2022 Speakers

Tom is the Co-Founder of Castore, a premium sports brand established in 2015 by Tom and his brother Phil Beahon, both former professional and semi-professional sportsmen.

Castore is the partner brand for some of the world’s best-known sports teams and individuals, sold via its e-commerce site as well as dedicated retail stores in the UK, and a host of wholesale partners globally.

Ben Morel was appointed Chief Executive of Six Nations Rugby in November 2018. Prior to joining the organisation responsible for Rugby’s Greatest Championship, Ben worked at the NBA for over 20 years. He was NBA’s Senior Vice President & Managing Director of Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) since 2011. During his tenure, he oversaw all aspects of the NBA’s EMEA operations including media distribution, events, merchandising and sponsorship. He also managed the NBA’s two regional offices located in Madrid and Johannesburg from the league’s EMEA headquarters in London.

Since joining Six Nations Rugby, Ben has ushered in a number of major developments, namely a long-term strategic partnership with private investment fund, CVC Capital Partners., as well as signing Guinness as Title Partner of the Six Nations and centralising the broadcast rights of the men’s and women’s Championships and Autumn Nations Series.

During his time as CEO, Ben successfully navigated the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, whilst leading the organisations growth to bring Six Nations Rugby to global audiences through extensive broadcast partnerships.

Ben is of Franco-British origin and is a 1997 graduate of the ESCP/EAP Business School with a specialization in International Affairs and Sport Management.

Kelly Simmons OBE took up the role of Director of the Women’s Professional Game in September 2018 to help transform professional women’s football in England. She has developed the FA Women’s Professional Game Strategy to drive the growth of all aspects of The Barclays FA Women’s Super League and FA Women’s Championship.

She was previously The FA Director of Development, overseeing the implementation of a £200m four-year investment programme into children’s and grassroots football.

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.

A former England rugby captain and prolific try scorer, Sue was also President of Wasps FC from 2013-18 following a distinguished 14-year playing career with the club.

She was capped 59 times for England, winning three Grand Slams, and also captained the England Sevens team and coached the developmental team.

She is a founding trustee of the Women’s Sports Trust, and has been a rugby commentator for Sky Sports and World Rugby.

Sue was awarded an MBE in 2020 for services to gender equality in sport.

Made her England debut in 2013. A dynamic and fast left-arm bowler. Finished as top wicket taker in the first season of The Hundred, getting 18 batters out.

As Chief Marketing Officer, Claire is accountable for leading McLaren Racing’s marketing strategy and growing its revenues across Formula 1, INDYCAR and Extreme E.
Prior to joining McLaren Racing in April 2021, Cronin had a slightly unconventional path into Marketing. After graduating from Warwick University with a Law degree, she spent the first 10 years of her career in banking working across a broad spectrum of product and marketing roles. In 2009 she was headhunted into NetJets, the world’s largest private aviation company, owned by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway. At NetJets Europe, she led Marketing and Customer Service, for the world’s wealthiest private and commercial clients. In 2014, she joined Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin empire, where she was appointed to lead Virgin Holidays Marketing and Customer Experience, in parallel to serving as Non-Executive Director, for the Branson Centre for Entrepreneurship. Three years later she was promoted to Chief Marketing Officer, a role she left in August 2020 to have her first (and only) baby.
In her spare time, Cronin enjoys walking her Cavalier King Charles in the New Forest countryside, where she lives with her husband and ten-month-old-daughter. She is a Mentor in the Marketing Fellowship community and is passionate about supporting the advancement of all her former employees through ongoing coaching and sponsorship.

Tom has held various roles across Barclays over the last 11 years, working across all areas of Marketing. Most recently, Tom was located in Johannesburg, South Africa, and undertook a number of strategic roles supporting the growth of the business across the continent. As the Head of Marketing, covering the twelve countries in which Barclays operates outside of South Africa, Tom was responsible for all brand and marketing activity. Following this role, during which the brand saw significant growth, he moved to be the Chief Operating Officer for the African Corporate Relations function with a portfolio covering Strategy and Planning, Effectiveness and Commercialisation, Sourcing and Supplier Management, and Events. Currently, Tom is responsible for Sponsorship and Media across the Barclays Group, with a notable focus on the management and activation of the Premier League, of which Barclays are the Official Banking Partner.

Ever since she dreamt as a ten year old of scoring the winning goal in an Olympic hockey final or leading the England (men’s!) cricket team to World Cup glory at Lord’s, Beth Barrett-Wild always knew that she wanted a career in professional sport.

Upon completing a degree in Geography at the University of Oxford in 2008, Beth was elected into a full-time graduate sabbatical role as the Oxford University Sports Federation President. Passionate about the growth of sport at the grassroots, from there she took an opportunity with Rounders England, as a regional development manager.

For the last eleven years, Beth has been working in various roles at the world’s most famous cricket ground, Lord’s, the “Home of Cricket”. After an initial three year stint in Marylebone Cricket Club’s (MCC) Media & Communications team, she moved across to the ECB, where she is currently Head of The Hundred – Women’s Competition and Female Engagement. Prior to taking on her current role with The Hundred, Beth has had several other opportunities at the ECB, all with a common thread of driving change and establishing cricket as an accessible and gender balanced sport.

Throughout her career, the challenges that have excited her most have revolved around creating inspirational moments and bringing sport to new audiences, which alongside supporting women’s sport to be as strong as possible on and off the field, are things Beth cares deeply about.

Gary Hughes has been Head of Football at Sky Sports for five years. His role consists of overseeing all football production across Sky platforms, as well as managing talent and working closely with rights owners.

He started at Sky in 1995 as a producer on Sky News, before moving to Sky Sports News where he led a production team for 10 years. Gary produced Sky’s Champions League coverage for 5 seasons before moving into his current role.

Carey joined The Jockey Club nearly 12 years ago in 2010 as Sponsorship Manager at Sandown Racecourse, climbing the ranks through Sponsorship and Partnership roles for the South West, to become Director of Partnerships in 2020.

Highly experienced sponsorship leader with a passion for partnerships.

Mike has worked across multiple brand sectors for global brands including Carlsberg, Barclays, Canterbury and Quilter. He also has significant agency experience where he has led on strategy and activation, working with brands and rights-holders across sport, music, charity and education. Mike has recently joined the rapidly growing on-line automotive brand Cazoo, where he is Head of Sponsorship.

Zarah Al-Kudcy is Head of Commercial Partnership Development at Formula 1, leading on the creative and commercial strategy for current and prospective partners. Her passion and work to drive diversity also sees her chair the F1 Diversity & Inclusion steering group and in December 2019 she became a trustee of the Women’s Sport Trust.

I’m an activist driving positive change in women’s sport.

I’m co-founder of the Women’s Sport Collective, a global network for women working in sport with an ambition for a gender equal sports industry.

I host The Game Changers, an award winning podcast which features trailblazers in women’s sport and addresses key issues around equality in sport and society. In 2022 the podcast is sponsored by Sport England through a national lottery award.

I’m CEO of Fearless Women and a founding Trustee of The Women’s Sport Trust charity which raises the profile and increasing the impact of women’s sport. In 2018 was awarded an MBE for my services to grassroots and women’s sport.

My book: ‘Game On: The Unstoppable Rise of Women’s Sport’ was published in 2021 and longlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year.

Sunil joined Rarible in July 2021 as Chief Business Development Office, helping Creatives, Talent, IP Owners and more create long term strategies in the NFT space. Sunil’s career started at the BBC in 2002 as Producer, and includes working as Director, Music Partnerships at Twitter and as Strategic Partnerships Manager at Instagram.

With over 20 years in the sports industry, having worked previously for the ICC, Ten Sports and IMG Media/TWI, Aarti has extensive experience in delivering strategies to drive sustainable growth, engage diverse fans and deliver value.

As a strong believer in the power of sport to inspire and impact positive change in society, Aarti has joined forces with Formula E, in her current role as the all-electric racing series’ Chief Media Officer. Aarti leads on media partnerships and distribution, digital content and product development, broadcast coverage and fan engagement across channels, bringing to life Formula E’s vision to accelerate sustainable human progress through the power of electric racing.

Towers over most with his 6ft 7in height and is a fierce fast bowler to go with it. Exceptional especially at the beginning of a game and is brilliant at landing the ball right beneath the batter. Returned to England duty in 2020.

Jessica joined Volleyball World in January of this year. Previously holding roles at Phillip Morris International as their Global Head of Brand and Marketing Partnerships, at Nike as the Head of Global Brand Events and at Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) as Vice President Global Brand Marketing, Brand Experiences.

Jessica has extensive management experience working globally in USA, Canada, Brazil, Asia, Europe, Middle East and Australia, building a career around creating and executing innovative ways for people and brands to be seen, heard and interacted with. Jessica is skilled at helping brands tell their story, address their strategic priorities and reach their goals through creating and executing dynamic forward looking partnership solutions.

Robert Klein is Chief Executive Officer at Bundesliga International, driving the international position of the Bundesliga as one of the most innovative and exciting football leagues globally. Thanks to its “glass-to-glass” strategy, which encompasses every aspect of the digital experience, from the glass of the camera lens to the glass of our TVs or mobile devices, the league covers the full value chain from live content production, data collection and distribution. And in its position as the fastest growing league around the world, the Bundesliga is constantly looking for new ways to engage with its fans around the world.

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.

Todd Kline joined the Club in 2021 after a 20+ year career in sales and marketing at the highest levels of US and Global sport. At Anschutz Entertainment Group, Todd was a member of the AEG Global Partnership Operating Committee managing, selling, and implementing the sponsorship and premium seating businesses across the 100+ AEG assets around the world. As Chief Commercial Officer of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins he was responsible for securing the Naming Rights deal with Hard Rock International creating “Hard Rock Stadium”. Most recently, Todd was SVP overseeing William Morris Endeavor’s sports talent and premium property sales divisions where he procured Empower Retirement for the Naming Rights for the NFL’s Denver Broncos home “Empower Field at Mile High Stadium”. Todd received his BS from University of Maryland, an MS in marketing from Johns Hopkins University.

Victoria is a passionate sportswoman and dedicates most of her spare time 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 under served, over charged or excluded by main stream financial services.

A born and bred Wolves supporter, Russell Jones’ personal and professional life revolves around the gold and black in his role as general manager of marketing and commercial growth. Following more than a decade spent working across the West Midlands at Aston Villa, Jones returned to his boyhood club in 2017 where he has the challenge of helping Wolves become one of the biggest global sports brands.

Bio coming soon!

As Managing Director of The Hundred since January 2018, Sanjay is responsible for the eight-team domestic competition and its delivery in 2022, its second year. Year one of The Hundred entertained and captivated millions of new and existing cricket fans, and was played in front of sell-out crowds and record TV audiences. It introduced countless new people to the game, created new role models and inspired more people to think cricket is a game for them.

Previously, Sanjay worked as the ECB’s Commercial Director and Chief Commercial Officer, helping the ECB drive revenue and commercial relations. This included delivering a media rights partnership with Sky Sports and the BBC aimed at widening engagement with cricket, concluding several record-breaking deals with new sponsors, and overseeing significant growth in the ECB’s digital and marketing channels.

Formerly, Sanjay held various commercial, innovation, brand marketing and strategy positions at leading companies such as Diageo and Heineken.

More information coming soon!

Tracy Power is the Social Impact Director of the Rugby League World Cup 2021.

She joined RLWC2021 in 2018 following a career in sports development and events at Rugby Football League and British Gymnastics.

Tracy leads on the tournaments trailblazing social impact programme which aims to inspire people to make a positive difference to their lives. The social impact programme is wide ranging and includes mental health, inclusion, facility developments, education and volunteering.

Owen has over 20 years experience in sports marketing and has spent the last nice years heading up global sponsorship at Nissan. In that time he has negotiated and managed long term partnerships with UEFA Champions League, IOC/Rio 2016, the International Cricket Council and City Football Group, as well as working with a variety of sporting talent on global campaigns.
Prior to Nissan, Owen ran his own agency in Hong Kong, supporting brands and rights holders, as well as and creating and deliver events in Asia.

Robbie Lyle is an extremely successful entrepreneur and brand owner. Robbie started AFTV in 2012 and has grown incredibly, the channel has now got 1.2 million subscribers and has nearly hit 900 million views. AFTV cover every single arsenal game regularly giving normal fans a huge voice which they deserve. AFTV has also interviewed people such as Giroud, Piers Morgan, Henry, Ian Wright, Gary Neville plus much more. Robbie channel is regularly been featured across major newspapers.

Robbie also has hosted multiple TV shows and regularly campaigns against racism which is still in football. Robbie and AFTV has won multiple football awards.

Robbie has had a incredible journey and AFTV popularity is only surging.

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.

Prior to serving as Events and Special Projects Director at ECB, where he successfully delivered the ‘Bio Bubble’ that enabled England to play home Test Matches during the summer of 2020, Steve was Managing Director of the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup in England and performed the same role at the 2017 ICC Women’s World Cup and Champions Trophy, the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy and the 2009 ICC World T20, all of which were staged in England.

Elworthy also served for three years as the ECB Director of Marketing and Communications and was the Commercial Director for Cricket South Africa, as well as running  major ICC events in South Africa.

In addition to his work at the ECB, Elworthy has also held a number of non-executive positions including serving on the boards of GB Basketball and the Netball World Cup and as Chair of the World Netball Bid Committee for the 2025 and 2027 World Cups. He is the current Chair of the Netball Super League and also serves as the UK Sport Representative on the Cycling World Championships Glasgow 2023 Board.

Ryan is joining AS Roma from WME Sports. He brings over 14+ years of experience working with the top brands and athletes in the world. In his role at WME, Ryan oversaw and executed against all sales efforts for WME’s sports talent clients, in addition to premium property sales work, including consulting, naming rights, jersey patch and kit deals, and other premium sales assets for leagues and teams

Prior to joining WME Sports, Ryan was the SVP of Partnerships and Revenue for Omaze. In his role, Ryan managed the teams responsible for working with celebrities, brands, athletes and media partners to leverage their audience reach into funds and awareness for critical social causes.

Prior to joining Omaze, Ryan was the Vice President of Global Partnerships with the LOS ANGELES DODGERS where he managed an $80M+ portfolio of corporate partners. Before that, he was the Senior Director of Corporate Partnerships for the MIAMI DOLPHINS and HARD ROCK STADIUM, where he oversaw new business sales and partnership development.  Ryan was instrumental in the MIAMI DOLPHINS securing the 2^nd largest naming rights deal in the NFL with Hard Rock International.

Throughout his career, Norys has also held leadership roles with the PRUDENTIAL CENTER and NEW JERSEY DEVILS, as well as with MANCHESTER CITY FC in London, where he secured the first regional partnerships in emerging markets throughout Southeast Asia, China, and Japan. He has also helped open new stadiums and assisted with various projects for the NEW YORK YANKEES, NEW YORK GIANTS/JETS, and the SAN FRANCISCO 49ers.

Earning her Masters in Communication from Università degli Studi di Torino, Eleonora began her career in Finance at Intesa San Paolo bank and Integrae SIM. Later she joined Emirates Airline in Dubai as the Business Class Manager for customer experience, before founding Genuino with the Co-CEO role in 2018.

Mike is a global marketing executive, an innovator and a passionate leader of people. He is growth obsessed, forever curious, and itching for transformation. Presently he is the Chief Marketing Officer at Juventus Football Club.

Prior to this Mike was the VP, Global Head of Marketing and early employee at OverActive Media – a leading global esports company which went public on the TSXV in July 2021. During his time at OverActive he was responsible for all marketing efforts and an active member of the senior leadership team, propelling the business and its teams forward.

Mike brings a unique blend of experience from the esports industry, Google, national broadcaster, and CPG industry. In prior roles, Mike has led a content marketing group within the CBC/Radio-Canada, and overseen businesses and iconic brands as a CPG marketer at ABI, Mondelez, and Kraft Foods.

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.

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.

Jon Dutton is the Chief Executive of the Rugby League World Cup 2021.

He commenced his role in February 2018 leaving his post as RFL Director of Projects & People and has been involved in the project since the inception in late 2015, having successfully led the bid for the tournament including a £25m funding award from HM Government.

Jon has over 25 years’ experience in the sports industry, and was the Operations Director for the Rugby League World Cup 2013. As well as being Director of Readiness for the Tour de France Grand Depart in 2014 and Tournament Director for the last Rugby League Four Nations tournament in 2016.

Tony is the Chief Strategy Officer of GreenPark Sports, overseeing marketing, business development, analytics and investor relations. GreenPark Sports creates digital experiences and games for the new generation of sports and esports fans. Their flagship product is a native, free-to-play mobile game played over the top of sporting events, where fans battle to become the undisputed “Best Fans” of their league and season.

Tony joined GreenPark Sports in 2020 as the Vice President of Business Development, prior to which he spent most of his career in sports with the PGA Tour, where he managed prominent brand partnerships.

Bio coming soon!

Steve Smith is the Executive Director, Sky Sports Content reporting to Sky Sports Managing Director Jonathan Licht.

Steve joined Sky Sports in 1994 as a junior member of the production team. After working on the launch of Sky’s entertainment football show, Soccer AM, Steve moved into live football production and became a director in 1998. Steve directed live football for 15 years including Premier League, Champions League, Football League & Internationals.

After directing over 1,500 live events for Sky, Steve moved into his current role in the summer of 2013, in which he is responsible for the overall output on Sky Sports across linear, digital & social channels. Steve works with his Heads of Sport team across all Sky Sports genre channels as well as key senior personnel from across Sky, to ensure coverage is at the forefront of sports broadcasting.

James Murray joined AC Milan in 2019 to develop and drive all strategic objectives of the club, following a 5-year career as a Head of Business Strategy at Arsenal FC and, formerly, at Accenture.

As General Manager at Turnstile, the global sponsorship intelligence agency, Dan is a trusted advisor to many of the world’s leading sport & entertainment rights holders, brands and investors. Clients include Formula 1, Premier League teams, UEFA, World Rugby, the International Cricket Council, The British & Irish Lions, England Rugby, the All Blacks, adidas and CVC amongst many more.

We help our clients understand the true market value of their sponsorship assets. Our deep knowledge of the sport & entertainment industry coupled with our approach to data and technology contributes to our success, as does our passion for the industry we work in. Our mantra is ‘if you value your sponsorships, then value them properly’.

Dan started his career as a management consultant where he built a broad and transferable consulting and problem solving skill set. In 2016 he transitioned out of the corporate world into the sport & entertainment industry and has since held a variety of senior strategy, digital and commercial roles across the rights holders, broadcaster and agency landscape.

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 & Olympic
Champion 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.

Gabriele is the Co-founder of Genuino Blockchain Technologies, established in 2018. Genuino connects physical and digital commerce with authentic digital sport memorabilia, that help sports brands to create trust with consumers by bringing transparency, traceability and tradability of real-world objects into the digital frontier.

Rob Calder is the Commercial Director for The Hundred. He has been working at the ECB for six years, previously working across the ECB’s wider commercial portfolio before moving to focus on The Hundred exclusively, collaborating with partners including Cazoo, KP Snacks, Dream11, New Era, Sky, BBC and Fancode.

Rob made the move into the sporting world after previously working within the drinks/FMCG space on some impressive brands including Magners, Kopparberg and Heineken.

He is thrilled to see The Hundred opening up the sport to new audiences with world class cricket and a great fan experience, whether in ground, watching from home via Sky and BBC or following digitally via The Hundred app and our digital channels.

Scott Young joined Eurosport in 2020 as SVP Content and Production and oversees Discovery’s central and localised sports content in 75 markets globally and across all Eurosport’s flagship events including delivery of the Olympic Games in Europe.

A sports media leader, Young holds more than 30 years’ industry experience and has a proven track record of harnessing technology and on-screen innovations to unlock the power of sport. Previously, Young headed up Sky Sports’ award-winning Formula 1 coverage. Prior to this, Young oversaw the transformation of IMG’s Television Production unit in South East Asia, which followed a five-year stint as the Head of Television and Content at V8 Supercars in Australia. 

After spending more than a decade at Network Ten as the Head of Sport Production, Young’s motorsport expertise saw him lead the production of Network Ten’s entire sports rights portfolio including premium categories spanning Formula 1, MotoGP, the World Rally Championship, Indy Car, World Superbikes and Red Bull Air Race.

Within a great number of achievements, Young was also Executive Producer for the Network Ten’s 2007 Rugby World Cup coverage and lead a team of more than 100 in France for the tournament. He oversaw the planning and production of the world feed for the UCI Road World Championships’ inaugural event in the Southern Hemisphere in September 2010 and developed the world and domestic production units for the Olympic class sailing event, Perth 2011.

Young’s background is diverse. Starting in radio, he moved into media via music television powerhouse, MTV. Then expanded into live broadcast, animated features, format series in Australia, brand-funded programming and worked on the world-renowned documentary series, Human Nature.

Oliver Dumböck, Co-Founder and CEO of NativeWaves, is one of the inventors of the multi-view technology that NativeWaves offers broadcasters. This solution solves a problem that the industry has been struggling with for years, while delivering the perfect Live event watching experience – be it sports, esports or entertainment. With a Master of Science in Information Technology from the University of Applied Sciences, Salzburg, Oliver has more than 11 years software development experience, with a background in media technology and a strong focus on mobile development, including VR and AR implementations on Android and iOS. Oliver and his co-founding partner, set up NativeWaves in 2016 and delivered the first commercial project in August 2019. Oliver leads a team of developers, programmers, and research engineers, who have built a solution that enables broadcasters, streaming service providers and event organisers to deliver a compelling, immersive, and personalised media experiences.

Andy Meikle is the Founder and CEO of tech start-up, Recast. Founded in 2018, Recast is a subscription-free live and on-demand streaming platform, which gives fans affordable access to the sports and entertainment they love, whilst rights holders and content creators earn directly for every view through micropayments.

Within 3 years Recast has gone from concept to now delivering an OTT solution which allows rights holders to set up and run their own direct-to-consumer channel in minutes, and at no cost. Although Recast is currently in BETA, it is already available in 88 countries and features over 150 channels including athletes, organisations and rights holders of all sizes, with a steady stream of new channels coming on board.

Prior to Recast, Andy took his entrepreneurial Tech, Media and Digital experience into the world of sport and founded Sportlobster in 2011. The ground-breaking digital sports platform provided fans with personalised access to stats, news, scores, and predictions, growing to millions of users through hundreds of key partners, including Cristiano Ronaldo, the NBA, the NFL and Emirates Airlines.

Andy has also been recognised by entrepreneur.com in the US, naming him as “one of Britain’s brightest entrepreneurs changing the start-up landscape” and was recognised in the Leaders Sports Awards 2021, Leaders Under 40. 

Kait is a news and sport presenter and reporter with over 15 years experience. She hosts her own news and current affairs show on Times Radio every Friday to Sunday evening, having previously worked as a broadcaster and journalist at The Telegraph and ITN. Beginning at Sky Sports and Sky News, Kait has covered several major sporting tournaments from the beaches of Brazil to the Highlands of Scotland. She is co-founder and co-host of The Offside Rule, an awarding-winning, female-fronted football podcast and website. It has featured in the Guardian’s top five sport podcasts and been listed as Vogue’s best football podcast of the year. Another award-winning podcast, The Offside Rule: WSL Edition was launched in September 2019. In 2020, both podcasts were acquired by The Athletic. Kait is co-founder of Offside Productions Media, an indie production company making podcasts, radio shows and branded visual content.

Bio coming soon!

As CEO and founder of Delmondo, a social video analytics and audience insights software platform, Nick joined Conviva with its acquisition in 2018. Nick is focused on extending Conviva’s portfolio of video measurement capabilities with Social Insights, a comprehensive cross-platform social video intelligence product. In his 15 years in the industry, Nick has been at the forefront of numerous industry firsts including creating the first enterprise analytics solutions for Snapchat, Instagram Stories, and Facebook Live, and has worked with some of the world’s largest brands and publishers, including ABC News, Turner, Viacom, NASCAR, Red Bull, Universal Music Group, and TED.

James Dobbs became Managing Director at SNTV in October 2019. Already the leading sports news video agency with a mature customer base, James’ remit was to evolve the business, widening its engagement with brands in sport and to embrace the rapidly changing media landscape. Prior to SNTV, James spent 8 years heading up IMG Replay, IMG’s archive and programming sales division. The team managed and commercialised the content catalogues of over 50 of the World’s premium Federations including the IOC, the Premier League and Wimbledon. Between 2004 and 2011 James worked within the sports sponsorship division at Getty Images. The division specialised in helping brands activate around their sports portfolios and the crossover of editorial content and brand campaigns bears many similarities to the SNTV business he leads today.

‘SportsPro Live is a great opportunity to spend some time discussing the future of the sports landscape. To do this with so many expert and experienced colleagues is really exciting and it’s great to be involved’

Michael Horton is Co-founder / CEO at Slate where he also serves as the Head of Product. Slate is a content creation platform that enables teams, leagues, brands, media organizations and influencers to create on-brand social content with ease. Founded in the summer of 2019, Slate has quickly grown to power social content for the biggest sports & media brands in the world, with customers across all major sports in 10 different countries.

Before co-founding Slate, Michael spent time working in content creation and video production including a few years working for the San Francisco 49ers before moving into a career of tech and product design. After transitioning into the tech industry, Michael spent time at agencies and startups building digital products across mobile and web. He currently lives in New York City.

Over the last 12 years, Kinshuk has donned multiple hats – digital marketeer, open source evangelist, writer, game designer, and product architect. As Head of Technology at MyySports, Kinshuk translates our platform visions into reality.

A veteran of the Indian gaming industry, he has built leading solutions for some of the largest global games publishers and EdTech companies in the past. He was recently recognised as one of the 100 Global Game Changers by the GamesIndustry.Biz magazine as part of their GI100 2020 list. He was a council member for NASSCOM’s Gaming Forum earlier, and currently serves on the steering committee for CII’s India Gaming Summit 2021.

Saurav has been a Venture Capitalist with a leading VC firm and has over 20 years of experience in Media and Entertainment Industry. He was the former Chief Executive and Chief Financial Officer of a large media conglomerate. He has been on the Boards of multiple media and technology companies.

Saurav is adept at providing leadership in matters pertaining to M&A, change management, stakeholder engagement and business strategy. He has vast experience in setting up new ventures, realigning operations, raising seed funding, equity and debt financing, financial restructuring, financial analysis and mitigating risks.

Saurav is a Chartered Accountant with training from PwC in their Global Capital Market Group. He did the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School. He is on the board of Welham Boys School in Dehradun.

Mr Evaggelos Chrisohoos is coming from the technology sector (Telecommunications & IT), having worked the last 28 years for large Multinational companies on a national and international level. Throughout the years he held several executive D & C level positions for Vodafone (Greece, Albania & UK) and Microsoft (Greece & Austria). In 2019 he was with Liknoss CRC, member of North star group as the Chief Commercial Officer and the last 14 months he moved to the sports industry holding the role of the Deputy CEO & Board member for PAOK FC.

Stefan Lavén is the CEO and Founder of Data Talks AB. He has over 25 years of experience in the technology industry, with several leading positions. This includes the experience of growing companies from start-up to to scale-ups exceeding 100 m€ in revenue. With this background and experience, he is now on a mission to build a people-focused company and a world-class Sports Customer Data Platform, Data Talks CDP.

Education: Bachelor degree in Computer Science

Mark Pizzey is Customer Account Sales Manager at Vizrt. Mark has been part of the broadcast community for 26 years and at Vizrt for the last 15 years overseeing many innovative projects and relocations mature most notably at the BBC.

His experience and understanding of the broadcast industry enables him to propose appropriate solutions to complex changing requirements for broadcasters in particular with the sports, events, and tournaments in the current hybrid environment.

As a Creative Director for BBC Sport John leads on the branding, visual presentation, and graphical innovation for the department. His role crosses all areas of BBC Sport including Football, Olympics, World Cup, Wimbledon and many more. John has placed a large importance in VR and AR being used to innovate and create a visual identity which helps to explain the editorial of the programme/event.

Cohen joined Limelight in 2021 as Senior Solutions Engineer for EMEA. He’s responsible for shaping and running proof-of-concepts and pre-sales activities with customers and partner teams.

Cohen has more than 15 years leadership experience in sales engineering, product management and marketing, creating value with go-to-market strategies and implementing solutions for customers. His areas of expertise include OTT video delivery, voice over IP, network planning, product and life cycle management, SaaS business models, and cloud deployments.

Prior to Limelight, Cohen was Senior Sales Engineer at IneoQuest technologies in the UK. He also held engineering positions at Empirix, VegaStream and Madge Networks.

Paul Feltham is VP of EMEA at Blue Triangle, a digital business analytics provider. Paul has over 20 years of experience working within the digital software industry working for organisations such as Adobe & Salesforce. He is focused on how to empower organisations to create outstanding online experiences.

Bio coming soon!

Bio coming soon!

Dean has worked in Rugby League for over 15 years, originally at the Rugby Football League, now Dean is the Tournament Director for Rugby League World Cup 2021 with responsibility for all sporting and regulatory elements of the tournament along with leading on player and team engagement and managing the host towns and cities.

Within the Rugby League, and sports sector, Dean specialises in event management, anti-doping, regulatory frameworks, stakeholder management, and international development.

Claudine designs and manages consulting engagements for Control Risks’ clients with a particular interest in political risk in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Claudine has a remit to build our retainer business, through which our clients have access to bespoke intelligence and analysis on a long-term, on-demand and flexible basis. Claudine works across the business with colleagues in technology, cyber, corporate investigations and security consulting to deliver innovative solutions for clients with an interest in identifying, monitoring and treating political, security, reputational and operational risks at a tactical or strategic level. Claudine has many years of experience delivering actionable intelligence and analysis, and has a background as an analyst working on South Asia at Control Risks, and formerly in open source intelligence in the public sector. Claudine has worked with clients in multiple sectors, including energy, development and finance.

Head of Innovation in charge of Digital, Business Intelligence/Analytics, Fan Experience and Ticketing at Spain’s Valencia CF since June 2018. He is responsible for all data/business insights of the club while also managing tickets/pricing, fan experience, and customer support departments from a data-driven angle. Segarra has contributed significantly to the club’s ambitious digital transformation and is leading the Innovation HUB project. A former bank manager and Chief Technology Officer, Segarra has over 14 years of professional experience in different sectors, but with a continued focus on applying technology and performing digital transformations in various businesses.

Javier Mira is President and CEO at FacePhi, public company dual listed on BME Growth market and EURONEXT Paris. He co-founded the global leader company specialized in Digital Identity technologies applied on financial sector. FacePhi has been awarded as SME´s best company of Spain.

Always passionate about entrepreneurship and new challenges, he also co-founded InterCity Football Club, first club in Spain listed on the stock market.

Javier Mira has received the FORINVEST award in 2021 for his professional career and entrepreneurship, and currently he combines his activity at FacePhi with being a Private Investor and Mentor in startups. He has over 25 years of experience in global enterprises, team management and growth and expansion implementation policies.

Martin is a former professional football player who has also spent over 20 years in the tech industry and started building mobile apps already back in 1999. After ending his player career, he has been coaching teams on both adult and youth levels and served as the vice chairman of a professional club responsible for marketing, digital and communications.

After spending 10 years at Capgemini in various tech and biz dev roles in Sweden and the United States, he spent 3 years a business coach for tech startups prior to founding the Swedish sportstech company Sportswik in 2012.

As the founder and CEO of Sportswik, Martin has spent the last 10 years trying to achieve his mission of democratizing sports media coverage. This by developing an app & media platform that is white labeled to federations and leagues, enabling user generated content, massive fan engagement and new digital revenue streams from sponsors and partners for all levels of the competition pyramid of a sport.

Håkan is a senior marketing, sales and business development executive with more than 30 years’ experience from leading roles in telecom, media and sports at some of the major companies and sports clubs in Sweden.

In his current role as a business developer of the strategy and innovation department at the Swedish Football Association, he is responsible for digital innovation, new concepts and growing the digital revenues for the Swedish FA.

Håkan is combining his passion for sports and his experience from running a professional ice hockey club with his long experience from marketing and sales in positions as Head of marketing for American Express in the Nordics, Head of marketing at Telia Mobile, and as a Senior Sales manager of Stockholm Live.

During his 10 years at the TV4 group (Sweden’s largest broadcasting company), Håkan held positions as the Group concept development manager, Business area manager for sports & betting and was responsible for everything from sports rights acquisitions to partner management, sponsorships, events and more.

Adam joined SponsorPulse in May 2019, a SaaS platform that provides actionable consumer insight-based solutions for progressive properties, brands and agencies looking to be at the forefront of building strong connections with consumers through sport and entertainment.

Adam’s previous experiences include nearly three years in sports marketing for CBC/Radio-Canda and brand management for Labatt Breweries of Canada.

Rufus Hack is the Chief Executive Officer of Sony’s Sports Businesses, the group encompassing Hawk-Eye Innovations and Pulselive. He took up this role in September of 2021 with the goal of driving non-linear growth in Hawk-Eye and Pulselive, as well as paving the way for Sony’s growth ambitions in sport.

Rufus is a transformative leader with experience driving growth strategies in sports and leisure businesses, acquiring companies, and running large multi-functional organisations.

Previously, Rufus was the Chief Operating Officer at the PGA European Tour and Ryder Cup, as well as the Managing Director of PGA European Tour Productions. In this role Rufus was part of the Leaders Under 40 Class of 2020.

A sports enthusiast, in his spare time Rufus enjoys endurance events with recent challenges including a solo swim of the English Channel and running the Marathon Des Sables.

Daniel is a veteran in software, sports and media, having held senior positions as the President of the Harvard Law Review, Head of Internet Policy at the FCC, and Head of Corporate Affairs at Activision Blizzard. Through his experience, Daniel has come to appreciate the many challenges, risks, and opportunities technology organizations face as we become a digital-first society. As the co-founder and CEO of Greenfly, he has worked with some of the biggest brands in sports, entertainment, and social causes to help them build brand awareness and increase customer engagement through digital channels. Daniel holds an A.B. from Harvard University and a J.D from Harvard Law School.

Mike is a pioneering sports media executive, now leading the Digital and Creative team at Premier League Productions.

Having worked at BT Sport for over eight years and as Digital Sports Editor for the Telegraph Media Group, Mike is experienced across broadcast, digital, journalism, marketing and events, with a strong network across global sports rights holders, federations and social platforms.

Susie joined thinkBeyond in February 2022, following an established career in sustainability including Earth to Ocean for over 12 years as Sustainability Director, helping organisations in the sport and recreation sector to manage their resources and gain competitive advantage. During this time, Susie worked with the likes of SailGP, Goodwood Estate, Ryder Cup and many more.

Andreas Kitzing is the founder of Sponsoo, the #1 digital marketplace for sport sponsorship. Andreas founded Sponsoo in 2014 after graduating from the University of Cambridge. Before that, he worked at Hamburger SV and already founded two other startups (and exited one of them).

Tom is Co-Founder of Fifty-Three Six, and heads up content marketing, digital strategy and business operations. Fifty-Three Six is a digital marketing agency for sport, whose vision is to change the paradigm for sports organisations and businesses – allowing them to use video to convert fans into customers.

Prior to Fifty-Three Six, Tom spent two years managing digital activity across all platforms for sports broadcaster, Setanta Sports, before being one of the first hires in Twitter’s EMEA HQ in Dublin. Tom then went on to spend over four years in Twitter, working across the mobile and sports sectors in the UK before going on to manage the emerging markets business in Europe and Africa.

Alex Inglot is a business strategist within the world of sports and esports. Having worked for many years in international corporate and commercial law, and nearly a decade in global sports communications and public affairs, he is now the Commissioner of the ESL Pro League. He leads the Commissioner’s Office, an independent governing body which oversees the ESL Pro League’s business structure and governance model.

Duncan has worked at Opta for more than 10 years. In 2009 he co-founded the award winning @OptaJoe Twitter account and published books in 2016 (The OptaJoe Football Yearbook) and 2017 (Outside The Box). He has written for the BBC, Guardian and Independent among others and is a regular contributor to Premier League TV and The Totally Football Show, winner of Best Sports Podcast at the 2019 British Podcast Awards.

Luis Beute joined Qwilt in 2021, responsible for the go-to-market strategy for Content Providers, from media conglomerates to e-commerce sites and fintech start-ups. He brings extensive experience leading regional and global sales teams in the telecoms and media industries. Over the past 15 years Luis has worked very closely with broadcasters and OTT players, helping them to optimize their end users’ online experience.

Chris is the Founder, CEO & President of NorthStar Solutions Gorup. He is a highly accomplished executive leader with 30 years of experience in executing strategies, achieving operational excellence, leading change, improving customer experience, and accomplishing tangible results.

Chris has deep expertise in leading large-scale transformation initiatives through data driven decisions, translating complex problems into simple, practical solutions, presenting clear recommendations for a diverse array of solutions to a wide array of stakeholders and delivering unfailing execution and lasting change.

He is adept at synchronizing people, processes, technology, and data across a wide spectrum of industries, business functions and initiative types.

Lisa is the PR & Customer Success Manager at vAudience, joining the company in November 2020. Lisa is a skilled PR and communications professional, with a B.A. in Business Management.

Christopher joined the World Curling Federation over 8 years ago to take up the mantle of Digital Media Officer, then later moving into his current role as Head of Media, responsible for the strategic communications of the Organisation. His previous roles include Head of Systems at The Leith Agency where he was responsible for the IT infrastructure design and implementation.

An MSc Sports Management student at the University of East London with the aim of securing a career in the sports business industry and contributing to its success. Completed graduation with a business degree from Christ University, India and completed schooling at St. Joseph’s College, Coonoor, India. Grew up as a semi professional athlete, having participated in State and National Athletic competitions. Worked as a compliance analyst for a year at Empower Retirement, – US pension company on a professional basis. Have volunteer experience in sports event management roles with the London Lions Basketball team and for the International Sports Convention 2022. An organized, energetic and a goal-oriented professional with a proven record of meeting deadlines and also possess skills such as leadership, communication, customer service, proactive problem solving, public speaking, team player and attention to detail.

Andy joined Vizrt in October 2021 to manage key accounts and business development, focusing on Sport throughout EMEA and working with the region’s biggest broadcasters, federations and media. Previously Andy spent over fourteen years at Deltatre with clients including BBC.

Nimish is a multi dimensional sports business professional with over 12 years is experience in professional playing, marketing, event management & sports management.
Founder & CEO of Vision Basketball India, a basketball club in New Delhi, India.

Leading the Commercial Department while looking for new partnerships at our Global HQ after having developed business for LaLiga in Hungary and other neighbor countries, selected in a process of more than 12500 people.

Lecturer and tutor at LaLiga Business School, Mentor at Carlos III University and former Member of Corvinus University Advisory Board.

Excellence in Sport Business Award by Corvinus University, Professional Excellence Award by Carlos III University, High potential program at Indra and Best Academic Record at school.

Former VP of Atlético de Madrid Volunteers Association.

Ryan has over 20 years’ experience in the industry, leading the creative output in London for Octagon and FRUKT for clients such as BMW, Expedia, Cisco, Paddy Power to name just a few. Having studied Graphic Design at university, Ryan places a strong emphasis on beautiful execution along with category breaking ideas to ensure brands stand out and make a lasting impression.

Amar advises some of the world’s leading brands on sponsorship, marketing and content strategy.

Shahrukh is an sports management and marketing professional with 12 years of diversified experience.

Having held leadership roles at FootballPakistan.com, Leisure Leagues, White Rice Communications, DataStream and Pecan, he is comfortable leading large, geographically-diverse teams in complex projects.

Shahrukh is also considered a thought leader in Pakistani Football, using his extensive experience to advise brands such as RedBull and Coca-Cola, as well as sharing his opinions for various publications and television channels. In 2018, he delivered a TedTalk outlining his dream of seeing Pakistan at the FIFA World Cup.

Matt is a Senior Social Listening Consultant with over 10 years of experience serving clients across several industries.

Prior to NorthStar, Matt’s roles also included Social Media Intelligence Manager for United Airlines, where he spent nearly seven years of his career.

Matt received his Batchelor’s degree in Public Relations from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Matthew Campelli is a journalist, strategist and communicator specialising in sport and sustainability. He is the founder of The Sustainability Report, an insight an intelligence platform that helps sports organisations become more environmentally and socially responsible.

A driven Sports Journalist, Producer, Producer/Director and Reporter/Presenter, I have a broad range of experience across live broadcast, branded content, digital media, and print media.