Speakers

Accomplished sports management professional with 10 years experience, encompassing three Olympic Games, designing and directing a robust commercial and marketing programme for Team GB. I now lead the commercial performance and sponsorship delivery of the NFL in the UK. Taking best practice from the US, I act as an ambassador for the sport in this country, creating value for brands and fans through bespoke marketing activity.  

Bio Coming Soon... 

Luke is Head of Digital and Content at Southampton FC, where he is responsible for growing the digital footprint of the Premier League side through digital innovation and the creation of engaging content distributed across owned and operated channels. 

Luke has over 10 years’ experience working for brands, media owners and agencies with a track record of creating and executing editorial training content strategies that scale audiences, views and engagement to achieve commercial and marketing objectives.

Prior to Southampton, Luke was General Manager at full-service global creative shop Contented, helping to fuel multi-platform editorial and marketing strategies for major brands including Puma, Bauer Media, The Telegraph. He also spent over five years at talkSPORT, the world's biggest sports radio station, where he was Social Media and Digital Campaign Manager.

Phil is responsible leading the quality and innovation of Two Circles’ consulting and product offer on an international basis, maximising the benefits of Two Circles’ unique position within GroupM. He joined Two Circles in April 2013 from Chelsea, where he was responsible for managing the football club’s customer insight strategy and developed what is widely regarded as one of the leading Customer Relationship Management programmes in the sports industry.

After graduating from the University of East Anglia in 2001 and completing a Master’s degree at Oxford University, Phil started out his career in the music industry before leading the marketing team at the Southbank, the world’s largest centre for the arts and one of London’s leading cultural destinations.

Jaclyn is a commercial lawyer who advises on a broad range of matters with a particular focus on IT and technology related agreements. Jaclyn also has considerable experience advising and representing a large cross-section of companies within the computer games industry ranging from start-up developers to large global publishers. She heads the firm’s computer games team. She provides advice on software development, licensing, publishing, hosting, support and maintenance agreements as well as general commercial agreements and associated issues including data protection, consumer and e-commerce legislation.

As Strategic Partnerships Director for Infinite’s sales and partnerships business Triggerfish, Joe manages the product monetisation strategy for Infinite Esports & Entertainment’s inventory as well as analysing potential investments and IP licensing efforts. Prior to joining Infinite – Joe founded Looking for Group; the esports industry’s first executive search specialist where he partnered with Riot Games, Fnatic, Infinite Esports & Entertainment and Benchmark Sport.

A longtime New Yorker with a decade of experience in social media, Vijay Renganthan is the Head of Solutions Consulting at Synthesio. Prior to  working in social intelligence Vijay brought the Fulbright Scholarship programme into the social media era as Social and Digital Marketing Strategist, and in the distant past was a school teacher. An avid enthusiast for basketball and baseball, his real competitive fire came out during his time participating in a karaoke league.

CEO at the World Surf League — the home of surfing, with the world's best surfers, the world's best waves and cutting edge technologies such as the Kelly Slater Wave Company. Throughout her career, she has led the globalization of professional sports, driving innovation. While at the National Basketball Association, she guided the expansion of the league into Europe. At the Women’s Tennis Association, Sophie helped to broker the largest sponsorship deal in the history of women's sports at that time, and while at the Rugby Football Union, she was the first female Board member in its history. Sophie has also been a non-executive director for the PGA European Tour and the Youth Sport Trust. She was named 40 under 40 by Sports Business Daily and the Leaders in Sports Leaders Under 40 Award. Most recently, Forbes and Adweek recognized her as one of the top 30 Most Powerful Women in global sport.

Alex Beckman is a media technology professional who lives in Silicon Valley. In 2014 Alex co-founded GameOn Technology, a chat bot network platform focused on building highly engaging fan experiences for companies like Sports Illustrated and Sky Sports. He was the founding CEO of EVNTLIVE, a video streaming platform that was acquired by Yahoo! in late 2013. Alex graduated from UC Berkeley where he studied film and then joined Terri Timely, a film production company based in Oakland, California with offices in LA, NYC, and Tokyo. From 2007-2009 Alex was the production manager and head of digital on set for commercials for brands including Toyota, Mercedes Benz, Wrigley's Gum, Orangina, McDonald's, ESPN, and Adidas.

As CEO of Tie Break Tens, Felicity is responsible for the strategic vision and implementation of this new sports format as well as the day to day running of the office and growing head count. Felicity joined TB10 in 2017 having previously served as Commercial Director at West Ham United overseeing the move from the Boleyn Ground to their new home in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Prior roles have included Director of Rights Management at Octagon Worldwide and Director of Commercial Partnerships at Arsenal Football Club where Felicity established the club’s first overseas office in Singapore.

Georgina joined The FA last year at pivotal time for the organisation as it embarked on a digital transformation journey to create new ways to enable football and engage with fans. Georgina’s remit includes marketing for the England teams, the Emirates FA Cup, as well as a big focus on doubling women’s football. Prior to The FA, Georgina spent 13 years at Microsoft with the latter half of her time there dedicated to digital transformation both of our own operations and for customers. As Head of Digital she was responsible  for defining UK Strategy and operations in alignment with the global operating model, developing a plan that supported the one Microsoft strategy including channel, content and engagement,  and how to evolve marketing in line with customer behaviours/needs, as well as fostering a learning, sharing culture 

Arjoon Bose manages the Häagen-Dazs, Nature Valley and Fibre One team of highly talented marketers and cross-functional brand finance, customer/trade marketing, net revenue management and category management teams. Across several countries, they deliver the P&L, share growth and brand equity via a breakthrough innovation pipeline and a ‘modern luxury’ communications strategy through the line. With over 13 years of consummate experience in consumer goods across personal care products such as L’Oréal Paris and food and beverage products, Arjoon hopes to leverage in helping establish or grow the market for brands and create stakeholder viability.

Carrie Woodward is the Global Marketing Platform Leader for BFGoodrich Tires in Greenville, SC. Over the past 8+ years she has held various roles within the Customer Experience group for both the BFGoodrich and Michelin Tire brands. Her passion for marketing that build relationships between consumers and brands has directed all of her career choices from community management from the creative agency side working with various global brands to managing grassroots marketing for a major energy drink company. Carrie lives in Greenville, SC with her husband and two children.  She earned a BS in Economics and a Masters in Human Resource Development from Clemson University.

Rob has 8 years of experience working with social data after graduating from a Psychology and Sociology degree at Sheffield Hallam. During his time at Pulsar, in the last 5 years Rob has worked with major brands from FMCG to Fashion to Automotives; helping to tap into social conversations and understand their audience segments. In turn the brands are able to tell their story through data.

Lukas Gysin is the CEO and founding father of uniqFEED AG, Zurich, Switzerland (a spin-off Company of ETH Zurich) as well as the initiator of the business concept. He has a broad network, which consists of rights holders, clubs, broadcasters, sports marketing agencies, entrepreneurs and further stakeholders. Lukas Gysin holds a Swiss Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and has completed his MBA studies at the University of Rochester NY, USA and an EMBA of University of Berne, Switzerland. He started his professional career in 1999 in the audit & advisory department at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). As of May 2007 Lukas worked 18 months as an Associate Director for UBS in Business Banking before serving as CFO and Member of the Executive Committee in various industries with budget responsibilities of up to CHF 100 Mio. Lukas Gysin's enthusiasm for SPORTS carries over into his personal passion for all kind of outdoor sports, especially for football, jogging, tennis, nordic ski and TRX.

Jimmy Goodrich started his career agency side in sports marketing, working principally accross action sports programs for global consumer brands such as Nike, Skullcandy, Nokia and LG. In 2007 Jimmy set up the PR division at Kinc (formelly KAOS) alongside the agency’s founder to successfully launch a new international campaign for Nike ACG. A move to Monster Energy followed in 2010 where he has built the communications department for EMEA and ran the motor sports program from 2013-2016, working closely with Monster’s athletes and sponsorships in MotoGP, Motocross, Rallycross, Speedway and Formula 1. In January 2017 Jimmy took on the role of VP Marketing. He oversees all central marketing functions for Monster Energy’s EMEA division including sports marketing, music, events, digital and communications.

Head of Digital Strategy, Platforms and Innovation at FC Bayern. Football fan and passionate explorer of new values and opportunities via digital and tech. Having worked for 10+ years in digital and sports, e.g. for Ledavi, GMR Marketing, Serviceplan, Sport1 and own consultancy businesses. Also proud dad, passionate traveler and #miasanmia within the heart.

Zeynep Yalım Uzun is Chief Marketing Officer at Arçelik, the leading home appliances and consumer electronics company, which operates in 145 countries on six continents. Her role covers global brand management, consumer insights, industrial design, and product sourcing. She manages Arçelik’s 11 brands, including Europe’s leading white goods brands Beko and Grundig, and Turkey’s Lovemark brand, Arçelik.
Zeynep initiated her career at Turkish conglomerate Koç Holding, then moved to Unilever where she led numerous brands, including Knorr, Omo and Sunsilk, between 1992 and 2017. In 2007, Zeynep became vice president of Unilever Turkey’s Home and Personal Care division and joined the Unilever Turkey board. In 2012, she was appointed global vice president of OMO, Unilever’s second-largest global brand, covering more than 80 countries. She moved to Arçelik and her current position in October 2017.

Catherine Cottrell joined Comic Relief in the newly formed post of Executive Director of Fundraising and Partnerships in March 2018 having worked for some of the biggest charity brands in the UK and gaining a track record of transforming income and developing new channels. She came to Comic Relief directly from Unicef UK where she spent over 5 years as Deputy Executive Director, responsible for their fundraising portfolio, and in that time doubling their voluntary income. Prior to this she led the Fundraising operation at the RSPCA, where she drove the creation and implementation of a new fundraising strategy bringing high growth in income from individuals and high value partnerships.

Laurence is a Partner within EY's Advisory business and leads Digital Strategy & Transformation along with EY’s Wavespace hubs in EMEIA. He works with clients to help them understand and respond to the opportunities and threats posed by disruptive technology. Laurence’ credentials speak for themselves. With a decade of experience at SAP, where he was EMEA Vice President for CRM and 9 years in Consulting, he is a recognised authority and evangelist on Digital Transformation, Strategy, Innovation Customer Experience and CRM. 

As Chief Executive of England Netball, Joanna Adams is responsible for the strategic plan of the sport across the country. Under her leadership, England Netball have secured the rights to host the Netball World Cup in 2019 and were awarded the National Governing Body of the Year at the Sport Industry Awards in 2014. Joanna has been involved in netball for seven years having joined the organisation as Commercial Director in 2010. Over this period the sport has seen record figures for participation, sponsorship and ticket revenue. Under her guidance, netball has proudly become the fastest growing female team sport in the country.

Liam Harrington from North London started his entrepreneurial journey at 17 when he founded a merchandising company. Harrington was never an academic so relied heavily on his personality to take him wherever he wanted to. It has helped him massively in the creation and development of UNILAD, which is now one of the largest media platforms in the world, with 2.9 billion monthly video views and 26 million followers on social media.

Alban Dechelotte has recently joined Riot Games in 2018 as Head of Sponsorships and Business Development for Esports in Europe Previously, he has been leading the Gaming and Esports agenda at the Coca-Cola Company including the rule breaking global partnership with Riot Games since 2014. During his 5 years tenure at the Atlanta based company he also led some award winning campaigns such as the 2013 Coca-Cola Zero partnership with PlayStation Europe, the 2014 partnership with Ubisoft Just Dance to promote active healthy living and in 2017 he has signed the Coca-Cola first virtual athlete Alex Hunter endorsement from the EA Sports FIFA franchise.

Rob is Chief Communications Officer for Italian Serie A Club FC Internazionale Milano responsible for the Club’s sporting, corporate and PR communications strategy. He developed the Inter Media House, responsible for creating innovative and original content distributed across all Club media channels in order to increase fan engagement and grow the brand internationally. In June 2017 he was appointed Chief Marketing Officer for the Club ad interim, responsible for all marketing activities including the legends team, Inter Forever. Graduating with a degree in Geography from the University of Nottingham, and with an executive masters in communications from the Università della Svizzera Italiana, he was formerly Head of Communications at UEFA for 12 years.

Jeremy is Chief Strategy Officer for IBM Watson Customer Engagement (Europe). He travels around the world talking to executives about marketing and consumer trends and how IBM Watson’s cognitive computing capabilities will revolutionise the future. He has been voted the most influential person on twitter for #BigData and one of the top 10 most influential marketing professionals globally. In previous roles he was the Head of Strategy for Salesforce Marketing Cloud and Head of Social Strategy for Adobe Marketing Cloud. Jeremy is the host of The Ten Words podcast and author of three books, the most recent of which is also called TenWords, a book about 140 “characters” who changed their industry with a ten word statement. All profits from the book are raising money for the NHS to buy to incubators for their intensive care neonatal unit.

Sanjay Patel is the ECB’s Chief Commercial Officer/Managing Director, New Competition. He is responsible for the ECB’s Commercial and Events teams as well as taking a lead role in developing the governing body’s new eight-team domestic competition set to launch in 2020. Since he joined ECB four years ago as Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, he has helped deliver a media rights deal with Sky Sports and the BBC valued at £1.1 billion, concluded several record-breaking partnerships with new sponsors and overseen significant growth in ECB’s digital channels. Formerly Sanjay held various commercial, innovation, brand marketing and strategy positions at leading companies such as Diageo and Heineken.

Sally is an acclaimed specialist in sponsorship strategy, planning and delivery, and has advised organisations worldwide on maximising the value of their partnerships. She is the Managing Partner of Y Sport, a unique sport strategy and sponsorship consultancy based in London and Zurich, providing original, impartial and independent advice to global brands, broadcasters and sports, with a particular belief and interest in the value of women’s sport. 

Currently lead content sales across EMEA within Twitters Content partnerships division. Working closely with broadcasters, rights holders and publishers to deliver the very best content for brand sponsorship on Twitter. Twitter Sponsorships is the I am an experienced Sales professional with a proven track record in Influencer Marketing ,Digital, VOD, TV, and Cinema.

Creative and Presenter at Copa90. But also much more things online that are so strange and weird to list that 150 words is really tough to define it all. But alas, here we are. Putting the G in Refugee since 1995.  Human being also.

James Kirkham is the head of Copa90, the definitive youth football media brand. Copa90 has transformed under James’ leadership into the voice of a generation, resonating with its young audience through content that connects with 3.5 billion fans’ passion for football. Copa90’s influence has grown through its drive to use the universal language of football to talk about important social issues for young people, such as the refugee crisis or encouraging them to vote.

My career has spanned multiple factions of the sports industry from agency to Governing Body to broadcaster to Organising Committees. In the world of Olympics I spent several years immersed in track and field, for UK Athletics’ then agency Fast Track before moving to Melbourne to lead the marketing and communications team at Athletics Australia. Following the Olympics in 2012 I returned to London and joined the Sky Sports marketing team, working on their British & Irish Lions campaign. This was the start of a period in rugby as the head of marketing for England 2015 – the organising committee for Rugby World Cup 2015 – soon followed. One record-breaking world cup to another I took my knowledge and experience from the world of rugby into cricket for the ICC Women’s World Cup and the ICC Champions Trophy. Now, from fast bowling to the fast lane, I’m part of the commercial team at Formula 1.

Michael R. Yormark is President & Chief of Branding and Strategy for Roc Nation and is responsible for marketing, branding, strategic partnerships and business development for the full-service company inclusive of artists, athletes, songwriters, music publishing, touring & merchandising, film & television, and a music label. Yormark leads the effort to create and develop optimal opportunities for the Roc Nation brand, and its roster of athletes and artists, through strategic partnerships.  He is also responsible for increasing revenue and awareness for all Roc Nation brands and properties, as the company continues to set the standard for global innovation. 

Tom leads the content teams and define and manage content strategy across the club's digital, broadcast and print channels. Responsible for increasing the club's reach and fan engagement domestically and internationally, monetising our growing channels, and ensuring that Arsenal remain innovators in fan engagement.

Experienced commercial and marketing executive with 15 years experience working across the television and entertainment industry, including some of the UK's largest entertainment shows, including: The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire Proven ability to delivery revenue to brands through sponsorships, brand partnerships, licensing, and live events. At the NFL Melissa is responsible for the commercial performance and sponsorship delivery of the NFL in the UK.

 

Jason is Head of Commercial at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with a market leading reputation in Sport and Retail. Jason is a commercial lawyer specialising in sponsorship, digital media, marketing, endorsements and major events. His clients include Nike and other major clubs, brands and retailers. Jason is a director and the secretary of the British Association for Sports and Law and a visiting lecturer at De Montfort University on sports contract matters. Jason also sits on the advisory board of a sports consultancy. 

Nick is the Founder & Head of SPORF. A sports digital sports publishing brand with over 15 million fans. From creation in his University bedroom in 2012, to being today’s highest-followed digital sports publishing brand in the UK. Nick’s determination and creative mindset has allowed him to transform a hobby into an award-winning digital brand. His unique approach has been recognised industry-wide, having recently been inducted into the Sports Industry NextGen Leaders Class of 2018. Nick is on a journey to re-define the sports publishing space by ‘doing things differently’.

A born entrepreneur, Scott invested everything as a child into his first passion…competing in sports. Shortly after college in 2001, his former life as an athlete interconnected with a natural business sense and SponsorHouse was born. The original mission was simple…support and connect athletes with sponsors through the ‘Internet’…the first concept of its kind. That vision later evolved into Hookit, which pioneered the sponsorship technology and analytics space (Spontech). Today, Hookit aggregates billions of data points from social and digital platforms and uses machine learning and predictive analytics to provide real-time insights and valuations for brands and properties to quantify and maximize sports sponsorships.

Tim has been at the forefront of sports marketing and sponsorship for over thirty years. After roles as a marketer for English cricket and director of a global sports stadium advertising company, he joined Karen Earl Sponsorship and evolved it into sports marketing powerhouse Synergy, where he was CEO for ten years. He is now an advisor and investor across a wide range of companies at the intersection of sports, media, marketing and technology.

Brianne leads the EME marketing team, which manages NBA brand marketing, social media channels, and CRM initiatives. The primary focus is to drive fan growth and increase following and engagement amongst core fans in the region. As part of this, she oversees the NBA’s European primetime game campaign, “NBA Sundays,” to drive viewership in the region. The goal of the NBA’s country-specific social channels is to engage fans authentically through locally relevant content. Our following is industry leading and continues to grow in both engagement and reach.

Joanna became RFU Director of Digital, Marketing and Communications in May 2016 and is responsible for the England Rugby digital, marketing and communications strategy, integration, planning and delivery.

Her remit covers: England Rugby content and channels, including digital strategy and delivery, team and corporate communications, media relations and media operations, CRM, the England Rugby brand as well as setting and delivering the fan's stadium spectator experience and match-day sports presentation.

She was Communications and Marketing Director for three years at England Rugby 2015, organisers of Rugby World Cup 2015.

The tournament delivered record ticket sales and digital reach, and the tournament’s marketing campaign won a Sports Industry Award for the best integrated marketing campaign in 2014. Her previous roles include Head of PR and Media for LOCOG, organisers of the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, and Director of Global Communications for the Financial Times. She has over 20 years' experience in communications roles and was awarded an MBE in 2017 for Services to Sport.

As Vice President of Brand and Integrated Marketing for Major League Soccer, David Bruce is charged with managing the internal brand function of the top-flight soccer league in the United States and Canada. In this role, Bruce leads all positioning work for the League and its big events, as well as campaign development and marketing execution. He is actively involved in developing new branded platforms and initiatives that enable MLS to continue to grow the scale and reach of its fan base. Bruce led the recent rebranding of the League, which was launched at the beginning of the 2015 season. A native of Sunderland, England, Bruce currently lives in New York.

Joel is Head of UK for Octagon, the global sports and entertainment marketing group. Joel has been in the industry for over 15 years, with the focus of his work having been to help brands find the right place to play in sport. He has worked on deals across all major sports for clients including ABInbev, Adidas, AIG, Cisco, Delta, Mars, MasterCard, Shell, Sony and Standard Chartered. In his role in the UK, Joel’s focus is now to continue lead the agency’s successful transition from a global sponsorship agency, to a creative agency with specialism in sports and entertainment. This has been driven by the development of in-house teams across creative, planning, design, social & production, and a focus on integrated campaigns that earn attention.
 

Following working in the UK for six years in various roles, Fiona Taag first joined DHL in 2005 as Marketing Manager in New Zealand, and later moved to Bahrain as Middle East & North Africa Marketing Manager. She then returned to New Zealand to manage the DHL Express global sponsorship of RWC 2011. In 2012, she joined the Deutsche Post DHL Group head office in Germany as Global Sponsorship Manager, and again had the opportunity to manage DHL’s partnership of RWC 2015. As Head of Global Sponsorship, she currently manages partnerships for DHL Express including the World Rugby Sevens Series, Manchester United, MotoGP™, Exhibitionism – The Rolling Stones, The Grand Tour and AEG, as well as assisting colleagues around the world to activate Formula 1®, Fashion, Formula E and a variety of local partnerships.

Since graduating from the University in Bath, Elie has spent the past 12 years working within the Sport Industry. Having spent time working agency side at Fast Track Agency with GlaxoSmithKline (Lucozade Sport) she moved brand side to work at QBE Insurance on their rugby portfolio, before moving to SKY to manage their cycling marketing. Elie joined LVMH Watch and Jewellery Group at the end of 2016, where she now assumes the role of Marketing Director for TAG Heuer. Her responsibilities include overseeing activations for the brand’s global sponsorships of the Premier League, Manchester United, Red Bull Racing, the London Marathon and the Rugby Sevens World Series in the UK. Away from the office, a keen sportswomen having played International hockey for over a decade and competing at two Commonwealth Games (Delhi, 2010 and Glasgow 2014) Elie currently plays National League for Hampstead and Westminster hockey club, she is also on the board of trustees for ‘Women in Sport’. 

Charlie McEwen was appointed April 2015 as Chief Operating Officer of the British & Irish Lions following outstanding success as Commercial Director of The Lions and PRO12 Rugby.  He is responsible for the day to day growth and management of the business.  Charlie joined the Lions in 2010 having been Managing Director and Founding Partner of Accelerate Sports and Music Ltd., a company that was acquired by Chime Sports Marketing.  Charlie is working on his fifth Lions tour.   

Born in Padova on 24 July 1972, he graduated in Business Administration from Bologna University before furthering his studies in Colorado. His first role in Italy was with Ferrari, where he worked on marketing, brand management and market analysis between 1998 and 2000. After a spell at consultancy agency Landor Associates, he returned to work for the Ferrari-Maserati Group in 2002 as Licensing Manager, Head of International Communications and PR and Licensing and Sponsorship.

His CV, which also boasts experience as a tutor at Bologna University, was enriched between 2006 and 2008, when he served as Licensing Manager for Ferrero Group. This was then followed by Head of Marketing and Communications and Strategic Planning positions at Bonfiglioli and Bormioli Rocco Groups. Vigato’s most recent venture saw him co-found and act as Chief Marketing Officer for start-up company Ship&Duck.

From 2015 he joins the club’s management as Head of Brand, Licensing and Retail. In 2016 he also took on the title of Co-Chief Revenue Officer.

After an award winning career agency side working for various clients, including alcohol, telecoms and FMCG, James was recruited to work for Coca-Cola on the integrated marketing communications team. After various marketing roles in the Northwest Europe BU James was moved onto the London 2012 Olympic project team to lead the execution of the Olympic Torch Relay for the company. After delivering Coca-Cola’s most successful torch relay, in 2012, he was posted to Coke Brazil to lead the marketing and sponsorship for the Rio 2016 Games. In Rio he created one of the most talked about and integrated activations for the games. He is continuing his career with Coca-Cola and the Olympics with his recent move to Japan as Vice President of Olympic assets and marketing for the Tokyo 2020 Games.