ScreenSkills Mentors
ScreenSkills Mentors
Ben Davenport
Ben is a B2B marketer with a keen interest and understanding of the technologies that underpin the media and entertainment industry. During the past two decades, Ben has played a key role in some of the most complex and progressive file-based media solutions and projects in the industry while enabling leading media & entertainment technology vendors to differentiate their brands and products. Having previously headed up Portfolio & Marketing Strategy for Vidispine - an Arvato Systems brand, Ben has recently joined Pixotope as VP Global Marketing. Ben holds a Bachelor's degree in Music & Sound Recording (Tonmeister) from the University of Surrey.
Caroline Ewerton
Caroline is an experienced and strategic media professional with a comprehensive background in Transformation, Delivery and Operations Management. Currently she’s Head of Operational Delivery at DAZN, where she’s responsible for leading the implementation of operational programmes across all areas of the supply chain from content creation to distribution. Caroline is passionate about enabling process excellence and sustainable transformation. She began her career in post-production and moved onto managing operations across live, post and content services. An avid interest in innovative technology inspired her to transition to supporting media organisations in achieving the most operational benefits through technology implementation. She's committed to empowering people throughout the process of transformational change. A strong advocate for diversity and inclusion, Caroline believes that a proactive inclusive culture is a big driver for success and a key enabler of growth.
Charlotte Wheeler
Charlotte Wheeler is the Event Director at MBI, the publishers of Broadcast, Screen International and shots. Charlotte started her career on what was originally The Production Show, and is now BVE, in March 2004, looking after key manufacturers and brands within the broadcast technology markets. Charlotte was part of the merger between the show and Video Forum in 2008 and was responsible for the subsequent launches of The Production Show back into BVE at Earls Court in 2009 and BVE North which launched in 2011 in Manchester. Since leaving BVE in February 2012 for maternity leave, she launched a series of 8 conferences for the MBI brands including Production & Post Forum, Screen Film Summit, Commissioning & Funding Forum and Creative Week. She is now working on the new event for the media creative industries, The Media Production Show taking place in June 2016. Charlotte has also been an active advocate of the WFTV and a member since 2009 and has run a number of events celebrating women in the media industries, including a special event to celebrate International Women's Day with Broadcast and Screen International.
Chrissie Collins
When BT sport popped into the world of Sport, Telegenic successfully gained the Champions League contract they needed someone in to manage and run as well as UM the games onsite, giving Chrissy the chance to combine her love of football and TV to manage clients for Telegenic. The main contracts that Chrissy looks after include BBC Sport output work and BT Sport Football from the EPL to the UCL. Working with cutting edge technology and working across all the new remote centres, there's never a dull moment. Over her career, Chrissy has work on a range of high profile jobs including Brazil World Cup 2014 Euros 2016 France Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony London Olympics Russia 2018 World Cup and Women’s Euros France 2018. Most recently, she has just finished Unit Managing Wembley for the Euros, including Euro 2020 Final which was hard work but equally lots of fun!
Dara Urquhart
I have been a part of Red Bee Media for over 13 years, always in operations and with different senior leadership accountabilities. I have the privilege and responsibility for delivering live services - this includes playout, live OTT, MCR and distribution services. I collaborate with highly professional teams of skilled operators and engineers in the UK and Europe and together we deliver high value services and media experiences to worldwide audiences on behalf of our customers. The broadcast landscape has constantly evolved over this period and continues to do so - adapting and collaborating is key to maintaining service delivery. Diversity and inclusion at all levels of a business, allows teams’ thinking and performance to be truly great and that is why I am very happy to be involved with the work RISE does in our sector.
Hannah Chambers
Hannah is a trained broadcast engineer with a first class BSc in Broadcast Technology. She has worked at top level broadcasters such as BBC, QVC, ITV, Formula 1, Formula E, Maidstone Studios and IMG Studios. Hannah’s experience ranges from telecommunications, outside broadcasting through scheduling and playout and right back to studio productions having lead engineers for live primetime ITV shows such as This Morning & Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, live sports such as Tottenham TV’s home games at Wembley, and the worldwide coverage of F1, MotoGP and Formula E races. Hannah is an experienced technical & non-technical trainer having trained operators, engineers and production staff. She also has specialisms in sound, talkback and projects delivery. Hannah has been running her own company since 2018.
Jason Fiddes
I have been working in technology change and delivery across multiple verticals in the UK for over 25 years. Working at Sky for over 5 years, I am a Senior Strategy Lead, looking at industry and technology advancement to produce insights and recommendations that feed into initiatives to ensure Sky is at the forefront of innovation. Essentially looking at the long-term future to develop sustainable technical capabilities today that support the future of Sky tomorrow. Additionally, using this insight to drive better business performance now, but most importantly making sure products and services are improved, and simplified for our customers. With a passion for technology and data; and using this to improve customer experience and operational efficiency through data driven, technology solutions, I really enjoy converting complex industry and technology advancements into simple business concepts and developing sound business cases to improve service performance and economics. Happy providing strategic and operational direction and leadership, I am comfortable and experienced taking a vision, analysing and mapping processes and developing a strategy underpinned with strategic outcomes. Having been mentored myself and having mentored officially in the past, I appreciate the value to be had and I continue to mentor previous employees and colleagues “unofficially”. I really do enjoy sharing knowledge, experience and ideas and definitely get as much out of mentoring as a mentee. There is something really satisfying if someone can learn something from me and then make it work for them to take it to the next level. I know I get something from every conversation. When I’m not in work you’ll normally find me on the water in a kayak, usually the right way up, but not always.
Joanna Alpe
In 2012 Joanna founded a live event tech start up - Makelight - an innovative special effects & audience insight platform for mobile devices. She won Makelight a place in Telefonica's prestigious Wayra UK academy in 2012 based in London, the Red Bull Amplify accelerator in 2013 and has led the company to win multiple Event Technology Awards for their breakthrough Live Event Technology. She negotiated deals for Makelight with global brands such as Vodafone, Vice Magazine, Pernod Ricard, Channel 4, Nokia, Samsung, SXSW and many more. Under her leadership, Makelight was named in the Startup’s 100 list in 2014 and she was personally named as one of the Top UK Digital Innovators for her achievements founding Makelight. She has raised investment in the UK and in Silicon Valley and set the global commercial strategy for Makelight Mobile Special Effects, selling into the USA and beyond. After exiting Makelight, she worked as an adviser to a portfolio of startups and scale ups who are looking to take their products to a global market. In 2021 she joined Bild Studios as their CCO, leading the commercial, brand and product development for both Bild and MARS Volume - their brand new virtual production facility for film and high end television productions. She is an international speaker on creative technology, having spoken at such events as SF Music Tech Summit (San Francisco), Audience Access Affair (NYC), BIME (Spain), Podim (Slovenia), Eurosonic (Holland), and Tech Entrepreneurs Week and Wired conference in London among others.
Karen Dunn
Karen is Senior Product Lead, AI & Personalisation at Sky.She is responsible for personalisation & AI for Sky Q, Sky Go, Sky+ and Now for UK, Italy, Germany and Austria. She uses customer insights and data to build products that bring magic to customers viewing experience and creating the Roadmap.
Katie Colledge
Katie leads PR and communications activity for Blackmagic Design across Central and Southern Europe, as well as the Middle East and Africa region. Working as part of a proactive, in-house PR team, she is responsible for content generation, media relations and internal communication for the manufacturer’s EMEA division. With more than fifteen years’ experience in building effective and engaging communications strategies in broadcast, live event, film and post production sectors, Katie works extensively with high profile customers, key industry media and influencers across Europe. Prior to joining Blackmagic Design, Katie specialised in technology PR, leading teams at Citypress and LEWIS PR, where she devised and delivered PR strategies for a wide range of technology companies; from start ups through to leading international brands.
Laurissa Yeung Shea
Laurissa Yeung Shea is a Business Analyst at Discovery Inc. She is responsible for the continuous improvement of the content management systems technology, as well as workflows, supporting business decisions and system users across International and European regions of the company. With over 20 years of experience in broadcast, in varying roles from a Production Assistant, Transmission Controller to Presentation Scheduler, she has used her transferable skills to find opportunities as a Project Manager/Business Analyst in the Augmented Reality Gaming industry, as well as her current role. Laurissa continues to build her appetite for knowledge and sharing knowledge on a professional and personal level. Recently, finishing a course on Databases and SQL coding, she was awarded project excellence with her team, as well as training as a Mental Health First Aider to support colleagues and people around her. She continues to learn and develop not only for herself, but also to show her two children that no matter where you are in your life, you can keep making a positive changes and decisions for yourself, which can also benefit others.
Lesley Marr - Molinare
Lesley is Director of Operations at Molinare; Molinare is now the largest, privately owned post facility in the UK, offering complete creative services in all genres of feature film and television. Recent work has included numerous 4K/UHD productions, including High Dynamic Range and Dolby Vision projects for both home entertainment and theatrical release. Prior to joining Molinare Lesley was COO for Deluxe Media Europe, overseeing the day to day operation delivering to UK Broadcasters and global platforms. During her career Lesley has managed transformation programmes, senior client relationships, operational excellence projects developing media logistics, scheduling and MAM tools and managed teams across multi-site UK operations. Lesley has held several senior management positions in Broadcast Operations at Sky & Technicolor. Her career path, however, started in the creative post production world working as an editor before learning the skills of a VFX artist where she worked for leading global facilities before moving into the world of Operations Management. In addition to her day job Lesley has, for several years, sat on the board of the UK Screen Association and is also a member of the IBC conference committee business stream, chairing and producing conference sessions.
Lisa Collins
Lisa Collins is head of marketing and membership engagement at IABM. She has a 20 year track record working at a senior level within membership organisations in marketing, events and new acquisition functions. During her career to date Lisa has been involved in various re-brand projects, new product/service launches, implementing CRM systems and delivering and organising some fantastic events involving various celebrities, members of the UK Government and Royal Family. Lisa is currently Head of Marketing and Membership Engagement at IABM, the International Association of Broadcast and Media Technology . Lisa is always exploring creative concepts and innovative, lateral ideas to ensure commercial success.
Lorna Garrett
Lorna is a graduate of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), with a 2:1 degree in Electrical Engineering and Electronics. After working with Marconi Underwater Weapons as a design engineer on torpedo test equipment, Lorna left the pure design side to move into technical sales. She spent 10 years at Hitachi managing the company’s key microprocessor semiconductor accounts. In 2004, she co-founded Garland Partners Limited — the forerunner to Zest Technologies —with fellow Hitachi colleague Malcolm Harland. As a video technology provider, Garland operated predominantly in the broadcast, sport, event and media sectors, providing solutions for delivering live video from the field to studio (contribution/acquisition) and from the studio out to viewers (distribution). Garland expanded rapidly as its reputation for providing the best digital video solutions and service grew amongst many of the UK’s largest organisations. Following Garland’s successful acquisition by LiveU, Lorna formed Zest Technologies Limited to continue to support the market with best-of-breed broadcast solutions and offer continuity of service. “The formation of Zest Technologies was the culmination of years of working with the best solution providers around and helping some of the biggest players in the market solve their video contribution needs,” says Lorna. “Establishing Zest Technologies has allowed us to continue to focus our expertise and innovative offerings to enthusiastically meet the needs of our customers. From a personal perspective, it has allowed me to continue to grow by facing and resolving new challenges, and by providing me with the opportunity to work more closely with my customers and partners.
Louise Wells
Louise is Associate Director at Bubble Agency, the go-to global PR, marketing and events specialist for the media and entertainment technology and services sectors. With 15 years of B2B PR experience, Louise started her career in-house at the global TV production and distribution company, Fremantle, before moving agency- side. At Bubble Agency she oversees the running and development of the company alongside its founder. Louise is responsible for devising and setting the company culture, ensuring the efficient and profitable running of accounts, devising strategic and creative plans for clients, as well as providing senior counsel and support to account teams. Louise’s client experience includes, Atomos, Aspera, Avid, BBC Studioworks, Cinesite, CVP, Deluxe, dock10, IBC, Monterosa, Red Bee Media, Signiant, Supponor, Telstra and Visual Data Media Services.
Lucinda Meek
Lucinda is IABM’s CFO and director and sits on IABM’s Members’ Board. She is a chartered accountant with experience in running SME’s and in auditing companies of all sizes and has worked in the broadcast industry for 15 years.
Marina Kalkanis
Marina Kalkanis is CEO of M2A Media. Marina established M2A Media in 2016 with co-founder Marcus Box. M2A has fast become a market-leader in cloud-based video technology and the company’s world leading live streaming services are now the chosen products for customers such as ITV, Channel 4, DAZN, BBC Worldwide and Sony Crackle. Prior to M2A, Marina was the BBC's Director of Platform & Common Services, where she built the online video platform for iPlayer, expanded it for the 2012 Olympics, and in 2013 migrated the complete online media workflow to AWS cloud. She also led the team that migrated the BBC’s tape-based linear playout workflow to file-based IP delivery. Marina also holds the position of SMPTE Governor, UK Region for the 2019-2020 term.
Markela Deverikou
Markela Deverikou is a guarantee broadcast engineer currently working in the broadcast industry for NEP UK. She graduated from University of Surrey in 2011 with a first class honours degree (BEng) in Electronic Engineering in Audio Media Engineering, completing placements in recording studios as an audio assistant. Her career began when she joined the small OB company, Racetech. She took her first steps as a trainee broadcast engineer, working across vision, sound and RF fields. Within a year she had finished her traineeship and started life on the road as broadcast engineer. Markela then quickly progressed to guaranteeing OB trucks covering events such as Royal Ascot and Epsom Derby. In 2017 she joined NEP in her current role working primarily on fly-pack systems for reality shows including Love Island and Too Hot To Handle, although she can still occasionally be found on OB trucks at various sporting events and light entertainment shows. Markela is part of the NEP student mentoring programme, offering help to university student mentees with their future career in the broadcast industry and in turn supporting the industry with potential new talent.
Michael Robertson
Michael has been in the industry for seventeen years, working at Discovery as Group Vice President, Technology Business Management. He leads global teams across several functions, including Service Management, PMO, M&A, Business Change. Also, he has held operations roles at both Discovery and the BBC, gaining major programme experience, including developing the blueprint for the insourcing of the BBC's contribution and distribution services. In 2015, he completed the BBC's award-winning Executive Coach Programme and became a Business Change Practioner. More recently, he's led service initiatives such as creating an organisational group to support linear and digital for Discovery's Olympics programming that evolved into a critical sustaining function. In 2019, this team won an internal innovation award. He loves seeing people grow and develop and describes himself as authentic, open, honest, but supportive.
Morwen Williams
Morwen Williams is Director of UK Operations for BBC News, leading the technical and studio teams of BBC News. She is responsible for creative technical news gathering as well as all news studios in London and Salford at MediaCityUK and editing in London - a team of more than 800 people. She is the bridge between the BBC’s journalism and technology- using technology to its fullest to tell stories better for audiences. Previously she was BBC News’s Deputy UK Editor and led on major special events in the UK, and has worked as an output editor and producer in BBC regions in London and Manchester. She is chair of the WBU (World Broadcasting Union) International Media Connectivity Group, working with other broadcasters to find common solutions in this area. She has recently completed the Media Transformation Challenge at Harvard University’s Kennedy School. Morwen is a keen supporter of the BBC’s apprentice schemes to deliver new and more diverse technical talent in the BBC, as well as working with BBC News’s Women in Technology programme. She’s been a mentor for RISE Women in Broadcasting and the John Schofield Trust for young journalists. She is proud to have been RISE Women in Broadcasting Woman of the Year 2019 at IBC last year. Morwen is married, with two sons at university. A keen road cyclist and loves skiing, she comes from a family of award-winning grocers, who know a thing or two about cheese.
Pav Kudlac
Pav is currently MD at Ovyo, a Professional Services business focused on the video space (more in distribution than production for now), founded in 2019. He oversees all aspects of delivery as well as looking after go-to-market proposition and operations. We have direct relationships with a number of contractors including one-person limited companies. Pav previously held VP positions at Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia and Velocix in roles across PS, Product and Sales. Designed and introduced a company mentorship scheme. His career background as a Programme Director / Project Manager, working at BT and through Accenture for many different European operators and broadcasters. Semi-technical, former Architect and dabbled in some coding but not much. He has strong industry connections including among recruiters, including some industry recruiters who invested in his company! Father to 2 young girls, husband to an Aussie expat, chief toy fixer & hole darner.
Purminder Gandhu
Purminder joined the BBC as a trainee studio manager in the early 1990’s, progressing through to a senior studio director. A varied career, she’s provided audio expertise for 25 years across domestic and World Service BBC radio output. This has included recording, editing and mixing in live studios, operating radio trucks and building broadcast facilities on location domestically and overseas for major events like the Olympics, Royal Weddings, Radio 1 in Ibiza and the Africa Cup of Nations. Purminder currently leads the BBC Edge Group, a pan BBC forum of live contribution and connectivity subject matter experts. The group engages with the wider broadcasting industry and manufacturers; and aims to learn and share through piloting innovation in tech and steering the workflows across the BBC. As part of the 2020 IBC 5G Remote Production accelerator, Purminder was responsible for the user case workstream which informed the successful live proof of concept.
Susi Cardew
Susi spent the last 20 years in both in-house and agency hiring roles within the media entertainment and content industries, starting her career at the BBC working across radio, music & TV before taking up senior roles at Disney and NBC. Susi is now Head of Talent at disguise, responsible for bringing brilliant talent into the growing disguise family including driving global talent acquisition strategy and internal mobility as well as shaping employer brand.
UK Programme Mentors
UK Programme Mentors
Allison Coucher 2020 mentor
Allison Coucher
Allison has worked in the Telecommunications Industry for 25 years and is currently enjoying working in Sky Technology as a Service Strategy Manager, focusing on customer experience in the connected home. As part of her role she focuses on ensuring Sky customers are able to enjoy all of the great content that they love, understanding their future requirements and defining a strategy to accommodate our customers growing needs in their connected life, work, health and home. Having had a fantastic mentor who has coached her, Allison is very keen to “pay it forward” and to share her learnings and experiences with a mentee, along with learning and growing herself, and is excited to be working with Rise. In her spare time Allison is mum to a 9 year old daughter and loves to spend time with her friends and family, ride her horses and go out on family bike rides.
Anna Lockwood 2020 mentor
Anna Lockwood
Anna Lockwood is an experienced media industry executive and is currently the Head of Global Sales at Telstra Broadcast Services. Anna and her team work at the convergence of the traditional broadcast industry with leading-edge telecommunications and digital platforms, and focus on bringing innovative solutions and services to the media and sports industry. In addition to her role at Telstra, Anna is a board member of the EGAA (Esports Games Association Australia), represents Telstra on the Board of Directors of IABM, and is active in industry initiatives around sports, innovation and women in technology.
Abigail Hughes
My focus and happiest place has always been in building and leading teams. I am passionate about supporting people with career development, growth and satisfaction in their roles and how to maximise performance through strong and compassionate leadership. I am a single Mum with three children - now 13, 18 and 20 - and mostly worked full-time throughout their younger years whilst also commuting into London from where I live near Cambridge. Not always easy but it can be done!! Currently VP Growth, EMEA for Premiere Digital and based in the UK to help Premiere grow their International business. We are a Media Services and software solutions partner for content owners, video distributors, digital retailers, broadcasters, subscription video and ad supported platforms. We simplify the complexities of content distribution, supply chain and digital storefront management and provide flexible B2B technical SaaS solutions and managed services for Media Assets. Prior to this role I was a consultant at Redgate Software based in Cambridge - they specialise in compliant Database Dev Ops Solutions for various sectors including Finance, Healthcare and Technology Sectors. I worked at Sony Pictures Entertainment for just over 4 years leading their Sales Planning Function across the EMEA Region. Oversaw a team of 30 staff across 8 offices within the Region. Focus of the role was Team Leadership and cohesion, best practice across our daily Sales Planning functions and ownership of the systems/processes for the Region. Prior to this I had roles at Sony DADC NMS as a consultant, Shine International and a large part of my career at BBC Worldwide (now BBC Studios).
Anne-Louise Buick
Anne-Louise Buick is Vice President, Global Field and Channel Marketing at Avid, responsible for successfully leading Avid’s global field marketing organization, key strategic partner sales and marketing plans to drive revenue as well as worldwide channel engagement. Prior to joining Avid, Anne-Louise was Head of Media Marketing and Communications at Ericsson, overseeing all marcomms activities for their Media Solutions business. Having worked within the broadcast technology space for over 17 years, Anne-Louise has held senior marketing positions; at IP video technology manufacturer Exterity, where she was responsible for its entire global marketing and communications strategy; a specialist Pay TV subscriber management company and consulted on marketing niche digital archive monetization projects.
Belén Arronte 2020
Belén Arronte
Belén is the Head of Marketing Communications for Media Solutions at Sony Professional Solutions Europe. She is accountable for leading the Leading Marketing Communications Team that; with a customer focus approach, exits to keep the media industry up-to-date with Sony’s latest Products, Solutions and Services as well as to bring Industry insight to the Sony team for development of new solutions. Belén is a passionate marketeer, with over 14 years in different Marketing roles in Sony, where she started in Product Marketing in Spain, moving into Iberia Field Marketing and then Pan-European Roles as Communications Manager or Pricing and Promotions Manager. Despite her career in marketing, Belén loves maths and logic, having studied electronic engineering, which makes her enjoy the current marketing landscape, where digital marketing relies so heavily on data analysis.
Caroline Ewerton
Caroline is an experienced and strategic media professional with a comprehensive background in Transformation, Delivery and Operations Management. Currently she’s Head of Operational Delivery at DAZN, where she’s responsible for leading the implementation of operational programmes across all areas of the supply chain from content creation to distribution.
Catriona Tate
Catriona Tate is experienced business leader with a strong sales and marketing track record in broadcast, TV Technology, OTT streaming and media companies. She has held senior business development, key account and marketing strategy roles at Red Bee Media, Simplestream Ltd, Ericsson Broadcast, The Guardian and in Advertising agencies. Her clients have included Disney, Discovery, UKTV, Sky, BBC Studios, Virgin, Eir, OSN, EE, Freeview, Youview, Channel 4, Viacom, Little Dot Studios and BAFTA. She loves working at the forefront of next-generation TV services at Simplestream and is proud to work with innovative and respected key broadcasters, platforms and content owners in the UK and internationally. Her core focus is new business strategy, identifying and pitching new opportunities, growing profitable client relationships and partnerships, networking and presenting, leading teams; pitches and projects. She’s also done her fair share of brand strategy, creative development and B2B marketing.
Deborah Williamson
Deborah has over 20 years experience in the Broadcast Industry; most of this time working alongside or for Discovery. Her roles in the past have varied within teams from Transmission, Support Engineering and Project Engineering. Deborah currently has the role of Director - Global Playout Technology at Discovery, leading a team dedicated to working on integrating new initiatives and providing 2nd line support to maintain the Technical Playout of over 240 Channels within the Discovery Factual Portfolio broadcasting Globally from the Cloud. Deborah was part of the Discovery Engineering Team awarded a Technical Emmy Award for their work on Cloud Linear Playout. Deborah has been fortunate to work on some major projects over her career with talented individuals & Teams. She particularly enjoys the trouble shooting and knowledge sharing that can take place within the world of Broadcast Engineering and working alongside teams across multiple countries and specialisms.
Dee Davison
Dee Davison is Business Operations Director at Deluxe, working horizontally and vertically across all business lines she is currently leading a global initiative to determine how pandemic ways of working will shape the future of the workplace at Deluxe.Dee has worked in cinema and broadcast since 2004. She spent a number of years advising the UK Government on British film support, followed by a period investing public funds in growth strategies for film across the UK. She pivoted into a cinema role in 2011 where she ran industry wide campaigns promoting accessibility of the sector. Dee joined Deluxe in 2013, starting in cinema distribution and moving on into corporate group positions since 2015. Dee is the Founder of Generations Café, an intergenerational initiative in Berkshire and spent many years volunteering with the elderly. She’s a qualified fitness instructor and funk and soul DJ – none of which she currently gets time to enjoy having two young and energetic sons to chase around after! Above all else, Dee loves meeting new people and building relationships. She’s a big believer in self-awareness and proactive development and welcomes the opportunity to learn with and from others on this journey.
Dushi Thangarajah
Dushi is responsible for EMEA Deluxe Fulfilment and Localisation operations and the Global PMO function, with emphasis on service delivery performance, on-boarding product functionality smoothly into new or ongoing service delivery and managing operational teams and clients through change supported by her significant programme management leadership experience. Dushi oversaw Deluxe’s transformation programmes of work over the past 4 years supporting Deluxe leadership through significant change. Prior to joining Deluxe in January 2014, Dushi has worked in transformation led roles in the Broadcast Media, Consultancy and Engineering fields, globally.
Helen Weedon
Helen Weedon is a senior PR professional with more than 15 years experience managing PR and Marketing campaigns. She founded Radical Moves in 2007, a PR and Marketing agency specialising in the broadcast and satellite industries. Helen is also the Managing Director of the Satcoms Innovation Group (SIG), a role she was appointed in January 2020. Having worked with SIG since 2011, Helen was already integral to many of the group’s activities. Helen is a keen linguist with a BA Hons degree in French, German, and European Studies
Kate Wendelboe
Kate Wendelboe is a trained executive coach and Head of Strategy for a portfolio of BT’s smaller businesses. Previously she was Director of BT Media & Broadcast after doing proposition development, business development, and strategy. Before joining BT, Kate was at Reuters working in marketing communications and then journalism. She was one of the team that started Reuters Insider, Reuters’ OTT platform for financial professionals. Kate left Reuters to study for an MBA at Cambridge’s Judge Business School where she specialised in Culture, Arts and Media Management. Kate is married with two sons and, after living in the States, Hong Kong and Switzerland, is now based in London. If she had unlimited free time, she would be training for an Ironman Triathlon, learning to code, and writing a best-selling novel.
Lisa Lavender
Lisa Lavender is a business leader with over 25 years’ experience building and running businesses in the advertising industry at a local and global level. Having worked with numerous global brands, broadcasters, agencies and production companies, she has a deep understanding of business processes and the changes impacting the marketing supply chain. Lisa is the founder of The Traffic Bureau, the UK's largest outsourced specialist supplier of TV admin (Business Affairs) services. After selling TTB to Adstream, Lisa held a number of roles within the advertising distribution company. She is the former CEO of Adstream UK where she managed operations, account management and sales teams for Adstream's largest operating market outside of the USA.
Lorna Garrett
Lorna is a graduate of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), with a 2:1 degree in Electrical Engineering and Electronics. After working with Marconi Underwater Weapons as a design engineer on torpedo test equipment, Lorna left the pure design side to move into technical sales. She spent 10 years at Hitachi managing the company’s key microprocessor semiconductor accounts. In 2004, she co-founded Garland Partners Limited — the forerunner to Zest Technologies —with fellow Hitachi colleague Malcolm Harland. As a video technology provider, Garland operated predominantly in the broadcast, sport, event and media sectors, providing solutions for delivering live video from the field to studio (contribution/acquisition) and from the studio out to viewers (distribution). Garland expanded rapidly as its reputation for providing the best digital video solutions and service grew amongst many of the UK’s largest organisations. Following Garland’s successful acquisition by LiveU, Lorna formed Zest Technologies Limited to continue to support the market with best-of-breed broadcast solutions and offer continuity of service. “The formation of Zest Technologies was the culmination of years of working with the best solution providers around and helping some of the biggest players in the market solve their video contribution needs,” says Lorna. “Establishing Zest Technologies has allowed us to continue to focus our expertise and innovative offerings to enthusiastically meet the needs of our customers. From a personal perspective, it has allowed me to continue to grow by facing and resolving new challenges, and by providing me with the opportunity to work more closely with my customers and partners.
Marina Kalkanis 2020 mentor
Marina Kalkanis
Marina Kalkanis is CEO of M2A Media. Marina established M2A Media in 2016 with co-founder Marcus Box. M2A has fast become a market-leader in cloud-based video technology and the company’s world leading live streaming services are now the chosen products for customers such as ITV, Channel 4, DAZN, BBC Worldwide and Sony Crackle. Prior to M2A, Marina was the BBC's Director of Platform & Common Services, where she built the online video platform for iPlayer, expanded it for the 2012 Olympics, and in 2013 migrated the complete online media workflow to AWS cloud. She also led the team that migrated the BBC’s tape-based linear playout workflow to file-based IP delivery. Marina also holds the position of SMPTE Governor, UK Region for the 2019-2020 term.
Nicki Fisher
Nicki Fisher is the EMEA Sales Director for Clear-Com, an HME Company. In this role, she is responsible for sales and pre-sales teams, selling and supporting Clear-Com and Trilogy Communications products and solutions across the entire EMEA region. Prior to joining Clear-Com in April 2014, Nicki was the Sales Director for the Tektronix EMEA Video Business for 8 years, where she was responsible for sales of Video Analysis and Monitoring equipment into the Broadcasting, Post Production and Telecoms markets. Nicki spent 11 years working for Agilent (formerly Hewlett Packard) in a variety of senior management and individual contributor sales roles, where she was the first Female Account manager for the UK Aerospace and Defence business and also European Regional Sales Manager for the Communications Test Business. Nicki gained a B.Sc. Hons in Physics from Liverpool University in 1989 and began her career as a Product Training Engineer at Marconi Instruments.
Paola Hobson
Paola Hobson has 34 years experience in the broadcast and mobile industries. She joined InSync Technology in 2014 and has been Managing Director since 2016. Her focus is on continuing InSync's growth as a major supplier of conversion hardware and software, delivering new and innovative solutions to long-standing and recent customers. In addition to company management, Paola contributes to professional development initiatives within the broadcast industry through regular publications, presentations and blogs, as well as support for local student projects, and is a member of the IABM UK Member Council. Paola holds numerous patents in image processing, content personalization, and mobile video, as well as BSc, Ph.D and MBA degrees
Paula Bargary
I have spent upwards of 30 years in the broadcasting industry, predominantly in a sales capacity. I started out in my early twenties selling airtime to Advertisers and Agencies for ITV and then subsequently switched over to the supplier side in the early 2000's. During the last 15 years, I have led UK, EMEA and APAC sales teams supplying software, hardware and services to Broadcasters and Media companies across the region. I am currently working for Vizrt as Sales Director for EMEA, leading a team of 12 Account Managers with responsibility for developing and growing the business we have with our existing customer base.
Rich Welsh
Rich Welsh is Senior Vice President of Innovation at Deluxe, where he works to bring next generation technologies and workflows to mastering, distribution and localization services for studios, OTT platforms and content creators worldwide. Rich has over two decades experience in movie and television post production, mastering and delivery. Prior to his role at Deluxe, Rich was founder and CEO at Sundog Media Toolkit which pioneered cloud based automated mastering for movies and TV for Hollywood studios. Sundog was acquired by Deluxe in 2020. Rich has also held positions as Head of Operations at Technicolor as well as Director of Digital Cinema at Dolby. Rich currently serves on the board of SMPTE and chairs its Media in the Cloud initiative. He has also previously held the role of SMPTE Vice President of Education. Rich holds a Doctor of Technology (HC) and BSc(hons) Media Technology from Southampton Solent University.
Stephen Stewart
A television and radio professional with over 40 years in the industry, Stephen has enjoyed roles as varied as commercial producer, gallery director for tv programmes ranging from Formula 1 to UK Parliament. As well as TV production, Stephen is experienced in TV playout and media services having worked for the BBC, Channel 4, Thames Television and Deluxe. More recently the lure of AI and machine learning has seen Stephen move into the advertising technology space with Mirriad Advertising before becoming COO at Take 1 Script Services where he is responsible for the Operations, Product and Media Technology teams, delivering thousands of hours of transcription, translation and access services to some of the world’s largest production companies and networks. As well as TV production, Stephen is experienced in TV playout and media services having worked for the BBC, Channel 4, Thames Television and Deluxe. More recently the lure of AI and machine learning has seen Stephen move into the advertising technology space with Mirriad Advertising before becoming COO at Take 1 Script Services where he is responsible for the Operations, Product and Media Technology teams, delivering thousands of hours of transcription, translation and access services to some of the world’s largest production companies and networks.
Sadie Groom
Sadie founded Bubble, a global PR, marketing and events company focusing on the entertainment technology, sports and AV business, in 1999 and is still very much the driving force. With 23 years of marketing experience Sadie not only looks after the business side of Bubble and client strategy but also promotes the role of women in the industries she works in. In 2017 she founded the Rise – Women in Broadcast group and in 2018 was awarded the Women in Business Champion of Change award for her work on gender diversity. A keen traveller, Sadie is trying to go to 50 countries before she is 50 and would like to spend more time on the golf course.
Seema Talwar
With a career spanning more than 20 years in the Film Industry, Seema started her career, with a degree in Languages and Business in hand, at Twentieth Century Fox Film Company. Motivated by a driving force to prove that a woman from a diverse background can make it to the top, she continued to progress through the ranks at Twentieth Century Fox , where most recently she was Senior Vice President of International Operations. As well as leading International business operations & strategy, she has many years of experience in leading diverse teams globally. Juggling this with motherhood hasn’t always been easy but Seema is a passionate executive with a bias towards people leadership and sharing her experience to help others identify and achieve their career aspirations.
Jackie Howes
Recently winning the 2020 IABM Award for Technology Leader of the year, Jackie is recognised as a person who is at the forefront of disruption and innovation within the broadcast and media industry. Through inspired leadership she has helped to deliver ground-breaking technology and business benefits. Jackie has over 20 years of experience working in the broadcast industry and has worked for a number of different companies, always working in a role that bridges the gap between traditional IT and broadcast engineers. Today, as the Director of Media Infrastructure Architecture at Discovery, Jackie is directly responsible for scoping, defining and coordinating both large and small Infrastructure systems that have a direct impact on the company’s technical capabilities and profitability. She works alongside global teams and external suppliers to architect infrastructure ecosystems that supports the technical and operational aspects of production and broadcast systems.
Kerry Shreeve
Ian Wagdin
APAC Programme Mentors
APAC Programme Mentors
Divya Jain
Divya Jain, a Senior Broadcast Engineer with an experience of 7 years in the industry. Roles and responsibilities include News station solution/workflow design, broadcast technical support and implementation. Certified in Octopus8 Newsroom Computer System and AutoDesk AutoCAD. Enthusiast learner and adaptive to change.
Leena Singarajah
Leena Singarajah is a senior executive with 26 years of commercial results and leadership and the sports, broadcast, media, and content industry. Her extensive experience covers commercial and growth strategy, securing and managing key client relationships, financial performance and profitability. She is also well versed and thirves in global mindset and cultures. She has previously worked for ESPN, ESPN STAR Sports, IMG, Scripps Networks and A+E Networks. A major focus in all of Leena's roles have been to develop business strategies to grow distribution, audience and ultimately monetisation. She has launched television channels, created digital content platforms, built local and regional advertising sales franchises and led businesses through digital transformation. She has also helped companies enter new geographical territories, diversify product portfolios, and convert strategies from B2B to B2C. During her sports career, Leena was responsible for content acquisition and programming for the ESPN and ESPN STAR Sports channels where she managed a multi-million dollar regional budget and acquired over 10,000 hours of programming negotiating with over 100 global sports rights holders and distributors. Specifically during her 15-year sports agency career at IMG, she was responsible for overseeing content and channel distribution of the world’s largest sports catalogue into Asia, as well as responsible for business development and other media-related activities for IMG Media across Asia Pacific. She has worked closely to help global sports federations like the IOC, ATP, European Tour, MotoGP, Wimbledon, Tennis Australia, and the FIVB expand their footprint into Asia Pacific, as well as working with Asian-based sports federations grow their footprint globally. She helped to launch Golf Channels across South East Asia in the 2000s as well as IMG’s first and fully-owned 24-hour sports channel, EDGESport.
Marc Bruce
Marc has over two decades of experience in the media industry, currently holding the position of Managing Director, APAC for Encompass Digital Media. Starting as a runner at Todd-AO, Marc then spent the first decade of his career in various operational and project based roles before moving into the commercial side of the business at Encompass Digital Media in 2010. Over the following eight years, Marc was central to the transformation of the Encompass EMEA business via the on-boarding of multiple new regional and international clients in both the linear TV and digital space. In 2018, Marc took on the role of Managing Director, APAC, relocating from London to Singapore in the process.
Mark Cooke
Mark is Director of Sales, Asia for Ross Video having worked with Ross Video for 7 years in various Technical Sales and Sales roles across Europe, Africa and now Asia in the Live Production industry. Mark is responsible for sales and marketing strategy and execution in the Asia, headquartered in Singapore with teams across the region. Mark is passionate about supporting performance improvement and excellence as Ross continues to grow internationally. Having lived in UK, Netherland’s and Singapore the opportunity to work with new regions and personalities in Asia continues to develop his personal understanding of different cultures and perspectives. Outside of Live Production, Mark is passionate about sports, especially football. A qualified football coach with experience developing both youth and adult teams in the UK and Netherlands.
Mellissa Soobratty
Senior Media Director at World Table Tennis (WTT) and oversees all areas related to content to drive forward and further professionalise the organisation’s vastly expanding media operations. This includes overseeing commercial broadcast deals, live production plus social and digital media. She has accrued a wealth of experience in the fields of sports media, OTT, business development, strategy, and production over the years both in Europe and Asia. Her previous roles include Vice President, Media at Football Marketing Asia (FMA), Business Development Director, APAC at Endeavor Streaming plus commercial roles at StarHub, Setanta Africa, Fox Sports, and BBC Worldwide.
Nancy Curiel Diaz
Nancy Diaz Curiel is managing director at Digigram Asia Pte Ltd. She has been working for Digigram for more than 10 years, in the audio broadcasting industry. She oversees the company's strategy and sales across the APAC region with her local team based in Singapore. Passionate about people and new technologies, she has been dedicating her efforts in increasing her company's market share in the region, while developing a trustworthy network of partners and resellers. This third culture kid loves sharing and communicating with others, and is currently involved in a mentorship programme with a reputable French university, sharing her experience, network and guidance with young graduates. She is looking forward to learning from new inspirational personalities and contributing in empowering women in her side of the world.
Peter Bruce
Peter Bruce is a 30+ year veteran of the broadcast and media industry. He started his career in a production studio at Digital Visions, Austria. Peter has worked with the innovative pioneering companies such as AMPEX, Sony Broadcast and BTS / Philips Broadcast/ Grass Valley in the APAC region. Establishing the IABM APAC regional office in Singapore of which he ran for 6 years. Peter is now the Director of Business Development for Elevate Broadcast in Singapore. Developing business from their range of eCommerce, eLearning Platform, Systems and Production Services.
Pip Warren
Pip Warren has been employed variously in television and predominantly international News and Current Affairs, all her working life. Born in London, England where she started her broadcast career, Pip then went on to live in Hong Kong for 7 years before emigrating to Australia in 2003. Pip now lives in Melbourne, is an Australian citizen and works for Avid, a broadcast hardware, software, and solutions provider, headquartered in the USA. Originally trained as a Video Editor and then a Director, she worked for a London production company followed by Sky TV in the UK, and then Star TV in Hong Kong as the News Operations Manager, overseeing News and Current Affairs, and the complete startup of Star News India. Pip moved to Australia to take up a senior managerial position with the ABC. She now works as a Broadcast Consultant for Avid managing and delivering services worldwide. Pip is pleased to still find that she still very much enjoys what she does and the company of likeminded professionals. Still motivated by innovation and always finds great satisfaction working with her clients who she also considers her colleagues (mostly). Pip is a Life Member of the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club, and a member of the Brighton Yacht Club, a PADI – Dive Master and qualified as a Prince2 Production Manager Practitioner. If there’s time, Pip chooses to go travelling, sailing, diving, cycling, swimming, eating out or cooking, and as many new things that she can find to do.
Shad Hashmi
Shad Hashmi is a digitally-focused broadcast executive with broad T.M.T. expertise. His previous role at BBC Studios saw him launching digital products across the Global Distribution division, leading on partnership initiatives with Telcos and running broadcast operations. Prior to this he held commercial and engineering roles at Encompass Digital Media and CNBC. Shad also tries to give back to the broadcast community by spending his time mentoring as well as working on his Linked In vlog: T.M.T. 10 Cents focused on digital transitions and the Media, Telco and Technology.
Sharifah Ahmad
As the CMO and Head of Global Projects for Torque Video Systems, Sharifah orchestrates all aspects of publicity and driving brand growth in line with the overall business strategy, while supporting operational execution. She also oversees project management, from initiation to implementation. In between business travels and demanding project schedules, thanks to a supportive work environment, Sharifah lives the spirit of volunteerism through various community services, as well as academic programmes with the youth.
North America Programme Mentors
North America Programme Mentors
