Judges

 David Ball has been in the creative and marketing services industry for 18 years. For the past 7 years he has built BrandFuel into a very successful design and events company that delivers the best, most appropriate creative ideas in the most effective way to help customers achieve competitive advantage.

An expert marketeer with an interest in new technologies it is apparent that he never likes to stand still, always looking for new opportunities.

Passionate about social media – ‘it never stands still’ he spotted an early opportunity to provide a more strategic and measured perspective to using social media as a serious business tool, launching SocialFuel, a social media consultancy.

David has always wanted to achieve real success in life – achieving happiness and for him it is all about creating and rising to bigger challenges. In 2003 David completed his first Ironman and now does an Ironman each year.

A true entrepreneur, Matthew’s experiences setting up businesses, advising firms on strategy and corporate development and sourcing senior executives for boards have shaped his role as CEO of Criticaleye. His acute understanding of the challenges facing today’s leaders means he is well positioned to advise individuals in these roles. Matthew believes that executive collaboration needs careful framing and management so that senior executives get the most out of sharing information and ideas. He also thinks that in an increasingly complex landscape where leaders ‘don’t know what they don’t know’, CEOs should be seizing the opportunity to learn and gain insight from the wider business community. Before Criticaleye, Matthew founded a strategic consulting firm. In 1990, he founded a successful mail order business which he sold in 1995. He is also a Member of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s Development Board and a keen sportsman.

Constantine Bridgeman, CEO Trinity Events Group has been working in the events business since graduating from Durham University in 1993.

After starting in sales in 1995 he successfully established and (as Country Director) ran the Moscow business of ITE Group plc. In 2000 he left ITE and was a co-founder of Expomedia Group plc where he established a new business running a portfolio of exhibitions and conferences for the markets of CEE.

In 2009 left to establish Trinity Events Group. Trinity has events in the CIS, CEE, MENA and Iran and focuses on Life Sciences, Finance, Energy, Tech, Retail and Automotive.

Con has 5 young children and an Irish wife called Katie with whom he likes to spend all his time when he is not at work.

Simone Broadhurst is the Managing Director of Events at Incisive Media, an award-winning B2B information and events business. Simone has been with Incisive for over 16 years and is responsible for developing and launching hundreds of conference and awards programmes. This includes driving the development of the British Insurance Awards and the Fund Manager of the Year Awards at the Royal Albert Hall which combined attracts over 2,800 attendees across 2 nights. Simone has launched events in Europe, Middle East and the US and has worked across multiple sectors including financial, legal and tech.

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/simone-broadhurst-aaa409a .

 

I founded Green Power Conferences in 2003 after growing concerned about climate change and believing that renewables were coming of age (I was probably 10 years early). We have since successfully run over 450 conferences, exhibitions and training courses in 37 countries, spreading best practice and connecting businesses. We are now firmly focused on scaling up the size and impact of our commercially focused platforms for deal making, due diligence, project best practice and showcasing innovation. Attendees greatly value our portfolio, our attention to detail and the work of the research team and their ability to accurately map out the future contract opportunities available in the markets we serve.

I am a passionate advocate of new technology, renewable energy and the positive benefits of the transition of our transport, energy and industries into truly sustainable and highly efficient new energy systems. In 2007 we launched the Green Power Academy to provide strategic business training to equip global executives with the technical knowledge and detailed market understanding to compete in the new energy paradigm.

An experienced events and publishing professional with a history of succesful delivery of revenue and cost targets. Skilled in producing strategy plans, sales management and operational delivery. 

Currently responsible for the management and growth of Elsevier’s scientific conference business. 

John has just started a newly created role at Pageant Media as Global Events Director with responsibility for over 200 B2B conferences, awards and events worldwide.  John has 15 years of experience in B2B events in a range of roles and has launched and run events in Asia, Europe and most recently The Middle East.

Mark Fried joined ALM as Chief Financial Officer and President, Events in February 2018. He previously served as President and CEO of Vendome Group, a media company targeting business professionals with media brands and industry events.

Fried’s accountability beyond the financial function at ALM will include P&L ownership of the ALM global events portfolio, consisting of approximately 80 events including Legalweek, cyberSecure, BenefitsPro Broker Expo, SuperConference, America’s Claims Event and more.

Fried earned Masters in Business Administration from New York University’s Stern School of Business. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of Michigan.

Ros joined Euromoney in 2009 and is the Divisional Director for the Telecoms Division. Over 25 years, Ros has worked for IIR, Eurofinance and Risk developing events businesses in many different markets including derivatives, treasury, energy, architecture, telecoms and technology across many different event models from training courses to large-scale annual conferences and trade exhibitions. Ros has a degree in Anthropology from the University of Durham.

David Jenkinson is an award-winning journalist, content technologist and multiplatform publisher.  Having held senior editorial positions at Haymarket, International Thomson, EMAP and Cahners’ Moving Pictures International, he created and co-founded C21Media in 1997, one of the world’s first digital publishing businesses.   C21 has defined new content models, supported by a traditional publishing portfolio, while positioning itself at the heart of the digital revolution. C21 brands include Content London, FutureMedia, Channel 21 international, Drama Quarterly, Drama Summit, Drama Summit West, Schedule Watch and the mothership; C21Media.net.  C21Media.net now attracts more than 200,000 unique visitors each month and has consolidated a position as Home to The International Entertainment Community.

Prior to launching C21Media Jenkinson was editor-in-chief of Moving Pictures International, running daily, weekly and monthly publications within the film business.   He led EMAP’s TV World to win the prestigious PPA International Business Magazine of the Year award in 1993, and worked as part of the senior editorial management team at International Thomson.  In 1997, alongside C21Media, he co-founded creative agency Dri Riser, developing brand strategy for a variety of media and entertainment clients.

He was a group editor at Haymarket from 1989-1991 having started his career at Reed Business Publishing. He has a degree in Communications and a post graduate diploma in periodical journalism. He moderates and speaks on television business, digital media and entertainment industry panels worldwide.

Stuart King is Managing Director – Events at Dods Group, a leading events, media and information company. Stuart has been with Dods since 2006, working in a range of business development and leadership roles and has overseen a dramatic increase in the scope and scale of Dods event offering. Stuart has considerable experience in the public sector events market and oversees the company’s relationship with major Government departments, including the Cabinet Office, Home Office and NHS England.

Stuart has over 25 years’ experience working in B2B events, including nine years at Capita Group (during which time he led Capita Conferences) as well as an early career stint working for the Local Government Association.

Jason is Vice President and Managing Director of George P. Johnson UK & Nordics. With over 17 years of diverse communications industry experience, Jason has built monumental event structures, produced large outdoor festivals, delivered sponsorship activations and managed complex multi-track conferences for some of the world’s best-known brands.

Jason’s career began in as an accomplished rigger & set builder, but he then followed a path into the communications agency world with roles at FCB, Edinburgh (Interpublic Group) and Ogilvy & Mather in both Sydney & London. In his most recent role – prior to joining GPJ – Jason ran his own boutique activation agency. He has experience working with clients that include Hertz, Standard Life Investments, Philips and The Ryder Cup.

Isobel has moved between central and operational roles for the Informa Group working across publishing, exhibitions and conferences & training before joining KNect365 as Chief Audience Officer in 2014.

Having managed marketing, sales and customer service functions, Isobel became the business sponsor for KNect365’s digital transformation programme with the objective of moving the business from a transactional outbound marketing model to a customer experience led digital inbound model.

Her role is focused around establishing a strong digital presence for KNect365’s events, products, services and communities and designing a 365-day engagement programme for its customers marrying valuable, rich and compelling content with cutting edge, market-driven face to face meeting and learning opportunities for high calibre decision makers.

Kate is Deputy Managing Director at Bioscientifica Ltd, a PCO, Association Management Company and a biomedical publishing house. Kate started her career in charity fundraising but has spent the last 14 years working in association conferencing. Previously heading up the events team, but now having spent the past 18 months in the role of Deputy MD, Kate is leading the commercial business plans and focusing very much on the strategy for sustainable growth of the events business.  Bioscientifica is the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the UK Society for Endocrinology (hormones to you and me!) and actually Kate is in the unique position of leading the events team of an in-house PCO and a commercial PCO agency managing pan-European biomedical/bioscience conferences. 

Kate’s real passions and experience lie in event budget setting and delivery, events strategy and it’s role within biomedical associations’ education and marketing portfolio as well as an unexpected strength found (mostly out of necessity) in event crisis management.

This year Kate is bringing her unique insight and 20 years’ experience to the Board of ABPCO, of which she became a co-chair in June, and Bioscientifica is delighted to have recently been successfully recognised as a IAPCO member.

Sandeep Saujani, CEO at Contentive started his career in risk management consulting at MMC group and then worked his way up to Head of Americas for Ascend, a PE backed B2B information business based in New York. After this, he joined Econsultancy to grow the B2B Enterprise subscriptions service in digital marketing. He then went on to becoming a MD at Centaur Media, a UK based media and events provider. After leaving Centaur Media, Sandeep went on to lead Contentive in 2016 where he is currently the CEO. Contentive is a global B2B media and events business that connects buyers and sellers in B2B markets. Sandeep specialises in B2B information, analytics and advisory and has an Executive EMBA from Columbia University and London Business School.

Sophie Tafel is Co-Founder at Savant Events, one of Europe’s leading business event firms for e-commerce, digital transformation and supply chain. Our exclusive conferences attract senior executives from the top 100 companies within each industry. Before moving to Berlin and starting Savant Events 4 years ago, Sophie lived in London, Barcelona and Madrid, working for global event businesses, cultural institutions and politics. Sophie holds a Masters in European Studies from the London School of Economics.

Ben Turner is an expert in delivering world-class events for some of the biggest brands on the planet. With 19 years of experience in the business, Ben has worked with brands including Google, PlayStation, YouTube, the BBC and Vodafone, delivering events across Europe, North America and Asia.

Ben launched his own agency, WONDER London, in 2012 to deliver exceptional experiences for brands. Based in Shoreditch at the heart of London’s creative, technology and entrepreneurial community, WONDER London specialises in B2B and B2C event design, production and fulfilment across a multitude of formats, from conferences, exhibitions and fundraisers to pop-ups, guerrilla stunts and festivals.

In just five years, Ben has grown his agency into a 28-strong team of full-timers across its core in-house Creative, Production and Project Management divisions. The agency prides itself on creativity blended with exceptional delivery and excellent client service, which has led to it achieving a number of industry awards. Most recently, Ben and his team scooped Best Conference Series at Conference Awards 2017 and were named UK Agency of the Year at C&IT Awards 2017.

As an industry thought leader, Ben has strong views about what makes a great agency partner and regularly writes on key themes across a number of media titles. At the heart of WONDER London is one simple objective: to produce the best work, deliver great service and enjoy the experience along the way.

http://www.wonderlondon.com/

As Managing Director of Terrapinn’s London business, Sean directs the creation and execution of B2B events across a range of industries, markets and geographies. He also serves on the group’s board of directors.

He joined Terrapinn as a conference producer in 1997 and has worked in production, sales, general management and has previously managed Terrapinn’s South African business, the launch of Terrapinn World Congress, and a range of events across Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Americas.

Mandana White is the founder and managing director of Smart Grid Forums (formerly Phoenix Forums), a conference production company specialised in the energy sector. Mandana started her career as a conference producer at IIR Telecoms in 1995, where she launched and developed a portfolio of highly successful conference and training programmes for telecom engineering professionals. Passionate about technology she went on to set up several production teams and new product lines for large and small, private and publicly held conference companies, before launching her own business in 2011. Smart Grid Forums is built on a ‘customer-first’ ethos and is currently in a period of rapid organic growth.

Like many Fine Art graduates, I started my career in media sales. My passion for delivering great events was born nearly 20 years ago at Informa. After this I left the industry to spend a few years ‘client side’ as a head of marketing; now I was the one buying the exhibition stands!

My career has spanned many sectors, and I have worked for a variety of companies – from FTSE 100, to VC funded, to privately owned. Before Ocean I was Director of Events at EMAP, and prior to that the managing director of a conference company.

I believe sustainable growth is built on strong products and talented people, and these are two things I strive to create through my leadership. I have considerable experience driving growth through sales leadership; new product development; and product extension, restructuring and turnaround.

With the number-one products in nearly all our markets and fabulous teams taking them forward, this is a great time to be part of Ocean. Work should be fun, and I try to combine humour with a strong personal drive and persistence. So far, so good.

I live in Weybridge with my wife and two children and at weekends I can usually be found standing on the side of a field watching my children do something sporty. When time allows I love nothing more than hurtling around the Surrey Hills on my mountain bike.