by Informa Plc in May 2017, with both the co-founders exiting the business in December 2019.

Daniel is a Venture Partner with SuperSeed, which focuses on early stage tech companies, investing capital but also operational expertise to fuel growth. As well as his role as Collingwood Advisory’s CEO, Daniel specializes in commercial scale up and exit planning, and works with Collingwood Advisory’s clients on creating and crystallizing value.

In July 2020, Carolin Hulshoff Pol took over the position of Managing Director of Axel Springer’s BILD group and is responsible for the development and transformation of Germany’s biggest media brand. As Managing Director of Sales Impact, Carolin is also running Axel Springer’s newspapers distribution and logistics in Germany, what is including as well the newspaper brands DIE WELT and WELT AM SONNTAG. Furthermore, she overlooks Axel Springer’s licensing and syndication business as Managing Director of Axel Springer Syndication.

Prior to that, she managed BILD, BILD am SONNTAG, B.Z. as publishing director from 2017-2020 after running several different positions within BILD group, such as BILD’s Regional General Manager in Northern Germany, General Marketing Manager or Managing Director BILD am SONNTAG.

Jessica Radburn is Head of International Podcast Content for Wondery, an Amazon Company.  Jessica oversees all of its original and exclusive podcasts for Wondery and Amazon Music outside of the US, working closely with Wondery’s Chief Content Officer, Marshall Lewy. Jessica Radburn was previously the Senior Director of Global Content Programming for Audible where she oversaw Audible's multi-language global audio original program across content strategy, development, local language production and distribution, including Audible's best-selling Original to date, Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman 2020 (#1 New York Times Bestseller), released in six languages. Prior to this, she held other key roles within Audible including as a Director of Original Content for Audible US where she was responsible for the strategic development and negotiation of premium audio content and partnership deals with entertainment brands, creators, and celebrities, including DC Comics and the Fox Entertainment Group. Before that, Radburn was Head of Content, Australia and New Zealand, overseeing the transformation of the Australian audio strategy from audiobook distribution to content licensor and original content creator. Previous roles include Business Affairs & Legal lead for the Australian Broadcasting Corporations Children’s Television department and legal experience from Allen & Overy law firm. Radburn earned a JD and a BS degree in International Business at the University of Sydney.

More details to follow.

More details to follow.

Shaun Russell helps digital organisations transform their mindset, product development, and ways of working. In the past 4 years, he’s coached leaders and teams in many challenging contexts, from fast-moving startups to the Fortune 500, and across sectors such as energy, finance, logistics and education. In his coaching, he applies the lessons he learnt first-hand as a Product Manager, developing products and strategy at the likes of Outfittery, Lyst and Adthena. His approach is known for being human-centered, combining analytical thinking with empathy and intuition, to help people go beyond the theory and build great products in their own context.

More details to follow.

Simon Stilcken is Head of Business Development at Burda International. He helped
establish the team after joining the international business in 2019. Simon’s scope of
work includes market strategies and new business projects, specifically around
platform development and transactional commerce, as well as M&A transactions.
Prior, Simon was an Investment Associate with Burda Principal Investments, the
venture capital arm of the group.

His former experience includes placements at Bank of New York Mellon and Oliver
Wyman. Simon holds a BSc (Hons) in Business Administration from the University of
Bath and an MSc degree in management and enterprise development from the
London School of Economics.

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.

Nick Vinocur is Editor, POLITICO Pro, in charge of POLITICO Europe’s B2B subscription services. He’s responsible for coordinating coverage across ten policy verticals employing dozens of journalists in several EU hubs. In addition to working with editors and reporters to foster high-impact stories, he is a member of the newsroom’s leadership team, working on staff questions and editorial strategy with other senior editors, as well as coordinating with U.S. counterparts. While Nick’s role is editorial, he acts as a liaison with POLITICO’s commercial teams. Born in Stockholm and educated in France and the United States, Nick is passionate about press freedoms, European and transatlantic politics.

Julian is Managing Director Europe at Burda Principal Investments (BPI), a leading global growth VC investor. Julian is responsible for deals conducted all over Europe with a strong passion for marketplaces, digital health and e-commerce models. Previously, Julian was the CEO of Stylight, a platform for fashion and furniture with more than 100m users worldwide owned by ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE and General Atlantic. Prior to joining Stylight, Julian served as Senior Vice President at ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE where he was responsible for the Strategy of the Group. Before that, he was the founder of a startup which he sold after building it up. Julian started his career as strategy consultant at Solon Management Consulting where he spent 4 years focusing on digital transformation advisory for media companies. Julian studied Business Administration at Technical University of Munich as well as HEC in Paris.

Martha L Williams is a digital media industry author, speaker and consultant. She runs World Newsmedia Network, a data and AI disruption consultancy and research business. She was a research associate at the University of Oxford’s Reuters Institute from 2012 to 2014, focusing her research on digital media disruption and data and artificial intelligence for media. She founded and has organised the Data and AI for Media conference ten times since 2013 –the first and only data and AI conference for media companies, drawing business and journalism executives from every continent. The conference has been held in London, New York, San Francisco and Hong Kong in collaboration with partners Open Society Foundations, Microsoft, Google and Thomson Reuters. Since the age of Covid, she has developed a series of data, digital subscriptions, product development and digital advertising webinars for high-profile tech companies.

Williams is a prolific author of digital media industry strategic reports on a variety of topics: disruptive innovation, digital advertising, subscriptions, social media, e-commerce, content, privacy, usership trends and strategy. Three of her most recent publications is “Growing First-Party Data,” “Video Strategy for Magazine Media” and “Paywalls: How to start your subscription strategy” for FIPP, the worldwide magazine media association. 

Williams has travelled the globe to speak at media conferences about the research she publishes. She also organizes study tours for media executives to learn how the most innovative media companies are handling the challenges of digital media’s disruptive innovations. She was a founding board member of Global Editors Network in Paris, and a former director of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers. 

Carola is Managing Director of FT Specialist Europe and responsible for 10 market-leading niche audience brands including The Banker, Investors’ Chronicle, FT Adviser and the recently launched Sustainable Views. A digital and subscription specialist, Carola previously worked for other publishers including The Spectator, EMAP and The Economist, as well as for Jellyfish, the digital marketing and digital transformation agency. She regularly judges industry awards and is a Trustee of the Association of Circulation Executives.

Alex joined The Drum in early 2021 as head of digital publishing.  Every day, The Drum shares industry updates from around the globe and showcases marketing that is changing the world. With bases in Glasgow, London, the US, and Singapore, the company’s award-winning journalists inform and inspire their readers, delivering first-class content across all mediums. The Drum also provides award shows, live events, complete marketing solutions, video production, research, peer-to-peer learning networks, and supplier finder services.

Alex’s role is split between overseeing the management of three membership products and delivering a seamless digital experience for their global digital advertising clients and readers alike.

A core focus in 2022 has been to set up a brand-new audience growth team, responsible for increasing readership and retention, especially in the US, a key growth territory for The Drum.

Previous to joining The Drum, Alex worked at media publisher MBI for five years as digital publisher across a variety of titles and helped set up a suite of new information products. Before that that she worked at Wilmington Plc, where she looked after two titles focused on institutional investors and headed the content teams at their film and television business
titles.

Website: www.thedrum.com
LinkedIn profile: linkedin.com/in/alexandrazeevalkink
Twitter handle: @aezeevalkink