Louise Ainsworth is EMEA CEO at Kantar Media. Louise has been working in digital for the last 20 years, as a content strategist, a website builder, a digital advertising expert and more latterly in digital measurement. She joined Kantar two and a half years ago as Chief Executive Officer (UK), Kantar Millward Brown in March 2016, following 3 1/2 years as CEO at Warc, a digital business intelligence service specialising in effectiveness.

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Louise has previously worked in leadership roles at OgilvyInteractive, and at the BBC. She has also worked client side at Shell and as a strategy consultant at Bain & Company.  Louise spent six years at The Nielsen Company, where she led Nielsen’s online media and advertising measurement & research business in EMEA.

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Louise has degrees from Oxford and Warwick Universities and an MBA from INSEAD. She is currently a member of the Advisory Board for Warwick Business School.  She has previously been a trustee of Nominet Trust, the UK’s leading social tech funder. When she is not on a plane to various corners of EMEA, she lives in the Berkshire countryside with her husband and two teenage daughters.

Fergus has spent 15 years working in communications and marketing roles for a variety of brands and businesses in the UK and abroad, both in PR agencies (Blue Rubicon and Golin) and now in house at Gumtree – part of the eBay Classifieds Group. In his role at Gumtree he is focused on building the profile and reputation of the business within the UK, and rebutting misperceptions of the brand, by building proactive consumer and corporate campaigns.

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While these activities are broad in nature – ranging from creating physical activities which bring the sharing economy to life, or showing tech-savvy audiences how a mature trading platform like Gumtree can help you get a job, declutter your home, or find a new flatmate – consistent to all is a fundamental belief that Gumtree is in the business of helping people. Fergus also sits on a number of industry groups and associations.

Amy Collins is Vice President of Data at Signal Media, an AI powered media monitoring product company. Prior to that she spent three years working in the social media listening sector as VP Product at Brandwatch. Her focus there was on social data and numerous data science initiatives such as automated sentiment and emotion detection.

Amy has over ten years experience leading products as well as a background in consulting services working with large global organisations. She lives in Brighton, UK and is a keen sailor.

Steffen Damborg (MBA) is a digital transformation specialist with over 10 years of experience in all aspects of running an online business in the media industry. 

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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.

Carlos A. Diaz is General Manager and a Member of the Board of GlobalNews Group, with more than 340 employees, offices in 10 Latin American Countries and in the US and more than 3000 clients, including 100 Fortune 500 companies, GlobalNews is the main Media Monitoring, Measurement, Evaluation and Insights company in Latin America.  

Carlos has over 10 years of experience in information gathering, measurement and evaluation services. He has helped acquire and develop the methodologies, tools and skills necessary to extract meaningful information from huge amounts of structured & unstructured data at GlobalNews group. He also has a background in IT entrepreneurship, having founded three different startups related to the media and information sectors (the last one resulting in a successful acqui-hire by GlobalNews Group) since the age of 18.

In his current position, he has spearheaded four major acquisitions in 2017-2018 alone (including market leaders such as Reporte Informativo, FOCO, and ManagementPress) and has re-structured GlobalNews’ insights department as part of the current strategical growth objectives of the company, as well as entered into the Ecuatorian and Chilean Markets, becoming the second largest player in each market in less than a year. He has championed the re-organization of an industry that is more than one hundred years old from manual, human intensive processes into specialized high value-added human processes that are helped by heavy investment in artificial intelligence and allow the live monitoring and analysis of thousands of media outlets and millions of social media posts.

Carlos is a self-professed gamer, who programs in his free time for his personal pet-projects, plays Rugby in the Buenos Aires Rugby Union, and is an avid skier.

Christophe Dickès is in charge of copyrights at Kantar Media across Europe. He works with the publishers and the RRO at an international level. He is co-chair of the Copyright Commission (AMEC & FIBEP). In 2016, he integrated the European Legal 500 GC power list which recognizes the corporate counsel who are driving the legal business forward and identifies an array of the most influential and innovative in-house counsel working in the region. He is in charge of the GDPR coordination at Kantar Media France and leads the internal communication for the EMEA zone at Kantar Media too. Christophe holds a doctorate in Contemporary History and a master degree in Politics and Media. He is a contributor to several media and publications.

Ove Dirdal is the CEO, co-founder and owner of Zissor. Ove has been working with Media Monitoring clients all over the world for the last 20 years. He is responsible for designing, developing and implementation of the Zissor Media System that is the unique, complete and highly automated production system for the media monitoring industry. 

His focus is to continuously look for new emerging technology and to develop innovative solutions to optimize and challenge existing technology and processes with the purpose of giving the best and most efficient solutions for the clients.   

Ove is also working as a professional project manager with designing, developing, and implementing technical IT-solutions and processes with focus on digitalization and efficiency within several branches, among telecom, insurance and banking.

Soren Enemark has a Ph.D. in computer models of nanoscale mechanics. Subsequently, four years at National University of Singapore working with complex, large-scale simulations and coaching Ph.D scholars. He also has four years of experience as responsible for quality and delivery of Media Track print digitisation product, helping a transformation to an AI-based production platform and growing the production as well as the productivity more than threefold.

María Laura García is President and Founder of GlobalNews® Group, an organization created to collect all of the information that is produced by media outlets in latin america and process it in order to better power communications professionals.. Founded in 1998, and covering 17 countries from its 10 offices, GlobalNews® Group has become the premier source of media monitoring in Latin America. 

 GlobalNews® Group has received multiple awards and commendations, including the Eikon 2004 and 2010 Communications Award.

María Laura also holds leadership positions outside of GlobalNews® Group, serving as the vice president of the Federation Internationale Des Bureaux D’Extraits De Presse. In 2017, María Laura was invited to participate in the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Hyderabad, India, and in 2018 the Indian government invited her to participate in IndiaSoft, while Bank of America and Vital Voces chose her for the Global ambassadors program in New York City.

Before founding GlobalNews® Group, María Laura worked as a press advisor for several large governmental organizations. She has also worked as a media analyst and foreign press coordinator, and as a journalist for various radio, magazine, and news sources. 

Laura has shown a strong commitment with the development of women in business and economical activities, as a mentor in Vital Voices since it was launched in Argentina and in other women organizations such as WCD (Women Corporate Directors).

María Laura has lectured at conferences and seminars throughout Latin America, and has taught communications at El Salvador University in Argentina. She has contributed to two books on media and is working on a novel about migration and culture from a woman's perspective.

​Romina Gersuni is pressrelations‘s Global Strategy Manager. She has more than twelve years of experience in the media intelligence industry. Since 2013 she has been part of pressrelations where she consolidated the company’s software business division. Romina is responsible for improving strategies, products, and partnerships as well as for commercializing pressrelations’s services and software solutions. Romina holds a degree in Business Administration and attended postgraduate studies in International Economic Relations at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Find Romina on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Christophe left business consulting at Accenture to follow his entrepreneurial spirit and firm belief in the value of social media intelligence for businesses. From years of meeting with clients and developing Talkwalker, Christophe has become a cross-functional specialist in understanding the data and analytics requirements for clients’ business needs. Christophe holds an MSc degree in computer science and economics from the Munich University of Technology. During this time he created two tech startups and won an innovation and entrepreneurship competition

​Rylan supports digital service partners like system integrators, martech agencies and media monitors as they advise their clients on how Hootsuite can support their clients' social media strategies and digitally transform their organisations.

He regularly delivers keynotes and contributes on panels about Social Business, especially in relation to his experiences as a B2B and B2C digital marketer. Rylan led digital marketing and social media at the international law firm SJ Berwin and also at Wigmore Hall, the world’s leading chamber music venue.

Magdalena is a sales and marketing professional with more than 15 years of experience in media monitoring and measurement industry. Currently, she is CEO of NEWTON Media SEE, a group of media monitoring and measurement companies across the Adriatic region and a FIBEP vice president. In the past, Magdalena was responsible for managing companies of NEWTON Media Group in Poland and Slovakia. Her experience also includes automatic speech recognition of Slavic languages mainly focused on dictation into computer and TV and radio automatic transcription. She has a university degree in Business administration, marketing and management. 

Andrew Hughes is international Director, NLA media access, which he joined in mid 2004. He was previously responsible for the business planning and operational implementation of the eClips database and led the team developing its wider applications. These included web licensing and content development – including the Meltwater legal action - , ClipShare (the online research service), the addition of magazine content, international and many other developments that have helped triple NLA revenue over the period. Andrew is also Secretary General of the Press Database and Licensing Network (www.pdln.info). 

Andrew was at NASDAQ listed OneSource (now Avention) from 1998 until 2004 where he was Vice President Content with responsibility for global content relationships and the UK and European operations. He created alliances with leading suppliers of CRM, portal and knowledge management solutions as well as with content providers like Dun & Bradstreet. Andrew joined OneSource Information Services from Financial Times where he was responsible for strategy, pricing, business development and content acquisition for products including FT Profile, content licensing and the formation of the NLA and FTSE International businesses. Andrew holds a BSc in Management Sciences and is an alumni of London Business School.

Francis Ingham is Director General of the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA), operating out of London and Dubai; and Chief Executive of the International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO), operating in 55 countries across the globe.

Representing over 24,000 practitioners, the PRCA is the largest professional body of its kind for the PR and communications industry. ICCO is the voice of public relations consultancies around the world. Its membership comprises 40 national trade associations, collectively representing over 2,500 PR firms.

Ingham’s background is in politics and public affairs. He is External Examiner to the American University at Richmond; Trustee of The Speakers' Corner Trust; and Chairman of the Commonwealth Communicators Organisation. He was educated at Oxford University, where he read Politics, Philosophy and Economics. He appears in both the UK and the Global editions of PR Week’s PowerBook.

Clemens Jeneral (born in 1983 in Vienna, Austria), CEO of Intellyo has experience as a serial entrepreneur in business development, B2B sales and product building. During his business studies, Clemens already collected experience as a strategic consultant for large European corporations in the energy and infrastructure industry, managed privatisation and M&A deals, as well as founded and lead companies from Hong Kong through Tokyo and Kuwait City, all the way to Addis Abeba. As a result of his drive and curiosity, Clemens established a stable network of business contacts and a solid deal flow. Since 2014, he has mostly dedicated his time to innovative software-based projects offering high returns via scalable business models within the German-speaking region. Being a passionate company builder and business model expert, he strives to follow and use the newest developments and most successful international best-practices. As a serial entrepreneur with extensive sales experience, he was responsible for business models in e-commerce, media and deep learning, and arranged B2B sales successes for more than EUR 25 million.

Sophia Karakeva has been active in the media industry for over 20 years and she currently holds the position of Communications and Marketing Executive at DataScouting, a leading software research and development company in Greece. Sophia is also a news correspondent for the Czech TV, while in the past she worked as a journalist at the Czech News Agency. She has a PhD in Mass Communication and Journalism from the Charles University in Prague. Sophia is currently a FIBEP Vice President and member of the FIBEP Copyright and Fair Trade commission. Sophia is a conceptual media thinker, communication believer, marketing digger and analysis enthusiast.

Eric Karstens is a funding consultant and grant & tender writer in media, ICT, communications, and journalism, for projects in the European Union and worldwide. Drawing on more than 25 years of professional experience with roots in broadcast television and entrepreneurship, his work focuses on journalism, Public Affairs, media development, media economy, media grant-making, and the dynamics of online communication. On the side, he works as an author and lecturer.

Eric serves as a funding consultant and research coordinator at the European Journalism Centre (EJC), an international non-profit foundation based in Maastricht, The Netherlands. The EJC's mission is to build a sustainable, ethical and innovative future for journalism through grants, events, training, and media development.

Alan Malligsen is CEO for Retriever in Denmark and responsible for the commercial development of Retriever in the Nordic region. Retriever is the largest environment for monitoring, measurement and evaluation of communications in the Nordics with more than 200 media experts. Alan has been working in the industry for 15 years and is deeply involved in the current change in the industry going from manual analysis to the future AI-supported media evaluation method delivered in flexible tools.

Chief Content Officer and General Counsel, PressReader

Nikolay is Chief Content Officer and General Counsel at PressReader. He is responsible for ensuring the company and its offerings continue to lead the industry. Nikolay’s deep knowledge of both the global tech and publishing industries has made him invaluable in building the PressReader brand. He is frequently invited to speak at conferences, sit on panels, and present at award shows throughout the digital publishing industry. He is recognized around the world for his strategic vision, insightful commentary, and ability to predict future trends of the publishing industry.

Nikolay has a truly global perspective on how publishers can approach new monetization and audience development strategies, react to shifting business models, and adapt to working in partnership with tech companies.

Professor of Computer Science at the University of Vienna, Austria

Torsten Möller is a professor of computer science at the University of Vienna, Austria, since 2013. Between 1999 and 2012 he served as a Computing Science faculty member at Simon Fraser University, Canada. He received his PhD in Computer and Information Science from Ohio State University in 1999 and a Vordiplom (BSc) in mathematical computer science from Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany. He is a senior member of IEEE and ACM, and a member of Eurographics. His research interests include algorithms and tools for analyzing and displaying data with principles rooted in computer graphics, human-computer interaction, image processing, data science, and visualization.

He heads the research platform Data Science @ Uni Vienna as well as the research group on Visualization and Data Analysis. Since 2018, he serves as the editor-in-chief for IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications. He was appointed Vice Chair for Publications of the IEEE Visualization and Graphics Technical Committee (VGTC) between 2003 and 2012. He has served on a number of program committees and has been papers co-chair for IEEE Visualization, EuroVis, Graphics Interface, and the Workshop on Volume Graphics as well as the Visualization track of the 2007 International Symposium on Visual Computing. He has also co-organized the 2004 Workshop on Mathematical Foundations of Scientific Visualization, Computer Graphics, and Massive Data Exploration as well as the 2010 Workshop on Sampling and Reconstruction: Applications and Advances at the Banff International Research Station, Canada. He is a co-founding chair of the Symposium on Biological Data Visualization (BioVis). In 2010, he was the recipient of the NSERC DAS award. He received best paper awards from IEEE Conference on Visualization (1997), Symposium on Geometry Processing (2008), EuroVis (2010), and ACM Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI, 2016), as well as two second best paper awards from EuroVis (2009, 2012). In 2016 he received the Teaching Award from the University of Vienna and was subsequently nominated for the Ars docendi, the Austrian governmental teaching award.

At the age of 13 Todd developed the broadcast monitoring services for Universal Information Services, a family business. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1991, Todd joined Universal to develop innovative services that deliver media monitoring and measurement tools. Since 1991 Universal has enjoyed continued growth in revenue and client base, becoming the only company in the United States to comprehensively monitor and evaluate all media types within the company.

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Universal focuses on integrating news monitoring, media contacts and distribution, and the customized measurement of media results. Their PR measurement services represent the best-in-class for competitive insight and business intelligence, showing the impact from messaging and the return on effort.

Universal has expanded their digital information services to include the digitization and restoration of historical documents and assets. Serving libraries, universities, historical societies, corporations, and other institutions, Universal now assists institutions in preserving their history while making historical assets relevant again.

Todd Murphy completed the full acquisition of Universal Information Services in 2015, after integrating other media monitoring services he had acquired over the prior 10 years. Universal continues to focus on innovation by most recently adding artificial intelligence the their news monitoring and launching the Alpha Clips service. Todd also serves or chairs several boards of directors for industry associations and non-profit organizations.

Head of Reelcore and Shared Services, Reelforge (East Africa)

Steve is a mathematical modeling engineer. He manages all hardware and software systems for Reelforge in the region. His background in software engineering places him at the center of RF’s innovation and reinvention agenda. He bears sound experience and a thorough understanding of the East African Landscape. During his first FIBEP Congress appearance, Steve is keen on forging new relationships with members of the media intelligence community.

Chief Technology Officer, A Data Pro

Vladimir joined A Data Pro as CTO in 2011, bringing on board over a decade’s experience in digital media and business development, gained at Economedia, Bulgaria’s top news publisher. Under his leadership, the company has transformed into a fully integrated human-technology ecosystem, both in terms of service line-up and infrastructure. He also serves as CEO of A Data Pro’s artificial intelligence research and development hub, Identrics. 

Beyond his work at A Data Pro, Vladimir is also a vocal advocate for digitalisation and the adoption of new technologies by businesses in Bulgaria. He currently presents а popular podcast on media and technologies, and has served on the boards of the Bulgarian Web Association and the local branch of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). He also lectures on online business and digital media-related topics at Sofia University and New Bulgarian University. 

CEO, x.news information technology gmbh

Andreas Pongratz is the founder and CEO of  x.news information technology gmbh the company that developed the award winning AI backed real-time “Media Reputation Management” and research solution “x.news™“ for Brands, Governments and Media Organizations.

Prior to that he worked as the CEO of x-art ProDivision GmbH the leading system integrator for Media and Telco´s in Central Europe. 

 
Andy has over 25 years experience in product development and consulting services working with large global companies like RedBull, BBC,  SkyNews, Telecom Austria, Governments and many US clients . He lives in Salzburg, Austria and is a keen hiker and likes good wine.

Marit is the founder and CEO of Mito.ai, a technology company that is creating real-time global media insights with machine learning.
Prior to Mito.ai, Marit co-founded a company, Rendra, that developed software for the construction industry that was acquired by JDM Technology Group.

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Co-founder & COO, APOLLO.AI

Andi Schietz is co-founder of APOLLO.AI, an AI-based technology company for the media, media monitoring and business intelligence market. APOLLO.AI is addressing the information overload problem within the industry. Andi has over 20 years experience in strategy and business development. He studied engineering and economics in Austria and Spain and holds an international MBA. He worked in several management position in the public and private sector. He lives in Linz, AT and in his free time he is interested in climbing, skiing and social projects.

Chief Commercial Officer, Isentia

As Chief Executive - Media Intelligence, Sean is responsible for overseeing the delivery of media intelligence services to 5,000 clients across APAC. With 15 years’ experience in the media intelligence industry, Sean has extensive client knowledge across the corporate, government and public relations sectors. He has previously held roles as the Country Manager for New Zealand, Sales Director at Asia Media Monitors in South East Asia and State Manager in New South Wales. Prior to working in the media intelligence industry Sean worked for the Australian Sports Commission and Sydney Olympic Games Organising Committee (SOCOG). Sean is the current Vice President and Board Member for FIBEP (global association for media intelligence) and has completed Executive Education in International Business Management with Stanford University. 

Vice President, Licensing & Syndication, The New York Times

Alice Ting, vice president, licensing and syndication, for The New York Times, is responsible for the global financial performance of the licensing and syndication businesses.  Ms. Ting oversees a portfolio of products and services ranging from local licenses of T: The New York Times Style Magazine to book development to digital archive distribution deals.  She leads an international team of sales, business development, marketing and operations professionals who are focused on licensing and distributing content from both The New York Times and from select editorial brands to media companies, book publishers, education platforms, brands, B2C and B2B websites and other digital platforms.

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Ms. Ting has held several positions at The Times.  Previously, she was responsible for various commerce and brand extension businesses, including the School of the New York Times.  Ms. Ting served as executive director, brand development, for The Times, where she identified, executed and oversaw businesses such as the online store, branded merchandise, the wine club, and Times Journeys.  She was also responsible for content-related business development such as rights and permission, content licensing and sales for the North American market. 

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Ms. Ting joined The Times in 2000 as a director of strategy for NYTd, which was the digital arm of the company. She also served as director, strategic planning, for Times Media Group, where she identified ancillary revenue streams.  She then became director, strategic initiatives and publications, for the News Services Division, where she managed some of its niche publications and rights & permissions partners. 

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Before joining The Times, Ms. Ting was a management consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers, advising media and publishing companies on revenue growth strategies and new product development. 

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Ms. Ting earned a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and an M.B.A. from the Columbia Business School at Columbia University.
 

CEO, Infomedia and Opoint Technology

Thomas Vejlemand, CEO of Infomedia and Opoint Technology, is a digital front runner in the Nordics. With more than 15 years of CEO-experience from digital agencies and tech-companies, he is now leading Infomedia into a new era of media intelligence through technology and performance culture as driver for digital transformation. In addition to the role of CEO in Infomedia and Opoint Technology, Thomas is an active board member in several digital/tech-companies and has lately been appoint to the board of the newly established Danish FinTech organization.

Professor, Head of Department of Communication and Head of Centre for Marketing and Public Relations, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, and Partner and Knowledge Director, Stratkom d.d.o, Slovenia

Dejan Verčič is Professor, Head of Department of Communication and Head of Centre for Marketing and Public Relations at the University of Ljubljana, and Partner and Knowledge Director in strategic communication group Stratkom d.o.o., Slovenia. He received his PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK, and he was a Fulbright scholar at the Sand Diego State University, USA. In 2001 he was awarded the Alan Campbell-Johnson Medal for outstanding service to international public relations by the UK Chartered Institute of Public Relations (of which he is a Fellow), and in 2016 the Pathfinder Award, the highest academic honour bestowed by the Institute for Public Relations (IPR) in New York. Prof. Verčič served, inter alia, as the chairman of the Research Committee of the IABC Research Foundation and as the President of the European Public Relations Education and Research Association (EUPRERA). In 1991 he was the founding director of Slovenian national news agency (STA), and he has founded also the largest clipping and media analysis company is Slovenia – Kliping d.o.o. Since 1994 he organizes an annual International Public Relations Research Symposium – BledCom. Since 2007 he is a founding member of the European Communication Monitor (ECM) research team.

Founder, DataScouting and Professor, Technological Educational Institute of Central Macedonia

Prof. Stavros Vologiannidis studied Mathematics at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki where he also finished his PhD thesis in 2005. He has co-authored 28 research papers in peer reviewed international journals and conferences and his work has been cited more than 200 times. He is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Informatics of the Technological Educational Institute of Central Macedonia and his research interests include control theory, artificial intelligence and robotics. Professor Vologiannidis is the founder of DataScouting, a software research and development company committed in helping media monitoring organizations become more productive and efficient. 

Technical Product Manager for Vizia

Formerly a research mathematician, Michael Volpato received his Ph.D. in mathematics from Princeton University in 2008.   Since then, he has held distinguished research positions at University of California San Diego, The Fields Institute, Boston College and Fordham University.   During this time his interest drifted from Quantum Cryptography into Topological Data Analysis and Machine Learning.  He recently moved to the United Kingdom, and joined Brandwatch, where he now develops intelligent data-visualisation products for Vizia.

CEO, Clipit

Rinske Willemsen is CEO of media monitoring agency Clipit in The Netherlands. Clipit has been specialist in online and social media monitoring for 18 years and has also covered print media, radio & TV since 2014. Next to media monitoring the Clipit portfolio is extended with independent insights and consultancy based on integrated earned, owned and paid media data analysis. Besides Clipit is partner in NPSlab, which predicts the NPS-score of an organization by combining traditional market research results and media monitoring data with an algorithm. Rinske has a background in the media business and marketing management. Rinske has a university degree in Business Administration as well as in Business Communication.