Stephanie Losee is the Head of Content for VISA. Previously she was the Executive Director of Branded Content at POLITICO, and before that, she was Managing Editor of Dell, directing Dell’s editorial content strategy and formalizing Dell’s role as a brand publisher. Among other projects, she led the launch of Dell’s Paid Posts as the inaugural brand on The New York Times’ native advertising platform and spearheaded the launch of Dell’s news site, Tech Page One, which was recently expanded to become the brand front door for all of Dell. She is a former writer at Fortune and editor at PC Magazine.
Stephanie is the Head of the Native Advertising Award Board.
Sail is a Managing Partner and Global Business Lead at McCann London. With over 14 years’ experience in integrated advertising, Sail has been instrumental in driving innovative solutions across brands and sectors alike, such as Nokia, EasyJet, Hugo Boss, SEGA, EA and eBay. Most famously known for helping bring home the metal for numerous Microsoft Xbox campaigns, Sail has helped his clients’ win over 250 international creative awards including a remarkable 30 Cannes Lions. Engaging and no stranger to industry events, Sail has featured at conferences including Figaro Digital, Adtech and Creative Summit. Dedicated and passionate about creative, there’s nothing Sail enjoys more than delivering a ground-breaking engagement programme. That’s when he’s not busy taking photographs from obscure angles and trekking through jungles.
In addition to founding the Native Advertising Institute, Jesper Laursen is the CEO of Brand Movers and Media Movers. The companies work with content marketing and journalism, respectively.
Jesper, a passionate content marketing and native advertising entrepreneur and speaker, believes that native advertising done right, holds a great potential for getting your message across to the right people, at the right time, and in the right manner.
Currently, his company Brand Movers is hosting the biggest content marketing conference in Scandinavia called Clever Content, they publish the largest magazine in Northern Europe on the subject called Content Marketing Magazine and work they with various brands and media on native advertising projects.
At IAB, Susan leads the Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence and all mobile-dominant initiatives including Native/Content/Social, B2B and Games. She works with hundreds of digital publisher/technology providers to set guidelines and industry thought leadership. Susan was named one of “15 People in NYC that are Changing Advertising That You Need to Know About” by Alley Watch, a “Top 50 Content Marketing Influencer at CM World 2016” by TopRank, and a “Top 50 Marketing Leaders Over 50” by Brand Watch for two years running. She is on the jury for the Native Advertising Institute Awards, The Content Marketing Institute Awards and the Shorty Awards and is a frequent speaker at SXSW, iMedia Connect, Business Insider Ignition, Social Media Week and more.
Hossein Houssaini works as an advisor for various companies, forums, and advisory boards such as the Advisory Council of Prohaska Consulting, the Programmatic Pioneers and the global board of i-com.org, a community of industry leaders on the forefront of Smart Data Marketing. Recently, he departed from Havas Group where he was acting as the Global Head of Programmatic Solutions. Here he helped to establish the global music data alliance for Havas and Universal Music Group.
Hossein is the co-founder of Havas University, a global training program platform which has already certified over 15,000 participants globally with its first training curriculum “100% Programmatic”. Previous to HAVAS, Hossein created IPG Mediabrands’ first Trading Desk, Cadreon, in DACH (GSA) and shortly after acted as Director Technology for all audience buying platforms (MAP), bringing programmatic to the region.
Before joining Cadreon, Hossein worked for Google re-establishing the Rich Media business for DACH & the Nordics, launching projects like YouTube Masthead. He was shortlisted for ExchangeWire’s Ad Tech Personality of the Year in 2017 & 2018.
Stuart manages Adweek’s content studio, crafting content-driven campaigns for brands that want to reach its audience of marketing decision makers. He also oversees Adweek’s sponsored research and webinar programs. Prior to Adweek, he was Editorial Director of Forbes Insights, the sponsored research group at Forbes.
EJ Bae (short for Eunjung Bae) has 20 years of experience in brand advertising industry. Her experience ranges from Korean domestic as well as international marketing communications. She has worked with various clients ranging from FMCG to automobile industries, practicing different communications strategies and tactics for both commercial and government bodies.
Recently, she has expanded her expertise from brand marketing communications to corporate communications in public relations and crisis management through PhD classes. It is rooted in her strong belief that corporations need to be socially responsible for their business activities and strive for a more ethical business practice.
Her first experience with native advertising dates back to 2012, and contents marketing to 1998, when her role was to write direct mails for customers of Northwest Airlines.
She was able to practice her skills at BBDO, Cheil Communications, FCB, McCann Erickson, Mindshare and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Republic of Korea.
Clare leads marketing, communications, and brand at Parse.ly. She’s translated a background in start-ups, renewable energy, and digital media into a passion for discovering what makes something worthy of audience attention. In 2017, Clare led an effort that resulted in a 200% increase in lead generation and a 1000% ROI (yes, you read that right!) through a program that combined original research with in-house data and analysis. Using native advertising and branded content as the primary distribution method, the campaign not only hit all revenue goals, but also increased the company’s share of voice, drove speaking opportunities and allowed the team at Parse.ly to invest further in content creation.
Clare also wants to help publishers understand how to make their case for native advertising stronger to potential advertisers and marketers. A contributor to The Drum, Native Ad Institute, and Digital Content Next, Clare speaks across the world on how analytics and data can unleash creative potential.
Markus Frank is Managing Director of Verizon Media (formerly Oath) in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Within these markets he is in charge of display, mobile and video inventory offering, the ad tech portfolio for advertisers and publishers. Markus Frank has more than 15 years of experience in the digital marketing industry. Prior to the strategic merger of AOL and Yahoo to Verizon Media he was Managing Director of AOL. Prior to this role, Markus was Director of Sales & Trade Marketing for Microsoft Advertising for over ten years. Here he was responsible for the Advertising and Online business unit as well as being a member of Microsoft Germany’s executive management team. Before joining Microsoft, he worked at Yahoo as Head of Agency & Regional Sales, where he was responsible for the agency business.
Since 2010, Markus Frank has been on the board of the Online-Vermarkterkreis of the Bundesverband Digitale Wirtschaft (BVDW). Since 2014, he has also been a member of the advisory board at the leading industry conference dmexco.
Having graduated from Munich University with a Diploma in Political Science, History and Philosophy, Bettina’s first professional experiences were in vocational training during the exciting period after the fall of the Berlin Wall and Germany’s reunification. What followed was a first stint in publishing with Gruner+Jahr and media agency MMM in Hamburg, then a move to the rapidly ascending boomtown of Moscow in 1997, where Bettina continued her career in PR, media relations and event management with BBDO and Conde Nast Russia, followed by a decision in 2003 to start out on her own.
As the founder of R.S.V.P. – PR & Lifestyle Agency, Bettina has ventured into new markets, setting up offices in Singapore and Malaysia, and taken up the role of Publisher for Buro 24/7 in both these markets.
Today, Buro247.sg and its Malaysian sister-site Buro247.my are the leading online offerings for international lifestyle and luxury brands in the digital space. Native advertising, KOL management and influencer campaigns, social media marketing and new technologies have become the pivot for the creative minds that form R.S.V.P.’s teams in Moscow’s HQ as well as the SE Asian subsidiaries.
Ben Benrubi is Director of Partnerships at VaynerMedia, a full-service, global digital creative and media agency. Based in London, he specializes in platform partnerships, business development, creative strategy and emerging media consulting. Before joining the Partnerships team three years ago, Ben was an account strategist at VaynerMedia servicing the General Electric (GE) account.
Prior to working at VaynerMedia, Ben developed and launched the social media presence for Bodega Catena Zapata, a leading global winery in Mendoza, Argentina.
Fara Warner has worked in every storytelling medium from traditional print, books, and digital publishing to virtual reality films throughout her three-decade career. She is an award-winning author and journalist who speaks on the art and science of storytelling in a digital age, trends in digital publishing as well as the critical need for diversity in the creative teams and women’s growing economic and social power.
In the past decade, she has led diverse teams of developers, designers, writers, and editors to create compelling and creative custom content programs for the world’s largest brands, including Ford Motor Co., Morgan Stanley, MINI USA and Netflix.
Her focus on creativity, journalism-forward and storytelling can be seen in the work she has created for WSJ. Custom Studios, the content unit of The Wall Street Journal, where the team’s work has been awarded the Cannes Lion for Effectiveness, two D&AD Pencils for design and development as well as more than 70 other awards.
Chad Pollitt, a decorated veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and former US Army Commander, is an Adjunct Professor of Internet Marketing at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business and an Adjunct Instructor of Content Marketing at the Rutgers University Business School. He’s also a co-founder of Relevance.com, an award winning digital publication.
A member of a Forbes Top 100 list, Chad authored “The Native Advertising Manifesto,” “The Content Promotion Manifesto”, and “51 Things Your Mother Taught You About Inbound Marketing.” He is a regular contributor to industry media outlets, including the Huffington Post, Guardian, and Social Media Today.
He has been creating profitable online campaigns for over 16 years for some of the World’s most recognizable brands. All while delivering tens of millions of dollars of tracked return on SEO alone.
Melissa is the Executive Vice President at Cheddar, a new live video media company at the intersection of business news and culture. Melissa and her team work with top brands to create first of their kind, live native integrations. For her creative work in advertising, she was named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30, Business Insider’s 30 Most Creative People Under 30 and as one of Digiday’s “Changemakers.” Previously, Melissa was BuzzFeed’s Vice President of Creative Services, where she led a team of global creatives responsible for building native social content executions for advertisers. Melissa and her team worked with Fortune 500 brands to create compelling, engaging, and social branded content for the social web. Joining the staff in 2010, Rosenthal was a key contributor to the early success of BuzzFeed’s branded content advertising model, and created the site’s first ads.
Elli Mäkilä founded the content marketing agency Storybound Oy in 2018 after working in the field of media and advertising for over 20 years. Her CV includes several editor-in-chief positions, TV screenwriting and producing and position of the Head of Native Advertising for a major Finnish publishing house. She is the Chair of IAB Finland’s Content Marketing Committee. She is also one of the ”100 Significant Women in Native Advertising 2018” by Native Advertising Institute.
She connects internationally to develop more ethical native advertising policies and international quality recommendations, as well as from a corporate social responsibility point of view.
In 2013, she founded Private Business Women’s Society Occúrsus Club to gather like-minded women in leadership to promote good codes of conduct and ethical business.
Melanie Deziel is an award-winning branded-content strategist, consultant, and speaker who travels the world educating marketing, sales, and editorial teams on branded-content best practices.
Deziel started The Overlap League native ad newsletter, writes the New Media Navigator column for Inc, teaches social media for Syracuse University’s online Master’s program, and is on the board of the Native Advertising Institute. She is the former director of creative strategy for Time Inc. and was the first editor of branded content at The New York Times, where she wrote the sponsored content pieces that won the 2014 and 2015 Best Native Advertising Execution OMMA Award, including the acclaimed “Women Inmates” piece for Netflix.
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Anda Gansca is the CEO and Co-Founder of Knotch, an independent provider of real-time intelligence for marketers. Her company has been recognised as one of the most innovative marketing technologies in the world, as it seeks to change the way global brands engage and understand their audiences. Anda has been named in both Inc’s and Forbes’ annual 30-Under-30 lists, which recognise the best and brightest young business minds across all industries.
Saad is the General Manager of BE DDB – the Pakistani partner of DDB Worldwide – an advertising agency part of the Bullseye group comprising of digital, media & activation.
His experience spans a decade of working for eminent local, regional and global accounts in serving top multinational agencies like McCann, FCB and Carat for industries such as Aviation, Automobile, Confectionery, Lifestyle, Financial Services, FMCG, Government & Pharmaceutical for noted clients such as United Bank Limited, Modelez (Oreo), Gul Ahmed, Suzuki, Cathay Pacific & Barclays, to name a few. Saad’s expertise lies in new business induction, media development, category development and productions , identifying and unlocking strategic growth opportunities like for his agency, clients, peers and team members and fully capitalising on them for maximum impact.
Tom consults with large media companies and tech startups on revenue and product strategies, and runs commercial operations for Oriel Ventures, whose platform unblocks content, ads and analytics for publishers in alignment with the Coalition for Better Ads. Until recently, Tom was Chief Commercial Officer for Polar, the branded content technology partner to some of the world’s largest premium publishers, helping them strengthen and build their direct-sold branded content business and align the technology stack around content revenue.
Irina is a global content strategy expert and speaker with extensive experience in the technology and nonprofit sectors. Leading a content strategy function at SAP, she feels fortunate to shape superior customer experiences with a focus on digital transformation. Irina has driven large content marketing projects, and guided co-workers and teams in her various roles. Her ability to connect with people across cultures and functional areas has been a key factor for success in multiple fields of marketing and communications. Irina’s passion for mentoring, great customer experience, and content as a connector and differentiator is what makes her run.
Morten is an award-winning online marketing and communications professional, working with digital strategy, new media and product innovation. A prominent profile in the Danish new media and digital marketing industry. Morten is also a vigorous speaker and he is often used as a new media expert on national television.
Nina recently founded biites.com, a new film-platform dedicated to collecting and displaying the best in advertiser funded long form film and series. She currently works with both brands and tv-production companies to help create the next generation of AFP programs and to take sponsored film and series to the next level.
She is dedicated to connecting business value to content marketing. As previous head of Business Development and Marketing at one of Denmark’s largest law-firms Nina was at the forefront in integrating innovative content marketing with measurable business KPI’s in an otherwise largely conservative industry. Prior to this, Nina lead the development of one of the largest Danish entrepreneurial fairs in Copenhagen. During her work with founders and start-up’s Nina focused on creating a content strategy for the event based on the entrepreneurs stories, dreams and aspirations.
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With over 13 years experience in the communication, PR and media industry on the agency, client and publisher’s side, Carol’s career included working across an array of renowned brands from different industries with her latest role being behind developing and leading the regional communication department of an international beauty brand, where she succeeded in bringing the brand’s media share of voice to rank #1 in the region. Today, Carol heads the Native Advertising product offering at DMS, the digital media arm of Choueiri Group, and her role focuses on making sure a state of the art solution is offered to the market.
David Landes is Content Director at Tale, a newly-started content agency within Diplomat Group, a strategic communications advisory firm based in Stockholm.
David is former Head of Commercial Content at The Local, Europe’s leading network of English language news sites. He joined The Local as a journalist in 2008, serving as editor of The Local Sweden from 2010 to 2014 before launching The Local Client Studio.
In addition to earlier journalistic stints with the Financial Times and the PBS NewsHour, David has also worked in commercial and public diplomacy at the US Embassy in Stockholm and the Meridian International Center in Washington, DC. He holds an MA in international relations from Johns Hopkins SAIS.
Elina Mansner is a passionate B2B-marketer who is specialized in content marketing and native advertising. She works as a Marketing Director at DNA Plc. She has a solid background in developing native advertising in Finland and encouraging media houses to offer new solutions to brands. During the past few years she has focused on developing data-driven, agile marketing processes. Her goal is to show, how high quality content and personalised customer experiences generate new business opportunities and create customer value.
David Osman is Co-founder and CEO of Storygize, a native advertising technology that was built to enable marketers to drive better performance and ROI at every stage of the marketing funnel. After more than a decade leading one of the largest performance marketing networks in the world, David and an experienced team of content marketers and media buying professionals have develop a native 2.0 solution that has quickly captured the growing attention of experienced brand and performance marketers.
Stevie Antonioni is a Digital Media and Communications Expert whose determination, innovative problem-solving, and extensive knowledge have all earned her the reputation as an industry leader. Over the course of 14 years, she has garnered in-depth digital media experience across numerous prominent blue-chip companies including ITV, Trinity Mirror and Hearst Magazines. Within that time, she has effectively spearheaded small and larger teams and executed countless short- and long-term strategies.
Presently, Stevie serves as the Commercial Director at Avid Media, which is a part of the Dentsu Aegis Network. Continually dedicated to creating positive change within her community, she also strives to champion workplace equality and provide mentorship to up-and-coming female professionals.
Björn Owen Glad works as Nordic CMO at the content marketing agency Spoon. He is an internationally accalaimed speaker and has been in the content marketing industry for almost a decade, dedicated to help brands and marketers tell better stories, challenge best practice, and get better results.
Claire Austin is a Content Marketer, Digital Strategist, Public Speaker and a mentor with over 10 years of experience in the marketing industry, working both in the UK and Australia.
She is former Head of Audience at King Content and was the first social media employee. She has been at the forefront of building King Content’s social media and native advertising product offering, and team in Australia as well as globally.
Claire has helped brands to understand the power of social media and native ads to achieve business results. She has worked on strategies for brands including Lenovo, Intuit, Telstra, Hans Small Goods, Flight Centre, Canon and NRMA.
Mark has enjoyed over 20 years working in a variety of media forms for some of Australia’s leading organisations including News Ltd, Pacific and Emap. Mark has worked on content projects with some of Australia’s leading brands including the Lendlease, BOQ Specialist Bank, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Virgin Australia, DHL, Westpac and many more.
For the past 14 years, Mark and his business partner have founded and built Engage Content—a content agency that’s helped clients successfully navigate the ever-evolving content and native advertising landscape to grow their business.
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After more than 10 years as a Creative Director with major broadcasters, TV-production companies, news outlets and other companies in Denmark and abroad, Thomas Stokholm now works as an independent counselor and keynote speaker representing his company, Evil Pony. Prior to that he fought on as investigative reporter on print, digital and television.
His mission is to help national and international brands, agencies, organizations, and media fall in love with creative ideas and new combinations to create world class storytelling and business.
Thomas Stokholm has recently in 2018 been awarded the IAB Mixx Gold Award for best digital native and the INMA Global Media Silver Award for digital native campaign.
Hamilton dos Santos is a journalist with a Master’s Degree and PhD in Philosophy, both from the University of São Paulo (USP). He also holds a degree in Business Management from Stanford Global Business School. Hamilton has experience from several media companies in Brazil, Editora Abril among others, where he worked for 20 years as the Director of HR. Currently he is the General Director of Aberje – The Brazilian Association for Business Communication. He is a member of the Board of Poiésis and one of the leaders of the “Tem Mais Gente Lendo” movement.
Ryan Beebe is the Vice President of EMEA Enterprise Sales at JW Player. The first senior account executive at the company and later its Director of Sales, Ryan has grown a diverse customer base in the Americas by working with hundreds of publishers among some of the World’s largest media companies over the last five years. He’s now charged with replicating this success in Europe as head of JW Player’s London office. Prior to JW, Ryan was the top account executive at Living Social. He graduated from Miami University (not in Florida but in Ohio!) with a B.S. in marketing and entrepreneurship.
Serene Lee joined Vice as Head of Sales & Brand Partnerships for APAC in 2018 where she is currently leading the commercial sales teams across APAC on digital and brand partnership deals. This includes rapidly expand VICE’s commercial footprint across all markets in Asia.
Serene has over 24 years of sales and marketing, management experience in various media and was previously Senior Vice President of Forbes Asia where she led the digital/print advertising and sponsorship sales as well as marketing and ad services teams and was responsible for all revenue from print and digital advertising, Forbes Insights, and conference and event sponsorships for Asia and the Middle-East. Prior to joining Forbes in 2004, Serene was Assistant Vice President and Co-brand Cards Head for Citigroup Singapore, managing a team to expand the bank’s co-branded credit cards market. She also worked as regional account manager at AXN Asia and Asiaweek.
Keiko Bang is the founder and CEO of Bang Productions Singapore. She is a leading media consultant pioneering gender equality via the global initiative “Beautiful Minds” which she founded and now works on with UNESCO. Bang Productions are renowned for their critically acclaimed and award-winning documentaries screened on major international channels such as Discovery Network, National Geographic, NOVA, ZDF, NHK, and more. Bang were the first creators of the award-winning “Incredible India” campaign for India Tourism. The company has been ranked in Realscreen’s list of 100 Most Influential Documentary Production Houses in the World.
Keiko is known as both a visionary and passionate content creator with the requisite skills of a successful dealmaker and media consultant. Over the past 23 years she has served major corporations and government agencies across Asia, building partnerships between companies such as Samsung and UNESCO in conjunction with BBC World. Bang Productions have also produced CSR content for McKinsey & Co on the Indian Aceh tsunami, native advertising content for the Prime Minister’s Office of Japan on the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake. Here, Bang used celebrities such as Jackie Chan, Ken Watanabe and Sarah Jessica Parker to ensure the catastrophes got the necessary attention.
Currently, Bang is working on native advertising strategies to bring the Korean Wave to India and Russia.
In his position as Head of Content at Brand Movers, a leading content marketing agency based in Copenhagen, Denmark, Alexander Højfeldt Lund is responsible for every piece of quality content the agency creates for its many clients.
With a background in journalism, Alexander is focused on creating trustworthy and authentic content for brands. In his work, he emphasises the use of journalistic principles to create quality branded content with a creative edge.
Before joining Brand Movers, Alexander worked as a journalist at the regional newspaper Fyens Stifttidende. He has also worked as editor and managing editor at the journalistic agency Media Movers where he was responsible for delivering quality journalism to the daily newspapers Ekstra Bladet, Jyllands-Posten, and Politiken on print and digital.
Neha is a seasoned Marketer with over 16 years of experience across FMCG and Tech industries. She has worked on many brands and businesses in various roles and is currently heading Marketing for Spotify. She was part of the core team to launch the Brand ‘Spotify’ in India.
Neha was part of the ’40 under 40, Top Digital marketers’ in India , responsible for many best in class, data and insight driven digital campaigns that have become industry benchmarks.
Mitchell heads up all facets or Programmatic at Bauer Media AUNZ. In almost 2 years he has been able to complete a top-down tech strategy, including deploying header bidding, exchange bidding, new go to market, training of over 200 staff, built two large data partnerships, affiliate partnership and a revamp of Bauer’s entire 1st party data offering. Along with Programmatic strategy Mitchell also looks after Audience sales nationally for the data rich Publisher. This includes both 1st, 2nd and 3rd Party Data partnerships. As a B&T 30 under 30 winner in 2018 for the Tech category Mitchell has used his previous experience in Ad Tech/Mar Tech to power up Bauer Media’s future digital offering.
