2023 Speakers

Sergei Palkin has held the position of CEO at FC Shakhtar Donetsk since June 2004. From 1997 to 2001, Mr Palkin worked as a Senior Auditor at JV Coopers & Lybrand (later – PricewaterhouseCoopers). Since July 2001, he has held the position of director of economics and finance at Kryvyi Rih Cement and Mining Combine OJSC. Since June 2003, Mr Palkin has been the Financial Director of Shakhtar FC. On June 18, 2004, he was appointed General Director.In 1996, Sergei Palkin became a qualified financial manager after graduating from the National Academy of Management with a degree in Finance and Credit”. Since 2002, he has been a member of the Association of Chartered Accountants (Great Britain). In 2009, Mr Palkin was awarded the Order of Merit, III degree and in 2011, he was awarded the Order of Merit II degree.

Having only started playing rugby at university at the age of 21, Chancellor made her international debut for Australia in 2018 against New Zealand and her impressive performances saw her named the Wallaroos’ Player of the Year. Chancellor became a mainstay of the Australia squad and the flanker featured in all four of their matches at Rugby World Cup 2021 in New Zealand last year, her first test try being nominated for the International Rugby Players Women’s 15s Try of the Year. She then took the opportunity to leave her job in Sydney to experience life as a full-time rugby player with Harlequins in England.

Dawn was CEO of Getty Images between 2015 and 2018 and remained as a non-executive director until July 2022. Dawn is on the Boards of Channel 4, Grosvenor Estates and Blackbird. She is Chair of the FA Women’s Super League and FA Women’s Championship Board, The National Youth Theatre and Digital Theatre. Dawn was also a member of the Government’s Expert Panel for a Fan-Led Review of Football. Dawn is a veteran of the media industry having worked in television for 30 years, holding senior positions at ITV, Channel 5 and BSKYB. She also spent 3 years at Yahoo EMEA.

Alexandra is a marketing, digital media and communications specialist, currently employed as Director of Digital Media and Audience Development at the Premier League. Formerly Communications & Marketing Director at Wimbledon and a former sports journalist, Alexandra’s role is to help sporting organisations appeal to the next generation of sports fans and event-goers through the development of content, products and direct to consumer offerings, while also demonstrating that sport can thrive on brand and tradition alongside innovation and new technology.

Barbara Slater took up her role as Director of Sport in April 2009.She had previously been Head of Production and Head of General Sports for the department. Her responsibilities include working with governing bodies to retain a broad portfolio of broadcasting rights, overseeing the planning and coverage of major sporting events and leading the sports journalism operation at BBC Sport’s home in Salford. Barbara was responsible for the BBC’s acclaimed cross-platform coverage of the London Olympic Games – the most watched TV event in UK broadcasting history. Barbara was awarded the ‘Inspirational Woman Prize’ at the Women in Film and Television Awards in recognition of this achievement and has since been appointed as an adviser to the IOC Radio and Television Commission and the UK’s Sports Business Council. Barbara joined the BBC in 1983 as a trainee assistant producer in the Natural History Unit in Bristol, but has spent most of her career as a producer in BBC Sport, specialising in outside broadcasts and overseeing the production of a range of sports including tennis and golf. Barbara was awarded the OBE in 2014 for her services to sports broadcasting. She grew up in Birmingham, and was an international gymnast, competing for Great Britain at the Olympic Games in Montreal in 1976. Barbara is married with three children.

Manchester United’s Phil Lynch is responsible for providing the world’s best fan experience, regardless of location or touchpoint, alongside growing and developing the club’s range of consumer products and experiences. Phil joined Manchester United in February 2017 as CEO, Media, overseeing all the club’s multiplatform media initiatives. Prior to joining Manchester United, Phil was the Global Head/Vice President of Content and Media partnerships at Yahoo, overseeing over 3500 content partnerships across all verticals, as well as their digital distribution efforts from Yahoo’s Santa Monica headquarters. Before joining Yahoo, he was operating as Senior Vice President, Digital Networks and Games, for Sony Pictures Television. He received his degree from Brown University with a double major in Organisational Behaviour Management and Sociology.

Anna Kessel MBE is Sky Sports’ Executive Director for Development. An award-winning journalist and champion for agenda-setting change, she was previously Editor for Telegraph Women’s Sport. Prior to that Anna spent 15 years at the Guardian and Observer covering Olympic Games, World Cups and World Championships, and interviewing some of the biggest stars in sport. In 2016 Anna was awarded an MBE for services to journalism and women in sport, and published Eat Sweat Play: How Sport Can Change Your Life. Co-founder of Women in Football, The Independent described her as a “fearless adversary of sexism” in their list of the 50 Most Influential Women in Sport.

Marc co-founded ELEVEN with the sports and media entrepreneur Andrea Radrizzani in 2015.

He oversees the strategic direction of the Group and has led ELEVEN´s expansion into a global sports and entertainment network delivering more than 4billion views each month.
Marc was previously CEO of BT TV where he devised, launched and helped establish BT Sport – one of the most successful and disruptive channel launches in the history of the UK market.
Prior to BT, Marc was a shareholder and director at the TV strategy and sports rights consultancy Reel Enterprises who were longstanding advisers to the Premier League and others.

Marc is Vice President, Busiess Development and Partnerships at Spotify, where he pioneers game-changing deals, including key partnerships with Vodafone, AT&T, Starbucks, Hulu, FC Barcelona and Google. He has also been responsible for distributing and growing Spotify Premium via partners and leading new Premium revenue lines. Since joining the Band, Marc has helped Premium grow from 1M subscribers in 2011 to well over 205M today. Initially, he ran commercial relationships with major record labels, renegotiating contracts in the multi-billions.
Prior to Spotify, Marc oversaw business development for SONY music digital in Europe. There he led the label to a successful partnership with Spotify in the midst of a declining industry and piracy. He also worked at British Telecom Ventures Group on the UK’s first mobile TV initiative and at Accenture as a strategy consultant within its Communications and Media practice. In his spare time, Marc enjoys playing tennis, listening to what is probably considered to be age-inappropriate music and cheering on Arsenal

Tian is the Head of Sports at Roblox, where she is tasked to deliver on a compelling vision for Roblox in the exciting world of sports. She envisions a future where Roblox will be central to building fandom, mobilizing communities, and harmoniously bridging the physical and virtual worlds to make sports ever more engaging, and is thrilled to collaborate with the world’s best leagues, teams, athletes, and brands to make that a reality. Prior to Roblox, Tian worked at Unity Technologies, most recently as the Director and General Manager of the company’s sports vertical where she focused on leveraging real-time 3D technologies to transform sports consumption and commercialization. She also held positions in Unity’s Media & Entertainment and Gaming divisions. Before jumping into the immersive world of gaming, Tian spent years in enterprise tech, having held positions at Adobe where she managed the gross margin strategy for Creative Cloud, and at Cisco Systems where she held a variety of strategic finance roles, from structuring multi-billion dollar telco deals to helping build Cisco’s cloud business venture. Tian holds a bachelor’s degree at UC Berkeley and an MBA from Wharton at the University of Pennsylvania. Whilst there, Tian founded PennImmersive, Penn’s first immersive technologies association. After over two decades in the Bay Area, Tian recently moved to New York City where she is fully enjoying the distinct seasons, diversity, and the art and creative scenes the city has to offer.

Lawrence Bruno Nero Dallaglio OBE is one of the true icons of British sport and one of the outstanding and compelling figures in England Rugby history. Regarded as one of the world’s greatest ever back row forwards Lawrence achieved everything there is to achieve in Rugby for both club and country. Lawrence is immensely proud to have captained his country during an England career that saw him capped 85 times. He won the inaugural Rugby World Cup 7s in 1993 and of course, the 2003 Rugby World Cup, where he was the only player to play in every minute of every match during England’s successful campaign in Australia. This achievement also made Lawrence one of only two northern hemisphere players to hold world cup winners medals in both the 7s and 15 man game. He also played on three British and Irish Lions Tours winning a series in South Africa in 1997.Lawrence was a one club man and from joining London Wasps in 1990 to his retirement in 2008 he had a stellar career with the London Club captaining them to Victory in 5 Premiership titles, 3 League Cups and 3 European trophies. He now sits on their Board. Since retiring from rugby Lawrence has established a number of business and commercial relationships. He launched a Sports Marketing Agency – BBH Sport; delivering strategy, creative and execution for a variety of clients including England 2015, LTA, RFU, Samsung and Adidas. He is also an ambassador of Land Rover Globally. Lawrence’s latest venture has seen him co-found tima, the digital transformation platform for sports. Lawrence uses his extensive expertise in sports and technology to drive tima forward, giving organisations the opportunity to connect with sports communities from the grassroots up, while offering clubs an app to manage their sporting world. Lawrence recently joined Maistro as Strategic Development Director, Leading the wider Maistro commercial team in the engagement of new business along with the development of strategic based propositions for the acquisition of sales-qualified mid to large market clients.He is also a Director at Akuma Sports, working on the overall company strategy and objectives. Key responsibilities include raising brand awareness and building relationships and partnerships with other businesses. Working particularly closely in the educational sector and grassroots sports.In addition to his commercial relationships, Lawrence also undertakes an impressive measure of charity work under the umbrella of his own award winning charity Dallaglio RugbyWorks. RugbyWorks is an intensive, long-term skills development programme based on rugby, through which we aim to get teenagers outside of mainstream education into sustained education, employment or training. In March 2013, Lawrence signed with BT Sport to become the leading rugby union expert. Lawrence’s venture began with BT Sport’s exclusive coverage of up to 69 live matches a season from the Aviva Premiership. He features both as a BT Sport co-commentator for some live matches and studio pundit for other live clashes. He is also a well-respected columnist for The Sunday Times. Lawrence’s outstanding achievements were recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List, where he was awarded an MBE (2004) and an OBE (2008). A keen Chelsea supporter he lives in Richmond, West London and is married to Alice. They have three children – Ella, Josie and Enzo.

Barney Francis joined IMG as Executive Vice President, Head of Global Production, in November 2021. He oversees the production of thousands of hours of content on behalf of more than 200 federations, associations and events to help them reach new and existing fans in creative and compelling ways. Widely-respected as one of the leading sports executives in the world, Francis was largely responsible for establishing Sky Sports as the leading UK sport broadcaster during his 20-year spell with the organization. As Managing Director, he grew the channel offering from 5 channels to 11, adding premium sports such as Formula 1, the Masters, The Open and NBA to the portfolio while also increasing the number of Premier League matches shown on Sky. He also oversaw continued technological innovation with developments in 3D, Ultra HD, virtual reality and the continued growth of Sky Sports’ digital, social and online presence. Prior to his role as Managing Director, Francis was Sky Sports’ Executive Producer for Football and Cricket, producing a range of live coverage, support programming and sport news content. His production credits include the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, the ICC Cricket World Cup and Test cricket.

Beverly is Senior Vice President of International Operational Excellence at American Express. She leads a pan-International organisation responsible for driving process excellence across the business.  Beverly has been with American Express for 34 years, working across many areas of the company.  Beverly is the senior sponsor for the American Express partnership with Brighton and Hove Albion Football Club and their charitable arm, Albion in the Community. 

Brett joined the NFL in the newly created position of Head of Europe & UK in January 2021, following 9 years as CEO of World Rugby.

The NFL is the world’s most valuable sports entertainment property, and the Super Bowl is the most watched annual event in the USA. Brett’s role is to oversee the acceleration of NFL fan growth and revenues across Europe.

This involves strategic and operational management across broadcast, marketing and sponsorship, as well as the staging of 4-5 regular season NFL games in London and Germany with related ticketing, hospitality and event management.

After graduating from Nottingham Trent University with a BA Hons in International Business Studies, Katy worked for Chelsea Football Club where she became Head of Hospitality and spent 8 years developing the club’s commercial hospitality and events functions. From there she joined Barclays where she now heads up the Football partnerships within the Barclays Sponsorship portfolio and manages the Bank’s activation of them globally. But over the years she has managed other partnerships including the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, Barclays bikes, and most notably the title sponsorship of the Barclays Premier League, which Barclays remain a close partner of, as official banking partner.

Humphrey Ker started his career in the world of entertainment, with several years at the BBC before moving to the US in 2013. There, he has worked on a variety of different TV shows, from American Auto and Mythic Quest to It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia and Curb Your Enthusiasm, in a variety of different capacities. In 2020, he helped Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds see their takeover of Wrexham AFC come to fruition and in early 2021 he was appointed Executive Director of the Club. In this capacity, he sits on the board and acts as a liaison between Rob and Ryan and the boots on the ground in Wales.

World Rugby has announced that Sally Horrox will join the organisation as Director of Women’s Rugby in early May.

The announcement comes ahead of the Rugby World Cup 2021 Final Qualification Tournament decider in Dubai on Friday when Colombia will play Scotland for the 12th and final place at the showcase event in New Zealand later this year.

Horrox will bring with her an impressive wealth of management and board level experience in sport and business and will be responsible for World Rugby’s transformational Women in Rugby 2017-25 plan, which was refreshed in late 2021 after huge initial success.

Horrox has a proven track record in transforming women’s sports. A former non-executive director of England Netball, advisor to UEFA, international football federations and The FA, she has played a leading role in the success of the Vitality Netball Super League and the FA Women’s Super League, with her deep sport, commercial, legal insights and knowledge.

Jon Varney took the helm as Chief Executive of Brentford FC in 2019 and has guided the Club through the pandemic, a stadium move and their return to top-flight football in the Premier League. He was voted CEO of the Year in 2021 at the Football Business Awards.Jon has a track record of working in professional sport, specialising in recent years in commercial partnerships and media rights. He is also a Brentford season ticket holder and long-term Bees fan. Jon grew up in the south-west London area and started his working life at The Rugby Football Union, in Twickenham, having attended Teddington School and Richmond upon Thames College. In the mid-1990s he managed Coca-Cola’s football sponsorships including the EFL Cup, SFL Cup and their involvement in UEFA Euro ‘96.

Chris Richards is a centre back for Crystal Palace and the US Men’s National Team. He initially broke through at FC Dallas, and swiftly moved over to Germany with Bayern Munich at the age of 18. He made his Bundesliga debut that same summer, and shortly after had two successful loan spells with 1899 Hoffenheim. This summer, Chris fulfilled a lifelong dream to play Premier League football and signed for Crystal Palace; he won the club’s Player of the Month award in January 2023. Chris is extremely passionate and outspoken about black history; he has a series of black icons tattooed on his body and is devoted to raising awareness for issues African Americans face to this day.

Alan Gilpin is the Chief Executive Officer of World Rugby (and Managing Director of Rugby World Cup Limited). Alan leads World Rugby and the delivery of an ambitious new strategic plan focused on the global growth of rugby, and making the sport more accessible and more relevant around the world. He is also responsible for the management of the globally-renowned Rugby World Cup brand, including the preparations and delivery for Rugby World Cup 2021 in New Zealand (women’s) and Rugby World Cup 2023 in France (men’s).

Helen is the CEO and founder of FOUDYS, the world’s first and only e-commerce space dedicated to official women’s football merchandise. She is a passionate women’s football fan and women’s football summariser working predominantly with The BBC on WSL fixtures. She’s also the founder of Manchester’s largest football club representing women’s football: Manchester Laces. Helen is a prominent voice for women’s equality in football and LGBTQ+ rights, and is the founder of the first inclusive – and non-binary football club, Manchester Laces, which won National Grassroots Club of the Year in 2022.Helen was recently added to the EY Northern Power Future List for 2023 – Europe’s largest awards championing gender equality.

Maggie is the CEO of pioneering football club, Lewes FC in Sussex, a community-owned non-profit football club and the world’s first to distribute revenue equally between its male and female teams. Maggie was elected to the FA Women’s Super League and Women’s Championship Board in July 2021. Maggie held a senior global advocacy role at Transparency International, the world’s largest anti-corruption organization for six years representing the organisation at the UN, G20 and OECD. She held prior human rights advocacy and policy roles in Amnesty International and Minority Rights Group International and became a ‘BBC Expert Woman’ in 2017.

Sergi Ricart was appointed Chief Marketing & Revenue Officer FC Barcelona in November 2021 after previously being at Nike driving the marketing strategy for all the sports performance and lifestyle dimensions of the company.At FC Bacelona Sergi’s role will be to lead, develop, and manage the overall marketing & revenues vision and strategies for FC Barcelona, including the long-term relationship with Spotify which was signed in March 2022.

Mike joined Sorare as Head of Business Development in October 2021. Prior to this, his experience included over six years with DraftKings, the biggest fantasy sports company in the world. As one of their earliest employees, Mike was a key part of their impressive growth and set a new standard on what is possible through partnership and business development in the fantasy sports industry.

Michael Sutherland is the Chief Transformation Officer at Real Madrid where he is driving the transformation strategy for one of the world’s most prestigious football clubs. Real Madrid is the most successful football club in the world, holding a record 26 trophies, including 13 Champions League trophies and was awarded the Club of the Century in 2000 by FIFA. The club has consistently ranked in the top 3 highest earning football teams for the past 17 years and in 2021 was recognized by both Brand Finance and KPMG as the most valuable football brand for the third consecutive year and valued by Forbes at $4.75B, firmly placing Real Madrid in the top 5 most valuable sports teams in history.

Brighton and Hove Albion confirmed former player Glenn Murray as club ambassador in October 2021. Glenn will represent Albion at a selection of home matches, as well as other club and Albion in the Community events, alongside current ambassadors Bobby Zamora and Alan Mullery. Murray played for Albion from 2008-11 and 2016-21, scoring 111 goals in 287 appearances for the club. He enjoyed promotion from League One in 2011 and the Championship in 2017 and is currently the club’s top scorer in their Premier League history, with 26 goals. He retired at the end of last season and also works in the media.

Jeremy is a former England cricketer with a master’s degree in psychology. Following his 19-year playing career he launched Sporting Edge to work with leaders in elite sport and business. These have included the South African Cricket Team, Shane Warne’s victorious Rajasthan Royals in the IPL, Crystal Palace in the Premier League and Eddie Jones’s England Rugby team as they recorded a world record 18 wins in a row. Jeremy has designed and delivered many corporate keynotes and leadership programmes for clients such as BMW, KPMG, HSBC, McKinsey, GSK and Gartner. He’s a regular contributor to media channels such as The FT, Huffington Post, Sky Sports and BBC and is the host of the Apple Top 10 podcast ‘Inside the Mind of Champions’.

Victoria is a passionate sportswoman and dedicates most of her spare time to promoting sport across various sectors. She is Chief Executive for GB Snowsport; Board member for the British Olympic Association; Custodian for the Rugby Centurions, responsible for creating Social Impact on a global platform through the rollout of the Centurions Future Leaders Course for children aged between 11 and 18; Invictus Games Strategic Advisor for the UK Delegation Board; and she is a Board Director and Chief Strategy Officer for a flourishing FinTech Business with a mission to provide solutions at scale, for those who are underserved, overcharged or excluded by mainstream financial services.

Paul Barber joined the board of Brighton & Hove Albion FC as chief executive in June 2012. In his first season with Brighton, the club secured its highest league position for over 30 years, made the Championship play-offs, enjoyed the highest average attendances in its division, and signed its largest-ever shirt sponsorship agreement, a multi-year deal with American Express.

Marla Messing possesses a wealth of senior leadership and executive experience, and a proven track record of marketing and business success in the sports industry. Messing, who began her career as a corporate attorney, rose to prominence in the sports world through her instrumental roles in the success of the FIFA World Cup and Women’s World Cup. Messing’s achievements have earned her awards that include the Sports Business Journal’s Champion in Sports Business Award and Female Executive of the Year Award, as well as annual awards by Women in Sports and Events and Ad Age. From October 2021 – April 2022, Messing led the turn-around effort of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), which had been reeling from a coaching scandal and the abrupt resignation of its Commissioner and General Counsel. Messing was brought in to stabilize the League, staunch the defection of sponsors and other partners, and engender good will with the Players Association and key star players. In seven months, Messing finalized the League’s first CBA, created a partnership with the Players Association for a joint investigation around the mistreatment of players, secured the sale of the troubled Washington Spirit for a league record $35 million, helped attract five new league sponsors for a total of $23 million over three years, oversaw the successful 2021 Championship Game and Weekend, and the 2022 College and Expansion Drafts, and began preparations for a league expansion process to be executed during the Summer of 2022. As a result of Messing’s tenure the NWSL entered its 10th season of play in April 2022 a vastly different and stronger league, with excellent relations with its constituencies and enhanced public perception.

Mark joined Burnley FC as Chief Operating Officer in October 2021 following the takeover by ALK Capital 9 months prior.

Burnley FC has undergone a significant transformation on and off the pitch over the past 2 years and his role is to lead that day-to-day transformation. He has accountability for the business side of the organisation and works alongside football operations.

He has also worked as City Football Group and set up Two Circles’ North American office, as well as a number of positions outside of the sports industry.

Fiona joined the global purpose-driven sports entertainment league SailGP last year with a mission to help make sustainability and inclusivity essential to the fabric of sport. Fiona is the mastermind of the SailGP Impact League – a world-first in sport which sees athletes race to win two podiums: one for sporting performance and one for the planet. The league champions authentic, committed and impactful initiatives and rewards positive sustainability and social actions.

Fiona has an exceptional track record of shaping social impact strategy, promoting gender equality and campaigns for some of the world’s most high-profile sports brands and talent. She was the driving force behind Sky’s corporate and social purpose team, The Bigger Picture, and led the Sky Ocean Rescue consumer campaign, which reached an awareness of over 50 million people across Europe and resulted in behavioral change among its customers towards plastics. Fiona is proud to be an Ambassador for Meaningful Business, an advisory board member at 17 Sport and Non-Executive Board Member of the Manchester Originals a team in the new Hundred tournament shaking up and growing the game of cricket.

Kishi Dickinson is Global Sponsorship Strategy Lead for Cognizant, a technology company that engineers modern businesses to improve everyday life. Her 20+ year career spans marketing, communications, and events but leveraging sponsorships to strategically align with enterprise goals and objectives is her true passion. Working in partnership with rights holders such as 6 Nations Rugby, the British Triathlon Federation and Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One (AMF1), she has helped create engaging, differentiated brand activations for audiences of some of the world’s largest Tech companies. At Cognizant, Kishi works across a portfolio of sponsorships, focusing on enabling the global marketing team and wider business to get the best value out of these investments. Her current mission is unlock the full value of Cognizant’s partnership with SailGP, with a focus on amplifying both organizations’ commitment to sustainability via collaborative work on SailGP’s Impact League. Kishi is never happier than when a partnership has purpose at its centre, and the opportunity to create positive social impact.

Aaron Radin is the Chief Executive Officer of the British Basketball League (BBL), after joining in December 2022. Radin moved to the BBL after compiling a successful track record across a 30-year professional career. He has held increasingly senior-level positions at a multitude of sports, media and tech organisations such as the NBA, The Walt Disney Company, NBCUniversal and Meta. He has extensive knowledge of the commercial landscape surrounding basketball and was appointed to help take the league to exciting new heights and fulfil its commercial potential.

Alongside his professional background, Radin has been significantly involved in his community for over 20 years through volunteering as a basketball coach and helping to lead a grassroots program which helped generate opportunities for hundreds of inner-city youth to expand their educational and professional opportunities through the sport.

Christina is an Irish sports presenter best known for hosting RugbyPass Offload, and from her time as a TV anchor and pitchside reporter with Premier Sports covering the United Rugby Championship.

She is very comfortable in front of the camera and hosting in person events, which makes her a great option for a variety of speaking engagements. Christina is knowledgeable on all things rugby but also loves sport in general!

Since joining Wasserman, Christina has worked with several brands including Guinness GB, Matchpint, Heineken Ireland, Engage Hospitality, Irish Rugby, TikTok, We Love Sport UK, Canterbury, & the Autumn Nation Series. Her most recent World Rugby interview with Tadhg Furlong has gone viral on social media.

Outside of rugby, you’ll find Christina attending as many different sports events as she can! She is animal mad and her dog Ollie regularly features on her Instagram.

Nicola has been the Chief Commercial Officer at Aston Villa since January 2019 having previously worked at Manchester United and Chelsea FC. Nicola currently sits on the United by 2022 Board and has previously held a Board position on the FA’s WSL & WC Board (the FA’s women’s football board). Nicola is a chartered accountant qualifying at Ernst & Young and subsequently worked at PwC in Transaction Services.

David Lehanski is the Executive Vice President of Business Development & Innovation for the National Hockey League, responsible for advancing innovative initiatives for the NHL through the establishment of corporate partnerships, state-of-the-art technology solutions and new revenue.

Thayer Lavielle serves as Executive Vice President, The Collective, having founded and lead the division that exists advance the power of women. Since The Collective’s launch in 2019, she quickly built a consultancy and brand that delivers insights, advocacy and opportunities for brands, rights holders and talent to make greater impact for women. Lavielle also spearheaded the formation of The Collective Marketplace in 2021 and The Collective Think Tank in 2020 – both first-of-its-kind innovations for women in sports. Prior to the launch of The Collective, she led Talent Marketing and Operations across Wasserman’s Team Sports’ Broadcast, Coaching and Women’s groups and was also previously Wasserman’s EVP, Corporate Growth and Development.

With a career in professional football that commenced in 1993 at Scarborough AFC, some 30 years later and after spells at Bradford City, Leeds United and as CEO of the EFL, it is the bright lights of Wrexham that are now keeping him occupied. Having left the EFL in 2019, he formed his own consultancy business, Wantaway Limited that provides services to many involved directly or on the periphery of the football business, including FIFA, Macron, and the Football Finance Group. At Wrexham, he acts as the Strategic Advisor to the Board and the driving force behind what is happening in North Wales.

Katie is the Founder of Pledgeball and one of the organisers of Green Football Weekend. Pledgeball is a research-driven charity that mobilises sports fans, with a focus on football fans, to address environmental sustainability. Pledgeball works with stakeholders across the sports community, from clubs to the Football Supporters Association, from leagues to County FAs.

Sahaj is a Product Designer at Areto Labs, a women-founded tech company using machine learning to tackle online abuse for sports organisations.Having completed an MA in Diplomacy with a focus on gender equality, and then working in business development for creative agencies in the Omnicom and BBC networks, she now combines policy and business strategy within her design role in sport.Recently, she led Areto’s 2022 research report about online abuse in women’s sport, collaborating with former New Zealand soccer player Rebecca Sowden to produce a six-step action plan that helps organisations tackle the problem. She also led the strategy and design for aretoanalyzer.com, a free tool that makes education of online abuse accessible to all.

Jenny Mitton is a Director and Women’s Sport Lead at M&C Saatchi Sport and Entertainment. Over her 15+ year career Jenny has worked on some of the UK’s biggest sport sponsorships including O2 and England Rugby, NatWest and England Cricket, BMW and the Olympics and Virgin Media for the Paralympics. This summer she worked with the FA and UEFA to deliver the PR and Comms for the Women’s EUROs and is working with O2 on their long-term women’s rugby strategy. Outside M&C Jenny sits on the RFU Sub Growth Committee and is an Independent Advisor for the Sport and Recreation Alliance.

Kate has been Non-Exec Chair of Onside Law, a leading sports law firm since 2020.With a career that has spanned both commercial and government sectors, Kate has worked in sports marketing for over twenty years with a host of global sports brands and rights holders.During her career, Kate has been instrumental in the development of some ground-breaking women’s sports and participation initiatives including the hugely successful campaign, This Girl Can for Sport England and UEFA’s first women’s campaign, We Play Strong. Kate now runs specialist brand consultancy Platform alongside her commitments to Onside Law.

Sue Day became RFU Chief Financial Officer and a member of the RFU Board in April 2018. In October 2019, that role changed to Chief Operating and Financial Officer. Sue is responsible for finance, legal and governance, technology, people, strategy and Twickenham Stadium, reporting to CEO Bill Sweeney. She is a qualified chartered accounted with over 20 years’ experience in a variety of roles at KPMG, most recently as Deal Advisory Partner. Having been appointed partner in 2015, she worked as lead partner on a number of high profile mergers, acquisitions and corporate finance transactions before joining the RFU.

Marie is the Head of Sport at O2 Telefonica UK and is responsible for leading O2’s long-standing Principal Partnership with England Rugby. Marie joined O2 back in 2016 and has recently led the award winning Be their Armour #WearTheRose campaign for the RWC 2019 and the five year renewal with England Rugby, which saw O2 pledge to bring spend parity across both the men’s and women’s teams, making the sponsorship one of the longest standing shirt sport sponsorships in the World. Prior to joining O2 Marie worked for Accenture managing their UK sponsorship portfolio across sports and culture.

Alan is Executive Vice President and Global Head of Football at Roc Nation Sports International. After several years of player representation and transfer brokering as an independent agent, Alan joined Roc Nation in 2020, and is based at Roc’s Central London HQ. He has overseen Roc Nation’s continued growth within the football space, as they build their 360 degree client representation roster. Alan is originally from Dublin and is married with four children.

Rebecca (Bex) Smith is an internationally successful footballer who’s transitioned to a global executive in sports and business. She founded Crux Sports which consults with some of the world’s leading stakeholders in football including global brands, federations & confederations, international media platforms, AI technology, esports, agencies and some of the world’s top players, using its collective experience of years in football to identify, make, and capitalise on mutually valuable connections across its network.

Joseph Markowski is DAZN Group’s CEO of DAZN North America, responsible for all aspects of the business in two of its highest growth priority markets of the US and Canada, as well as DAZN’s continued expansion in the UK and around the world. Major milestones in his decade-long tenure include supporting the founding team in establishing the company’s initial go-to-market strategy; overseeing DAZN’s commercial and operational rollout in Japan; spearheading the company’s US launch in 2018 and swift transformation into a disruptive and innovative industry leader; and successfully leading DAZN’s international launch in 2020 and ensuing commercial growth on a global scale as EVP of Global Platform.

Online competition platform and tournament organiser FACEIT hired Giulia Zecchini as its new commercial strategy lead in 2021. Zecchini will leverage her background in data analytics to better showcase the potential value of FACEIT’s platform to brand partners. Prior to joining FACEIT, Zecchini served as the manager for the commercial business intelligence team at Formula 1. During that time, she worked with brands such as Rolex, Heineken, and DHL (the latter already an active sponsor in the esports space). She also previously worked at Nielsen Sports, providing sponsorship strategy and asset valuations for various high-profile soccer clubs as well as the Premier League.

Ms. Popal is a deeply respected women’s rights advocate in Afghanistan and beyond. She began breaking down barriers when she helped found the Afghan National Women’s Soccer Team in 2007, serving as team captain and later as the first woman ever hired by the Afghanistan Football Federation. When she was no longer safe in her country, she fled and continued her advocacy by establishing the Denmark-based Girl Power Organisation, which empowers women and girls, particularly refugees and migrants, through sport. Amid the recent fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, Popal worked tirelessly to help football players from the senior and junior women’s national teams escape and continues to support the girls and their families transition to their new countries.

Pete heads up Commercial Strategy for Deltatre’s Strategy & Design unit, launched at the start of 2021, overseeing a team delivering strategic projects across digital transformation for sport & entertainment brands, including teams, sports leagues & governing bodies, broadcasters, and telco operators. Pete has been part of Deltatre for more than 13 years and has held several positions within the business including leading commercial teams across EMEA and programme delivery.

Kelly Fairweather is Chief Executive Officer of the International Tennis Federation. In the past 6 years at the helm of the ITF, Kelly has been instrumental in accompanying the ITF’s digital transformation as an organisation and introduced new platforms to boost the sport and business. Embracing digital and data has helped the ITF to better understand and engage with the global tennis community online, developed new ways for fans to interact with our sport and diversified the business through new revenue streams. Part of this programme of work has included investment where most needed into the global digital capability of ITF national tennis association members.

Pedro Pinto is a communications professional with over 20 years’ experience in the sports media industry. He is currently the Founder and CEO of Empower Sports, an international PR and communications agency working with athletes, coaches, executives, clubs and federations. Pedro worked at UEFA from 2014 to 2018 as Managing Director of Communications, overseeing all editorial content, the press office and corporate campaigns at European Football’s governing body. Whilst there, he created the award-winning #EqualGame campaign, which promoted diversity and inclusion and featured superstars Cristiano Ronaldo, Leo Messi and Paul Pogba. Previously, Pedro spent over a decade at CNN International as a senior sports anchor, reporter and executive producer covering the world’s top events and stories. He presented the global World Sport Program from CNN’s headquarters in Atlanta and European studios in London. Pedro is originally from Lisbon and is fluent in Portuguese, English, Spanish and French. Thanks to his professional and networking experience, he is directly connected to the most influential journalists and stakeholders in world football.

As Vice President, New Ventures and Innovation, Tim is responsible for driving transformation and solving key business challenges for NTT’s clients. He regularly advises c-suite teams on the use of modern technologies to help grow their businesses as well as fuelling NTT’s own innovation. Based in Staffordshire, Tim travels to the Tour de France every year to manage NTT’s Tech Truck, the hub for real-time data that delivers key information on event operations, rider profiles and performance, as well as making predictions about stage favourites and the race’s winner.

Ashwin Limaye is the Chief Product Officer at VideoVerse, where he is responsible for driving the development and adoption of the entire suite of intelligent, intuitive video products – Magnifi, the broadcaster-facing solution, which is fast establishing itself as a leader in the space, and a new consumer-facing product in the editing and streaming space. He is also responsible for productizing the company’s innovation agenda, with multiple video transformation and consumption experiments underway.

Lorraine leads the communications and PR team at Data Talks. She is also the founder of Data Talks’ “Women in sports: beyond the hashtag” initiative where she and the team work hard to create tangible value for women’s sports, both at an individual and organisational level. Lorraine co-authored the book – More supporters. Superior sales. Real revenue: 4 fundamentals of selling more tickets and merchandise. She is also the host and producer of Data Talks’ Sports CDP crash course podcast where she interviews industry thought leaders from around the world on current sports trends, women’s sports, and the business of sports.

Sander believes that changes in any business are caused by two things: an urge to differentiate and an individual that is willing to get there. Despite a successful career start in the Oil and Gas industry, he came to the conclusion that for him natural hydrocarbons as an energy source wasn’t the long-term solution that the world needed. Using his knowledge combined with business sense he found the answer in a renewable energy startup that is still active today. The energetic and flexible atmosphere of the startup made him find the drive to continue to disrupt industries. Recognising the rising opportunities within sports on the intersection of tech and data, he met with Louis van Gaal (Head Coach of the Dutch FA) who introduced him to the latest tech on the market. It was that encounter that led to the idea for a solution, that we now know as Beyond Sports.

Allie Dinsmore is Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Business Development at the Professional Fighters League (PFL). In her current role, she works with external partners to monetize the league’s IP across verticals, including brand licensing, collectibles, data, content distribution and more. In 2022, she launched the PFL’s FAST channel across global platforms and continues to manage the distribution and programming strategy of the channel. Prior to the PFL, Allie worked at Verizon as part of their Corporate Strategy and Content Strategy & Acquisition teams.

Mitch Evans is a professional racing driver from New Zealand. He has made a name for himself in the world of motorsport, with notable achievements in GP3 (now F3) and the all-electric FIA Formula E Championship, racing for Jaguar TCS Racing, where he secured his first win in 2019 and has since become a key contender in the series. Known for his exceptional racing skills and determination, Mitch Evans is a rising star in the racing world. Outside of racing, he has positioned himself as an active investor in the sports and media space and is the Co-founder of APEX.

A former international cricketer with four Test and 39 One Day caps for South Africa, Elworthy retired from the game in 2003 and has since worked at both the ECB and Cricket South Africa. He joined Surrey County Cricket Club and The Kia Oval as Chief Executive in January 2022.

Rick Allen is a co-founder and CEO of ViewLift. With over 30 years of experience in the sports, entertainment and digital industries, Allen has overseen a number of the largest media companies, including Sporting News and National Geographic, including the launch of the National Geographic channels. In addition to his work in the streaming space, he has authored two bestselling books and produced three award-winning films.

Judd is the Head of Sports Fan Engagement at Genius Sports, having joined Genius as part of its acquisition of global leading fan engagement and digital gaming specialists, FanHub, in 2021. Judd has nearly 10 years experience working in product and commercial roles focused on helping sports federations, leagues and media companies better reach, engage, acquire and monetise their fans through innovative digital solutions. Some recent partnerships of note that Judd has overseen include FIFA, the IOC, News UK, European Tour, MotoGP and ECB.

Lucy Mills has worked in sport for good across Europe and Africa for the past 16 years. Most recently managing sport-based social inclusion programs for refugees and migrants for Fútbol Club Barcelona’s foundation. She is also a volunteer for an inclusive football program for women who are refugees or seeking-asylum in Barcelona. Mills is a board member and advisor for several local and international initiatives that promote equality and girls’ and women´s rights in and through sport. In 2022, she co-founded READY, an education project about innovation, tech and web 3.0 to supercharge women´s sport. Mills holds an MPhil in Development Studies from the University of Cape Town.

Kat Craig is an award-winning international human rights lawyer who has worked on issues of inclusion and social justice across five continents. She is a strategic advisor to numerous major funders and UN agencies on sport and human rights, and has worked directly to support people with refugee experiences for over 20 years. Kat’s work has seen her travel the world and advocate for displaced people in conflict zones including Colombia, Palestine and Yemen. Most recently, Kat’s role in the evacuation of the Afghanistan Women’s National Football Team was recognised when she was awarded the prestigious Impact and Integrity Award. Kat is CEO of sport and human rights consultancy Athlead, and in her spare time helps run Camden & Islington United, a community-owned football club in London.

Laura is the European Sponsorship Manager for Amazon, a role she began in October 2022, working primarily on football partnerships. Prior to that she spent 8 years at M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment, working across brands and rights holders including Heineken (UEFA Champions League, EURO 2020, UEFA Women’s Football, Rugby World Cup and the Heineken Champions Cup), Reebok, O2 x England Rugby, Beko x FC Barcelona and Dreams x Team GB & ParalympicsGB. Despite a life-long love of sport, Laura’s route into a career in the industry wasn’t a direct one, having studied English Language & Literature at the University of Sheffield before beginning her career in consumer PR at The Red Consultancy. With Samsung as a client, she had the opportunity to work on the technology brand’s sponsorship of London 2012, which became the first step in her new path into sports marketing. That was followed by a role at the cycling-specialist agency Fusion Media – with project highlights including the Tour de France Grand Depart in Yorkshire – before her move to M&C Saatchi S&E. Being part of the very fast SportsPro NEW ERA programme marks a real highlight in Laura’s journey in sport, and she’s very proud to be part of the team.

George is Vice President, Head of Fan Engagement & DTC – Europe & Middle East, of the National Basketball Association (NBC), a role held for nearly two years. Prior to this, George was Vice President, Marketing & Analytics – Eurosport, for three years, leading all brand, subscriber acquisition, retention and insight efforts across linear and digital platforms globally. George is a Direct-To-Consumer executive with 15+ years of experience across sports, media and telecommunications in a variety of marketing, digital and commercial leadership roles.

Ross is the VP of Research & Analytics at LIV Golf. LIV Golfs’ purpose is to holistically improve the health of professional golf on a global scale to help unlock the sports’ untapped potential. At LIV Golf he is charged with delivering a research programme from scratch across multiple markets covering sponsorship valuation, event feedback, media monitoring and brand tracking. Prior to his move to golf, he led the award-winning Behavioural Insights & Business Analytics team at The English Football Association (The FA) for 9 seasons. A career spanning 25 years of brand and consumer research experience including senior positions at research-based consultancies specialising in communication, brand, engagement, and customer research. He also has experience client side as a researcher and marketing manager at Müller, and seconded posts with Unilever, Coca-Cola and Vodafone.

Lidor, a passionate sports fan and a proven leader in account management. As the Director of Account Expansions at WSC Sports , Lidor is responsible for leading the EMEA Account Management team.With his extensive experience and expertise, Lidor oversees all operational and professional relationships with WSC Sports clients in the region, including top-tier organizations such as UEFA, The FA, Man Utd, Bundesliga, and Viaplay. Through his dedication and commitment, Lidor ensures that all clients receive the highest level of support and service from WSC Sports.

Alex works at the intersection of commercial and sustainability within Liverpool Football Club’s Partnerships team. He is responsible for driving commercial growth and supporting strategic projects, including the Club’s sustainability initiative, The Red Way, launched in 2021. He is also a proud member of the Club’s Gender Equality Network. Prior to joining LFC, Alex worked as a management consultant focusing on operations and strategy primarily in the Financial Services and Utilities industries.

Nick is the founder and CEO of Benchmark, the holding company of Beyond Sport. Nick first recognized the power of sport to create connections, share experiences and change lives more than two decades ago, and since then he has gone on to build a series of ground-breaking events, networks and communities, which bring people, businesses and society together. In 2008, Nick founded the global foundation Beyond Sport. It soon enjoyed the backing of some of the world’s most influential leaders, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu (Patron) Richard Branson and Tony Blair (Chair), some of sport’s most powerful franchises such as MLB, NBA, WNBA, NFL, NHL, and MLS, and brands like Barclays, Dick’s Sporting Goods, ESPN and WWE. Today the organisation is the global force for sustainable social change through sport and has granted nearly $5m in funds and $10m in capacity building to over 450 organisations around the world.

Antonio is Co-founder and CEO of APEX. He holds a Bsc in Economics from Catolica Lisbon and a Msc in Finance from Cass. Before starting APEX, he spent 10+ years in the financial services industry based out of London, with various leadership roles in institutions such as BNP Paribas CIB, Leonteq and Welz. He started APEX with the belief that athletes want to have a leading role as investors and have the expertise, know-how and network to add value in the sector. After 2 years, his belief has led APEX to close 14 investments and partner with 70+ athletes across multiple sports.

Jay Prasad has been working in the technology and software sectors for over twenty years and has extensive executive leadership experience within ad tech and the metrics and measurement industry. Jay is the Chief Executive Office for Relo Metrics, the leading AI-powered sports sponsorship intelligence platform that enables brands and rights holders to track and optimize their sponsorship investments in real-time across broadcast, social media, streaming and in-venue. Previously, Prasad headed up strategy for TV & measurement at global data enablement company, LiveRamp, and was Chief Business & Strategy Officer for software and data company, VideoAmp.

Ojonoka is an experienced Intellectual property & commercial lawyer in sports marketing and currently heads Legal & Women’s Sports at Integral, a full-service sports management company.With a passion for IP in sports, she has built her expertise in providing detailed knowledge and advisory on complex legal, IP and commercial rights issues in a clear way for stakeholders to understand. She has hands-on valuable experience in a broad range of commercial transactions in sports marketing, including media rights acquisitions for premium sports events, sponsorship, licensing, acquisition of hospitality sales agent rights for global events, image rights, talent management and brand protection for sports properties. With a cross-functional role, she has also managed women professional athletes.

Sam Sadi has 25 years of experience as a CEO, working across betting brands and sports media, before becoming CEO of LiveScore Group in 2019. Since taking the hotseat just before the pandemic, Sam has overseen huge growth, with employee headcount rising by 29% and annual revenue leaping from approximately £10m to over £80m. The success stems from a unique strategy to connect each arm of the business, creating an ecosystem which delivers everything a sports fan desires under one trusted brand.

Simon Cummins is the Head of Odgers Berndtson’s Global Sports, Gaming and Media Practice and has placed leaders into Sport, on a world-wide basis, for almost 20 years. Previously Simon was a Director of GEMS schools and a Director at Gabbitas. He was a Headmaster for ten years and whilst at Millfield he was Head of the Prep and a member of the Management Group for all three Millfield Schools and Millfield Enterprises. He is an accomplished sportsman, playing rugby and cricket as well as being active in outdoor pursuits. Skiing, cycling and golf now dominate spare time. Simon’s non-executive/ board experience has included an NGB, PR Agency, hospitality provider, experiential marketing agency, several schools and a Leadership Development Organisation. Simon currently Chairs the national Charity, Sported and the digital marketing agency www.weplay.co Simon was educated at Borough Road College, London and Bath Universities.

Paulo Ferreira is wTVision’s Chief Commercial Officer and also a Board Member. With more than 25 years of experience in the broadcast and media industry, Paulo brings a strategic approach to business development. Before joining wTVision, Paulo held leadership positions in various organizations within the technology industry, where he successfully led global sales, marketing, and project initiatives, resulting in significant revenue growth. With a focus on delivering real-time graphics and playout automation solutions that empower broadcasters to engage with their audiences, Paulo is committed to driving wTVision’s continued success as a leading provider of innovative broadcast solutions.

Andrew leads the team responsible for developing and building XCM’s innovative Horizon platform for fan and customer insight. He has an extensive background in architecting and building disruptive software systems which have not only transformed industries but have also won major awards and helped numerous organisations to achieve their goals and objectives. Andrew’s entire career has been acutely focused on technology and he is driven and motivated by the constant change and possibilities that this environment creates.

Recognised on numerous occasions by the Radio Academy and Sports Journalists’ Association during two decades’ presenting and making programs worldwide for BT Sport, Fox Sports, Star Sports and TSN amongst others, Andy as a qualified lawyer now advises athletes & clubs, agencies & brands and broadcasters. As a broadcaster himself, Andy conducted the first major interview with Steven Gerrard following his departure from Liverpool and reported from the front line at an early stage between 2014 and 2017 on the ongoing conflict in Ukraine

Shane has over 30 years’ experience in technical innovation and operational management covering all aspects of Sports Media.Combining a deep Rights knowledge with all types of Data, Production, Distribution and Content Management technologies, his role as Principal Consultant – Global Sports, is to use his experience to guide and advise global Sports Federations, Leagues and Governing Bodies as well as Broadcasters, Service Providers and Software Vendors on their technical and business transformations into AWS. Shane was previously CTO at ATP Media and before that, GM of IMG Studios.

Lucy has worked in sports and entertainment for over 14 years, currently as Managing Partner at Cake, overseeing Partnerships and Activation.Lucy started out in the industry as an athlete agent, managing some of the UK’s top Olympians including Tom Daley, World & OlympicChampion diver, Pete Reed, World & Olympic Champion rower, Fran Halsall World Champion swimmer. Since moving to Cake she has worked on some of the UKs most iconic events, partnerships and sponsorships, EE at Wembley Stadium, Glastonbury Festival and BAFTA, BT and the Home Nations, Premiership Rugby, Barclays and The ATP Tennis Finals, Sharps and the British Lions, Coca-Cola and the FIFA World Cup, Powerade and the Olympic Games.

Stefan Lavén is the CEO and Founder of Data Talks. He has over 25 years of experience in the technology industry, with several leading positions. This includes the experience of growing companies from the start-up phase to exceeding 100 m€ in revenue. With this background and experience, he is now on a mission to help sports clubs sell more tickets and merchandise than ever before. And negotiate sponsorship agreements of higher value through the Data Talks Sports CDP – a platform that works for every sport, in every season and in every region.

Best known as a presenter on BBC Breakfast & BBC Sport, 2023 has seen Holly add another string to her bow as co-host of BBC Sunday Morning Live alongside Sean Fletcher. Originally from Co. Down in Northern Ireland, Holly has spent over a decade working on some of the UK’s biggest networks. Despite her Irish roots, Holly’s career began in Scotland where she worked for Scottish Television (STV) for several years and was part of the original news broadcasters on the channel’s flagship political programme “Scotland Tonight”. She has also worked as News and Sport Editor for Downtown Radio and Cool FM where she was part of the Breakfast show voted “Radio Show of the Year” (CIPR Awards).As one of BBC’s most energetic presenters, Holly’s career has taken her from the famous red sofa to the green grass courts of Wimbledon where she’s been part of the BBC’s coverage from the All-England Club. As well as presenting live from the red carpet of BBC Sports Personality of the Year and anchoring BBC Sportsday. Away from sport, Holly represented Northern Ireland as one of the Jubilee Beacons for the coverage of Queen Elizabeth’s platinum Jubilee celebration. She was subsequently asked to host the Commonwealth coverage in Birmingham 2022 for BBC alongside Gabby Logan, Clare Balding and a host of other talent. A familiar face across BBC Northern Ireland. In 2019, she fronted NI’s Children in Need live show, hosted “Open for Summer” from The Open in Portrush alongside Colin Murray and became the first woman to host long running comedy panel series “The Blame Game”. This year sees Holly continue her growth as a Broadcaster, with some exciting developments in the pipeline.

Born in Berlin, Dennis Galejski studied Sports Science and Economics at the German Sport University in Cologne and at times at State University of New York, College at Cortland. Dennis holds a diploma in Sport Economics and various post-graduate certificates from the UEFA and Sports Business Academy by WHU in the field of football and sports management. After graduation in 2012, Dennis started his career in professional sports at Sportfive, working in Hospitality & Media Sales. After two years Dennis joined the DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga GmbH, which is responsible for organising and marketing German professional football. Since 2015, Dennis is part of DFL’s Audiovusal Rights department and has been appointed to Deputy Head of Audiovisual Rights International in 2020, being jointly responsible for the strategic development of Bundesliga’s International Product Portfolio. Further he orchestrates Bundesliga’s international production and is responsible for the key accounting of Bundesliga’s international media partners.

Stef is the commercial manager of pioneering football club, Lewes FC, a community-owned non-profit football club and the world’s first to distribute revenue equally between its male and female teams. Stef’s role at Lewes FC includes establishing relationships with new partners and investigating different revenue streams for the club. Lewes FC’s stance on equality and ‘doing football for good’ is what attracted her to the club. Prior to Lewes FC, Stef held a director role in the international education sector.

Simon has decades of experience in the software, IT and creative industries, and has spent the last six years leading the development and delivery of Capture’s Visual Media Management solution.

Professor Simon Chadwick is a researcher, writer, academic, consultant, policy advisor, and speaker with more than twenty-five years experience in the global sport industry. His work focuses on the geopolitical economy of sport. Chadwick is Professor of Sport and Geopolitical Economy at Skema Business School in Paris, where he is also a member of its think tank – Publika – as well as Programme Director of Skema’s Global Executive MBA in Sport.

Matthew Campelli is a strategist, communicator and content creator specialising in sustainability and sport. He is the founder of The Sustainability Report and Touchline Earth, a sport and sustainability agency.

Aileen McManamon is the Founder and Managing Partner of 5T Sports Group, a sports management consultancy focused on creating triple bottom line impact for professional sports leagues, teams and marquee events. Her start in the auto industry set the wheels in motion for a career crafting top-performing partnerships between brands and sports properties. Her field of play has included the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia, Nürburgring Classic, Winter Olympic Games, Minor League Baseball, the NFL, Major League Soccer and numerous skiing World Cups. On the sponsor side, she has worked with global brands including FIAT, Alfa Romeo, General Motors, Molson, EA Sports, Microsoft, Qualcomm and Hewlett Packard. Aileen is passionate about leveraging sports for sustainable development, and has delivered economic legacy programs, most recently for the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup and 2015 Canada Winter Games. She is an also an ongoing advocate for diversity and inclusion in sports. Aileen holds a Bachelor’s in Economics from Kent State (Ohio) and a Master’s of International Business from the University of South Carolina that led her to work in Germany, Italy, the US and now Canada. She is a native of Cleveland, Ohio; a diehard Indians, Browns and Cavs fan and lives in Vancouver, BC with her husband and 2 sons.

Claire Poole is the Founder & CEO at Sport Positive Summit. She has spent over a decade in London and New York working on communications campaigns and global events strategies to engage audiences and amplify impact. The last seven years of this has been spent specialising in sustainability and climate change as well as sport. She launched this meeting in 2015 during COP21 and has since worked towards connecting people and opportunities at the nexus of sport and it’s power in the fight against climate change.

Joanna Coates is one of the most successful leaders in British sport having worked at the very top of three of the countries biggest sports; Football, Netball, and Athletics. Joanna joined England Netball as the Commercial Director in 2010 after 4 years at the National League as Commercial Director, and nearly 5 years later took on the position of CEO. Throughout this time she was responsible for the strategic plan of the sport across the country and saw a record growth in netballs participation programmes, sponsorship deals and ticket revenue. Joanna was part of the team that was pivotal in the Vitality Roses’ historic win at the Commonwealth Games in 2018 and in securing the rights to host the Vitality Netball World Cup 2019 in Liverpool. Under her guidance netball has proudly become the fastest growing female team sport in the country. In March 2020, Joanna took up one of the most difficult jobs in sport as CEO of UK Athletics, implementing monumental changes in the way the sport is safeguarded and governed. Joanna created the sports first framework agreement binding together all the Home Country Federations alongside UKA, as well as creating a historic Operational Plan which put the athletes at the heart of the sport, ‘Age of the Athlete’. During her time at UKA, Joanna also successfully implemented a Zero Tolerance Policy for abusive coaching and Lifetime bans for coaches found guilty of sexual and physical abuse. Joanna is now a consultant to various sporting organisations in the UK and continues to create change for women and girls.

Philipp Männer is Senior Director Media Rights & OTT at WRC Promoter GmbH, the rights holder of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), the FIA European Rally Championship (ERC), the FIA World Rallycross Championship (World RX), and the FIA European Rallycross Championship (Euro RX). In his role he is responsible for the distribution and commercialization of the media rights portfolio globally and WRC Promoter‘s own OTT platforms. Philipp Männer has 15 years of experience in the sports and media industry where he has worked for companies such as Sportfive, Paramount, and the PGA Tour.

Antoine Courbon is the head of Digital of Amaury Sport Organisation. He is responsible for building and managing all digital platforms of ASO events as well as the marketing strategy around mass events competitor. Antoine joined ASO in 2019 as head of mass events commercial, partnership & hospitality. Prior to joining ASO, Antoine spent 9 years in sports marketing agency, Havas Plays, as a brand director, advising and leading marketing campaigns around sport, music and gaming.

Andy McClelland is Regional Director at Comcast Technology Solutions, responsible for the commercial and business development activities across the APAC and Sub-Saharan Africa regions. After serving in The Royal Corp of Signals of Her Majesty’s Armed Forces (UK), Andy stepped back into civilian life and spent the next 25 years in senior executive roles for broadcast and media companies, including GatesAir and Harmonic.

Chloe discovered boxing at 8 years of age having spent her early formative years sparring with her twin brother and making him cry. She joined Birkenhead Venture ABC in 2008 approximately 4 years prior to female boxing getting its long awaited breakthrough at the London Olympics. Chloe credits seeing Katie Taylor make her pro debut in 2016 with a stoppage win from cementing her belief that boxing could be a full time occupation. Chloe states that “Katie’s debut got me excited for all the amazing opportunities to come for female boxers , myself included”. The following year Chloe represented GB boxing and went on to win the gold medal at the Commonwealth Youth Games. Having reached the pinnacle of her amateur career she had a gap year break in Australia and then turned professional. She was quickly welcomed into the Ricky Hatton stable of boxers. She divided her time between the family home in Birkenhead and a shared house of professional boxers in Stockport where she is the only female. Her love of Boxing is matched only by her love of Everton Football Club.

20+ years in the sports industry in delivering strategies to drive sustainable growth, engage diverse fans and deliver value. Strong believer in the power of sport to inspire and impact positive change in society. Currently Formula E’s Chief Media Officer, leading on media partnerships and distribution, digital content and product development, broadcast coverage and fan engagement across channels. Previously ICC, Ten Sports and IMG Media/TWI.

After 41 years Mick has recently retired from executive roles and now performs several non-executive and advisory roles that include:

• BAFTA Advisory Board
• Member of the M&G Investment Advisory Board
• Board Advisor to Keith Prowse

Mick’s career has spanned the world of sport and media during which he has held a number of high-profile positions leading major change programmes and strong income growth strategies.His last executive role was as Commercial and Media Director of the AELTC, responsible for delivering all commercial and media activities for The Wimbledon Championships.As a senior member of the executive team, Mick was responsible for Global Media rights, Host Broadcasting, Commercial Partnerships, Digital Strategy, Brand management, Hospitality, Ticketing and Retail.Under Mick’s leadership the AELTC enjoyed significant revenue growth, increasing income by more than 300% over the last decade, whilst also building Wimbledon into a truly global sporting brand. Mick and his team skillfully balanced the strong Wimbledon heritage with smart innovation, especially in the digital space, broadcasting and hospitality.Wimbledon received a number of industry awards both domestically and globally over his tenure and was the winner of the coveted Sports Brand of the Year at the BT Sport Industry AwardsImmediately prior to Wimbledon, Mick co-founded and managed a successful media and content business in China (IPCN) which delivered the first 3 series of “China’s got talent” and “The Voice” with audiences in excess of 400 million. Mick successfully sold his business to China Media Capital.He spent most of his early career at several ITV companies including HTV and Anglia TV rising through the ranks on the commercial side of the business. In 19991 he became the youngest Sales Director within ITV working for Granada TV.In 1999 he became Managing Director of Granada Media and then in 2003 he became the first CEO for ITV Broadcasting for the newly created ITV PLC.Mick has held various non-Executive positions including:• ITN – NED• TV3 Ireland – NED• Granada Sky Broadcasting – NED• Avanti Communications – NED• Channel TV – Chairman• ATP Tour Final (O2) – NEDMick is married with three children and now 4 grandchildren. He lives in Wimbledon and loves travelling, fine wines and all sport, especially Welsh Rugby.On the fun side, during his career he has been lucky to play tennis on Centre Court Wimbledon, under the roof, played golf at Augusta, received a prestigious “Sports Personality Award” from the BBC, and appeared on Coronation Street as an extra.

Thomas Euler worked for more than 10 years in digital transformation consulting when he decided to combine his passions for sports and digital products. In 2020, he co-founded Liquiditeam, a German tech startup focused on building digital business solutions for the sports industry. With their core product Unyfy, clubs and rights holders can start their bespoke interactive platforms for their fans in just a few hours. By utilizing the best of Web 2.0 and web3, Unyfy lets sports organizations create gamified digital experiences with ease. In doing so, they can generate more first-party data, unlock new digital revenue streams, and provide their partners with premium digital inventory. Unyfy is trusted by big clubs like Borussia Dortmund and small teams like Basketball Löwen Braunschweig alike. In his session, Thomas will show you how you, too, can leverage the power of web3 beyond the hype.

Stuart was appointed Chief Executive of the Club in 2020. He is also a Director of Edgbaston Experience Limited and a Trustee of the Edgbaston Foundation, the Club’s official charity. Stuart joined Warwickshire CCC from Wasps Holdings where he was Chief Executive. Other previous roles include; Managing Director (Commercial Marketing), NEC Group; Global Managing Partner (Sport), Mindshare/WPP plc; Commercial Director, Rangers FC and Wolverhampton Wanderers FC; European Marketing Services Director, Molson Coors plc.

Laura is deputy editor of The Athletic in the UK. She was previously sports news editor and a correspondent at The Daily Mail.

Charlie Sizer is Global Partnership Manager at DAZN, now the largest digital sports broadcaster in Europe and the highest grossing sports app of 2022. DAZN is live in over 200 countries and territories, a market-leader in Italy, Japan, DACH and Spain and the ultimate destination for elite women’s football. With over 6 years of marketing, propositions and commercial experience, Charlie has worked at leading sport broadcasters including Sky, BT Sport and DAZN delivering global distribution partnerships and activations with international partners such as The Athletic, Sony PlayStation, LG, Samsung and Amazon. She has an excellent understanding of the women’s sport landscape with a deep passion for equality in sport, striving to achieve equal opportunity for women & girls in grassroots football through her role as Chair of the Women & Girls Advisory Group at the London FA.

Melissa started her career in production at Sky Sports working on Soccer Am, Soccer Saturday and live football. She then moved into talent management and set up her own agency at 25, with Helen Chamberlain (who she represents to this day) as her first client. Melissa currently manages a number of top women in Sport – football broadcasters – Kelly Cates and Lynsey Hipgrave, ITV’s rugby presenter Jill Douglas, former Lioness Siobhan Chamberlain, golf presenter Sophie Walker along with Peter Schmeichel, Peter Drury, Lee Dixon, Ben Kay and TV award winning judge Anton Du Beke amongst others.