Europe Experience 2023 Speakers

Chris Do

Founder
The Futur

Chris Do is a loud introvert, recovering graphic designer, Emmy award winning designer, and founder of the Futur, an online education platform. His mission is to teach 1 billion people how to make a living doing what they love. Think of the Futur as private art school without the crippling debt.

The Future is Human

Shivvy Jervis

Futurist & Innovation Forecaster

Shivvy Jervis has been voted as one of the ‘most creative thinkers in tech’. A four-time award winning trends forecaster and founder of ambitious forecasting lab FutureScape 248, Shivvy is cited by the World Economic Forum as “a thought leader beyond compare”.

Shivvy is envisioning the Future of global cities in 2040 for the office of the Mayor of London, keynoted for the United Nations and is filming a new documentary on the most radical breakthroughs that will define this decade.

As a former CNN Asia and Reuters journalist, Shivvy has strong broadcasting roots. She’s hosted live debate broadcasts, fronted Discovery Channel documentaries, quizzed the world’s top climate change pioneers and interviewed former PMs (David Cameron) and music legends (the late James Brown) alike. Shivvy also created two successful streaming series’ that enjoyed a five-year run, shining a light on both future-focused advancements and the creative minds behind them.

Europe’s most booked female forecaster asks: Which breakthroughs could help our businesses thrive, protect us on- and offline or keep us healthier for longer? What will the ‘next Internet’, connected everything or emotionally aware apps do for us? And what are the fastest growing jobs of the near future?

600 stages, 32 million worth of watched minutes and 25 industry accolades in, Shivvy is breaking barriers as one of very few female Asian experts humanising the ‘innovation economy’.

On any given day, Shivvy can be found testing the digital breakthroughs that will keep our businesses going, detect we’re ill before our doctors do, ensure our families stay safer on the road or bridge the gap for the 3.7bn on the wrong side of the digital divide. And above all else, Shivvy works tirelessly to fulfill our century-old need… to be as prepared as possible for the biggest changes coming our way.

Product First Creative: Meeting the viewer where they are

Demilade "Demi" Ademuson

Optimization & Analysis – Creative Labs
Netflix

Demilade Ademuson is an analyst on the Creative Labs team at Netflix. He is focused on finding audience cohorts for our titles and using data to find strategic entry points to help them discover and choose titles. He has previously been a product leader at multiple start-ups in Lagos Nigeria however he has also created short films and magazines. He likes to bring this mix of product and creative analysis to his work.

How 4 GenZs became Europe’s biggest TikTok News Player

Daniela Alvarez

Co-founder
Ac2ality

Daniela Alvarez along with Gabriela Campbell, Paula Muñoz and Maria Murillo, are the brilliant minds behind Ac2ality, a rapidly growing media company that has taken the Spanish-speaking world on TikTok by storm. In just under two years, they have amassed an impressive following of over 4.4 million people. Daniela graduated with a degree in Politics and International Relations from Boston College, and during her time at the Spanish Mission of Spain to the United Nations, she noticed a significant gap between traditional media and the newer generations. Together, Daniela and Gabriela founded Ac2ality, which is now the leading Spanish-language news publisher on TikTok.

The Power Of Podcasting as Part of Your 360 Marketing Plan (and how to make audio = success!)

Tom Billington

Managing Director & Audio Executive
Granny Eats Wolf

Award winning audio executive and Managing Director of Granny Eats Wolf – a creative studio that’s putting craft back at the heart of audio storytelling and branding. Whether that’s designing sonic identities or full productions such as Audible’s The Signalman in 3D sound, featuring Academy Award winning Director, Sam Mendes.

A former Executive Producer at the BBC, working across the entire radio portfolio including BBC Radio 1, 6 Music, Radio 2 as well as running the new music platform BBC Introducing. Tom has produced podcasts, radio shows and events for 15 years. Tom is also the Content Director for The Podcast Show London, which brings together 15,000 people from the business of podcasting in May each year. The global community of creators, platforms, producers, brands and advertisers gather to do business and celebrate the podcast industry for a week-long festival.

3D billboards: How to push the creative boundaries

Chaga Signe Bruun Boye

Creative Director
TV 2 Denmark

Chaga Signe Bruun Boye is Creative Director at TV 2 Denmark, where she assumes responsibility of creative strategy and concept development. Since Chaga joined TV 2 almost five years ago, the Danish public service TV station has not only garnered a wealth of accolades and media attention, but also built up one of Denmark’s strongest creative departments. As a result, it has most recently made a name for itself as Best Inhouse Creative Marketing Team three year in a row in the Promax Europe Award in 2020, 2021 and 2022, and in the Promax Global Excellence Award in 2021. Chaga has also left her professional as well as personal mark on several award-winning campaigns which has landed TV 2 two Yellow Pencils at D&AD and several Clio,, Eurobest, Epica and Creative Circle awards.

CREATIVES ON CREATIVITY

Steve Brouwers

Creative Director
BRANDLOVE

Steve Brouwers is a Creative Director working in media for over 25 years. He reads three newspapers every weekend, receives about a hundred emails a day, and has too many friends on Facebook and Instagram to take them all out for coffee. He lives in a blended family of six whom he loves dearly. He is the author of two books. Creatives on Creativity, 44 interviews with creative souls on their inspiration and failures. The second book gives funny insights on blended families, Almost Everything You Need to Know About Blended Families.

Steve is an inspirational speaker whose talks are well attended all over the world. As a creative he suffers from imposter syndrome, as well as being a procrastinator and a deadline junkie.

A Dive into Immersive Audio

Richard Burki

Founder & General Manager
Future Phonic Studios

Richard Burki is an all-round audio professional dedicated to the development of 3D immersive audio experiences who has been credited as a Composer, Sound Designer, Mixing Engineer, Recording Engineer and Music Producer for a variety of mediums, who has also founded Future Phonic Studios.

From conceptualization to production, engineering, implementation and deployment, at Future Phonic Studios, we develop fully immersive 3-dimensional auditory experiences for music, film, games, experiential (virtual & location-based) and 3D mediums (XR, VR, AR, Metaverse).

We constantly seek to blur the line between reality and its digital counterpart. By selectively collaborating with agencies, creatives and professionals across multiple industries, we bring innovative immersive auditory experiences to the world that are crafted without compromise.

As the first Dolby Atmos® Certified Music Studio in the Netherlands, Future Phonic Studios has a track record of over 200 Immersive Productions for clients and partners including The Metropole Orchestra, Tiësto, David Guetta, Afrojack, Sam Feldt, Joep Beving, Mason, Oceanic, The Echo Collective, Bakermat, Deutsche Grammophon, Spinnin’ Records, UMG, WMG, Big Top Amsterdam, Media Monks, Massive Music, A’DAM VR, GSK, Outernet London and more.

How 4 GenZs became Europe’s biggest TikTok News Player

Gabriela Campbell

Co-founder
Ac2ality

Gabriela Campbell, along with Daniela Alvarez, Paula Muñoz and Maria Murillo, are the brilliant minds behind Ac2ality, a rapidly growing media company that has taken the Spanish-speaking world on TikTok by storm. In just under two years, they have amassed an impressive following of over 4.4 million people.

Gabriela completed her degree in Biotechnology and is currently finishing her Masters in Bioscience and Entrepreneurship at UCL. It wasn’t long before she realized the enormous potential of TikTok to deliver news in a clear, objective, and entertaining manner. Together, Daniela and Gabriela founded Ac2ality, which is now the leading Spanish-language news publisher on TikTok.

Metaverse Marketing

Bhav Chandrani

Director, Digital & Creative Partnerships, ITV
Board Director, Metavision

Bhav Chandrani is Director of Creative & Digital Partnerships at ITV, heading up sponsorship, ad funded programming, creative partnerships and partnership innovations for ITV’s Commercial team.

Bhav is a founding member of the diversity network, MeFA (Media For All), and Board Director of Metavision.

Cracking the Code of GenZ Marketing

Fabienne Fourquet

CEO
2btube

Fabienne Fourquet (France, 1977) started her career in New York working at A+E Networks, a subsidiary of Hearst Corporation and Disney. She launched A+E’s International Digital Content Distribution Business. While at A+E she also worked at their Singapore and London offices. She moved back to Paris in 2010 to work at Canal+ where she last held the position of Digital Content Director, responsible for the strategy and management of all ad-supported digital platforms: websites, social networks and content applications. She also spearheaded the launch of Canal+ on YouTube with the creation of 20 channels dedicated to Canal+ brands and programming strands, as well as Canal+ investments in Maker Studios and StudioBagel, and the development of its own MCN: Talent Factory.

In 2014 she founded 2btube, a digital media group, along with Bastian Manintveld. 2btube started as a network for digital creators and today, after a successful scale up, the company has become a leading global player in reaching young Spanish-speaking audiences. With offices and production studios in Spain and Latin America, it provides services to brands, media companies, talent and platforms.

The Power Of Podcasting as Part of Your 360 Marketing Plan (and how to make audio = success!)

Nathan Freeman

Founder & Audio Director
Granny Eats Wolf

Multi award winning audio director and founder of Granny Eats Wolf – a creative studio that’s putting craft back at the heart of audio storytelling and branding.

A former Executive Producer at BBC Sounds and BBC Voice & A.I, he has produced
podcasts, radio shows, sonic brand identities and audio dramas for 20 years. Nathan has always pioneered new exciting ways to tell stories in audio, from spatial audio to the BBC’s first synthetic voice. And was behind the world’s first exploration into dynamic live radio promos for BBC Radio 6 Music.

Today, he’s continuing that innovation, twisting into life entire sonic worlds for top tier brands. Whether that’s designing podcasts such as Wondery’s British Scandal podcast or Spyscape’s True Spies or full productions such as Audible’s The Signalman in 3D sound, featuring Academy Award winning Director, Sam Mendes.

The Power of Creative Connections

Richard Holman

Writer, Speaker & Coach

Richard Holman is a writer, speaker & coach. He believes that the world needs creativity and innovation now more than ever, which is why he loves to work with individuals and teams to grow their confidence and make better and braver ideas.

Richard has run creative thinking masterclasses in Europe, the US and Asia for brands like the BBC, IMAX, Nat Geo, the Premier League and Paramount. His podcast The Wind Thieved Hat explores the highs and lows of life as a maker. He writes regularly on the subject of creativity, contributing to publications like Creative Review, and his first book, Creative Demons and How to Slay to Them, was published by Thames & Hudson in Spring 2022.

When he’s not musing on where great ideas come from, you’ll find him running up and down the mountains of South Wales where he lives.

3D billboards: How to push the creative boundaries

Mette Kruse

Senior Creative Manager
TV 2 Denmark

Before joining TV 2, Mette has worked at some of Denmark’s top creative advertising agencies, such as &Co., Uncle Grey and Accenture Song, handling award winning work for both national and global brands. As a Senior Creative Manager at TV 2, Mette has played a significant role in leading the creative team on the journey that has resulted in more than 100 Promax awards, including best Marketing Team of the Year for three years in a row. Together with the creative team, she recently returned from Clio Entertainment in Hollywood, where TV 2 was awarded with 4 Grand Clios.

The Boom of FAST Channels

Teresa Lopez

Co-founder & CEO
Love TV Channels

Teresa Lopez is co-founder and CEO of Love TV Channels, a start up based in Barcelona that produces and distributes FAST thematic channels.

Teresa has a long experience in the audiovisual industry, starting her career at Viacom group, and specifically MTV Networks, the division in charge of TV channels.

Then she joined Rakuten TV in 2012 where she was Head of Content, leading the content strategy for the different business of the company and pioneering the launch of FAST channels in Europe in 2020.

Be a Creative Ally: How to Twin for Victory

Heidi Martin

Creative
Red Bee Creative

Heidi has spent ten years in the TV industry, starting as a runner at ITV’s studios before working in production for This Morning, the UKs leading daytime show. She then decided she didn’t want to organise, she wanted to make, and found her path as a Creative, working on campaigns for global brands like Coronation Street, ITV News and Love Island, winning Promax Europe Gold for the 2021 campaign. Now at Red Bee Creative, as well as ideating for campaigns, Heidi has spear-headed the Twinning initiative, bringing it creatively to life. She is passionate about unique ideas, and champions diversity and inclusion in the creative world.

Together Everything is Possible

Olena Martynova

CMO
Starlight Media

Olena Martynova is a head of united marketing team that promotes the United News Marathon in Ukraine, It is a special 24/7 news that was created by union of top 6 Ukrainian networks to stand against Russian propaganda on the first day of Russian invasion to Ukraine.

Olena Martynova has more than 30 years of experience in the media business. She started her career as a reporter in television economic news, and then she held senior positions in media companies. She joined UMH Group as a CMO in 1999 and led the company to become the largest Ukrainian media company in radio, press and Internet media.

Olena became a CMO of 1+1 Media, the oldest private TV media group in Ukraine back in 2014. Starting from 2019 she became a CMO of Starlight Media, the largest TV group in Ukraine, operating 3 top rated TV networks. She also works as a CEO of Starlight Creative, an award-winning marketing and creative studio that unites top talent from Ukraine.

Brand Codes in a Streaming World

Charlie Mawer

Executive Creative Director
Red Bee Creative

Charlie has overall creative responsibility at Red Bee. He has over 25 years of experience leading complex network rebrands and creative campaigns for clients all across the world, including NBCUniversal, DreamWorks, RTÉ, A+E Networks, AppleTV+, Disney+ and Warner Bros. Discovery. In 2022 he wrote his first Super Bowl spot for the World Cup, created a series of fashion campaigns for FatFace, and developed a new brand campaign for WDR Germany.

Charlie’s many creative awards include Promax, Creative Circle, BTAA, D&AD awards and a BAFTA nomination. A former chair of Promax UK, he has lectured widely with TedxTalks, the BFI and D&AD. He co-authored the TV Brand Builders, the definitive guide to global best practice in television design, is contributing to a new BFI book on idents, and regularly leads conference sessions on the topics of branding, design and creative communications. Outside work he publishes a poem a day as @poemparent.

Paperboyo – A Creative Journey around the World

Rich McCor

Content Creator
(@paperboyo)

Paperboyo (real name Rich McCor) is a photographer who has been described as “a non-destructive vandal”. With a camera & carefully crafted paper cut-outs he’s carved out a new niche in the world of street art by transforming cityscapes into something unexpected using forced perspective illusions. Starting in London as a hobby, it quickly got out of hand and became a full time career just a year later when his work went viral. By observing his surroundings in a different way & letting himself play with “even the most silly ideas”, Rich now travels full time creating content for his online audience of over half a million while also being hired by brands including Dyson, Red Bull and F1 to bring his unique perspective to their campaigns.

The Boom of FAST Channels

Valerio Motti

VP Fast Channels
Fremantle

Valerio Motti is Fremantle’s VP FAST Channels, responsible for developing and managing the strategy for their Free Ad-supported Streaming TV business. Valerio most recently worked as EVP EMEA & LATAM, Business Development, Strategy and Global Head of Streaming at ShortsTV, where he led the international launch of all new FAST channels and OTT services on all major CTV and OTT platforms. Prior to this role, Valerio was VP of Business Development, Digital Media and Content Distribution at ViacomCBS (later renamed Paramount), where he led multinational strategic projects, including the launches of new OTT streaming services and linear TV channels. He has also previously held roles at AOL-Time Warner (later renamed Yahoo), Mediaset and Telecom Italia.

Product First Creative: Meeting the viewer where they are

Ben Plant

Strategist – Product Creative Studio
Netflix

Benjamin Plant is a product creative strategist at Netflix. He is currently obsessed with finding creative solutions that help members choose the thing to watch. He is based in Amsterdam and having previously lived and worked in Tokyo and London, he likes to bring a global perspective and open mind to work.

CTV Advertising: What it means for marketers

Gijsbert Pols

Director of CTV & New Channels
Adjust

Gijsbert Pols has had a long career in developing measurement solutions for digital advertising. Currently working as Director of CTV & New Channels, he has developed measurement and BI solutions that enable marketers to evaluate their campaigns in the CTV and mobile space.

Copycat or Coincidence? : Hunting similar ideas in the world of advertising

Joe La Pompe

Blogger

Joe was a copywriter in several major Parisian advertising agencies for more than 15 years. He has designed hundreds of campaigns, films, posters, radio for national and international brands. Since 1999, he is the anonymous author of a blog dedicated to hunting twin ads : Shameful copies? Coincidences? Plagiarism? Joe lets visitors make up their own mind. Its site is the first of its kind and has become an essential reference in the world of creation and graphic arts. He always hides behind a hood, and wants to keep his anonymity in order to preserve his critical freedom and not to put himself forward in a universe with often oversized egos. He has published 3 books. He is a member of creative juries (EPICA Awards), a columnist for trade press magazines such as CB News (France ), Pub (Belgium) and Arabad (Lebanon), advertising iconographer and keynote speaker.

The Boom of FAST Channels

Marion Ranchet

Founder & Managing Director
The Local Act Consultancy

Marion currently runs The Local Act Consultancy, empowering streaming video services to launch and grow in Western Europe. With 17 years of experience in the industry, and as a film and TV lover, she advises SVOD, AVOD and FAST services on how to launch and grow in Europe through her deep knowledge of the varying markets, and with a strong content expertise and distribution​ network in place.

You will often see Marion sharing incredibly useful nuggets of information on LinkedIn, podcasts, webinars and other industry events like IBC or MIPCOM. If you’re looking to soak up key industry knowledge, Marion is someone you definitely need in your network.

Product First Creative: Meeting the viewer where they are

Lilian Schiffler

Video Creative – Creative Studio
Netflix

Lilian is an award-winning A/V creative at Netflix. She is always asking “What’s next” and “How to do it better?” She started her career working as a promo creative at MTG / Viaplay group in London, executing eye-catching and memorable AV campaigns for films and TV shows. Later she joined Nova AI, an exciting startup creating a web-based AI editing software, where her role was to help combine creative thinking and workflows with AI technology. She is currently based in Amsterdam, working on Netflix titles where she is able to fuse her passions and interests to achieve the best results in video promotion.

Finding your creative inspiration – even in a time of war

BE A CREATIVE ALLY: HOW TO TWIN FOR VICTORY

Alex Twista

Founder & Creative Director
Twid Creative Studio

Alex has been working in communication design for about 16 years. Characterised by his multidisciplinarity, he deals with brand strategy, visual identity, video content creation of various forms, web development, and book design. He has worked with many well-known technological companies with Ukrainian roots, including ROOM8 Group, ROOSH TECH, UNIT.City, INFLU2.

Best of Promax of the Decade

Ramón Verdet

Head of Creative Services
AMC Networks International Southern Europe

Head of Creative Services at AMC Networks International SE, documentary director&producer and podcast author. As creative director Ramón Verdet has coordinated the design and creative on air maintenance of more than 30 TV channels and OTT initiatives. Since 2004 has achieved more that 100 Promax awards, including the best MK Team of The Year award at Promax Europe 2019 Conference.

Product First Creative: Meeting the viewer where they are

Emily Ware

Design Creative – Creative Studio
Netflix

Based in London UK, Emily has over 10 years of experience creating compelling artwork campaigns across the entertainment and advertising industry. Her skills and expertise have played a key role in promoting some of the most successful streaming content for Netflix in the EMEA region through unique and diverse creative.

STAY UP-TO-DATE

Liz Huszarik

EVP & Chief Research Officer
Warner Bros. Discovery

A life-long and passionate fan of television, I currently serve as Executive Vice President, Chief Research Officer for Warner Bros. Discovery, overseeing the company’s Global Research, Insights & Analytics organization – an Industry leading, innovative, fully integrated cross-disciplined research group consisting of more than one hundred researchers, analysts and data scientists. Our centralized research organization has a significant remit that includes: Warner Bros. Pictures Group, HBO and HBO Max, the Warner Bros. Television Group, DC, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, TCM, Cartoon Network Studios, WB Animation, TBS, TNT, truTV, Wizarding World and Consumer Products and Experiences, as well as their attendant titles, brands and franchises. I also oversee the FanLab, a state-of-the-art, in-house Consumer & emerging technology consumer testing center which I developed nearly a decade ago.

Robyn Keeney

Marketing Director
Nexstar

Robyn Keeney grew up without a television, and she’s been in awe of it ever since. Seven years after kicking off her TV career as a line producer, she realized marketing staff got weekends and holidays off. She made the switch and didn’t look back. Keeney has a passion for marketing, a knack for leadership, and the most understated southern accent of any Ohio native.

Kent Welch

Vice President of Promotion and Marketing, Creative
Sinclair Broadcast Group

Kent Welch began his TV career in Kansas City, MO as a studio camera operator. He worked his way into the busy Newsroom as a Morning News Editor. This evolved into the News Special Projects Editor and weekend Videographer position. In these roles he learned the nuances of long-form News reports and storytelling. Always interested in engaging viewers, when he got the chance he moved into the glitzy Promotions Department.

Sinclair Broadcast Group offered him their Promotion Manager position at their duopoly in Milwaukee, WI. Two years later, he took the Creative Services Director position in their (then) largest market, Tampa, FL. After a few years he added on the duties of Regional Promotion Supervisor. In 2014 he moved to a full time corporate position as Director of Marketing. In 2021 he became Vice President of Promotion and Marketing, Creative.

Kent’s favorite parts of the job are collaborating with the passionate Sinclair Promotion Managers, the talented Designers and the dynamic Corporate Marketing Team. On a daily basis he gets to focus on Sinclair’s diverse stations, assisting their growth channels and RSNs, and supporting their Apps and brands. Outside of work Kent spends his time with his family, working on his home, and producing content for his creative projects.

Danielle Ray

Creative Services Director
KMOV, Gray Television

Danielle is a fierce and energetic leader who’s guided creative teams in television and film across the country. Currently serving as Creative Services Director for KMOV in St. Louis, she’s also led non-profits including serving as president of Women in Film & Media KC. Most importantly, she’s a boss mom to the coolest nearly two-year-old you’ll ever meet.

Amanda Curry

Marketing Director
WCSC

Amanda Curry is the Marketing Director at WCSC-TV5, the CBS affiliate in beautiful Charleston, South Carolina. Curry also serves as Chair of the Gray Marketing and Creative Services Advisory Council. She is a graduate of The Ohio State University.

Alain Sylvain

Founder & CEO
SYLVAIN

Alain is the Founder and CEO of SYLVAIN, a strategy and design consultancy that provokes progress for companies, people and society at large. Clients include Google, American Express, Spotify, Airbnb, BlackRock, Amazon, Diageo, GM, the NBA, UBER, New York Times, Nike, Apple and others. Founded in 2010, the company is headquartered in NYC, with offices in Amsterdam and Richmond, VA, and is a Certified B-Corporation.

Steve Donald

Vice President, Creative Services
FOX 32 Chicago

Vice President, Creative Services for Chicago’s FOX Affiliate

Dave Baumann

Marketing and Creative Director
Stephen Arnold Music

Dave Baumann is currently Marketing and Creative Director for Stephen Arnold Music. He was previously head of marketing for WXYZ-TV, Detroit, MI; KSTP-TV, Mpls./St.Paul, MN; and KIRO-TV, Seattle, WA, and was Art Director for KTCA-TV, Mpls./St. Paul, MN. He has served on the affiliate boards for both CBS and ABC (chairman), and has won numerous local Emmy awards, as well as PROMAX and BDA awards. He lives in Traverse City, MI with his wife Pam and their dog Archie, and enjoys sailing, boating, biking, golf, skiing, snowshoeing, local theater, playing guitar and singing.

Andrew Finlayson

EVP
SmithGeiger

Andrew Finlayson is the Executive Vice President of Digital and Social Media Strategies at SmithGeiger where he works with leading media companies on strategies for broadcast, digital, streaming, and content monetization. He joined SmithGeiger after being a John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford University. He is the recipient of numerous local Emmy and Edward R Murrow regional awards, has reported from Asia, Mexico, Europe, Russia and across the US, and before Covid-19, regularly spoke at industry conferences regarding audience trends. He is also the author of the business book, “Questions That Work” (Harper Collins) that has been translated into five languages.

Paul Spingola

Creative Services Director
WFLA/Nexstar

Creative Services Director Paul Spingola has worked in television for more than 30 years. He began at WFLA, the NBC affiliate in Tampa, Florida in 2020. Prior to WFLA, Spingola worked at WTNH, the ABC affiliate in Hartford, CT as Director of Marketing and Digital Media. He also served as Interim General Manager during the station’s transition from Media General to Nexstar Broadcasting. Prior to joining WTNH, Spingola held positions as a promotion producer at CNN, CBS Television Distribution’s “Inside Edition” and KXAS-TV, the NBC affiliate in Dallas.

Spingola believes the key to success in television station marketing resides in the strength of the station’s brand. Delivering on your brand promise, meeting the customer’s expectations on their terms and delivering a best-in-class experience will set you apart from your competition.      

Through the years, the members of Spingola’s departments and he have been recognized by the industry with 24 Promax Awards and 15 Emmys. He has participated in seminars at Promax multiple times on topics such as “How to Win the Late News War.”  He has also served as President of the ABC affiliate marketing board, a member of the ABC digital committee and currently serves on the NBC Station Marketing Counsel.

Courtney Leitschuh

Creative Services Director
WRTV | EW Scripps

Courtney is full of wonder and seeks connection in everything, particularly in memes. Some are so spot on, right? Discovering moments of belonging and togetherness inspire all aspects of Courtney’s life.

Courtney began her broadcast career at WCPO in Cincinnati, Ohio. From there she moved to Miami, Florida, taking a creative marketing position at the NBC O&O. With 8 years of producing experience, Courtney made the leap to management and accepted the creative services director position at WANE-TV in Fort Wayne, Indiana – her home state. Courtney jumped market size and moved to Indianapolis, where she is now an award-winning creative services director at WRTV.

When not collaborating with her team or laughing at memes, Courtney can be found bribing her kiddos and husband with sour straws in exchange for watching just one uninterrupted episode of Downton Abbey. Yes, she is that far behind on popular programming.

Jessica Rappaport

Director of Creative Services
KOMO/Sinclair Seattle

Jessica Rappaport is no stranger to PROMAX. She has worked in Creative Services for local affiliates in Lexington, Augusta, Oklahoma City, Norfolk and Sacramento. Jessica spent five years as a Senior Marketing Consultant for Frank Magid Associates and nine years as the Vice President of Marketing for Scripps. Jessica joined the KOMO Creative Services team 18 months ago and also oversees Seattle Refined, a 30-minute lifestyle show as well as its digital and social media platforms. Jessica and the Creative Services Team recently produced, wrote and edited a 30-minute documentary about the Pike Place Market, which is currently up for two Northwest Emmy Awards. She is happy to be here – welcome Jessica Rappaport.

Gregg Schraufnagel

Creative Services Director
E.W. Scripps

Gregg Schraufnagel is the Creative Services Director at TMJ4, Milwaukee. He has been with the NBC affiliate since 1998 and is a past NBC Station Marketing Council member. His Promax memories go all the way back to Tina Turner in Chicago! Schraufnagel is a graduate of the University of Minnesota. He is grateful for his creative team back in Milwaukee!

Lee Hunt

Founder
Lee Hunt LLC

Lee Hunt is the founder of Lee Hunt LLC, a New York-based consultancy focusing on brand strategy, content architecture, and competitive analysis for entertainment brands.

Lee is a strategist and industry thought leader. His success in launching and positioning entertainment brands, in addition to his ground-breaking work in audience management, have set many of the standards for our industry.

Lee is also the publisher of CMOintelligence, the syndicated service that tracks and analyzes the on-air marketing of linear & streaming services.

Tracy Acord Oliver

Creative Services Director
WTAE – Hearst Television

Tracy Acord Oliver has been with Hearst Television since 2007. She started at WTAE the ABC affiliate in Pittsburgh, as a one-man band topical producer, then worked as the assistant CSD, before being promoted to CSD in 2014. Prior to Hearst, she worked at stations across the country – including Wyoming. She is a fierce defender of brand, loves to collaborate with her fellow CSDs and uses her mean “mom” face when necessary. Her pet peeves include rude people and reporter updates that only include the words “I’ve got sound.”

Carly Munoz

Creative Services Director
WOOD TV (Nexstar)

Carly Munoz is the Creative Services Director at WOOD TV8 & ABC 4 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She has been a member of the ABC Affiliate Marketing Board and will be serving as Chair in her upcoming term. She has recently led her team through a re-brand for ABC 4, and loves to bring special projects to life through creativity & innovation. Carly is known for focusing on the details and making her station stand out through campaign-driven multi-platform promotional strategies. Outside of the office you can find her dreaming about the next family vacation, obsessing over her bulldog or binging everything on Bravo TV.

Ed Sautter

Sr Director Promotions – Digital
Sinclair Broadcast Group

As part of the Corporate Promotions Team at Sinclair, Ed specializes in Digital Advertising. He works with Promotion Managers to maximize their ad budgets with optimal placements that zero in on the station’s target viewers.

Denise Fitch

Vice President All Days
The AGENCY

After a brief stint with a movie production company, I moved on to work with The AGENCY and have been doing do over 20 years. We have assisted networks and syndicators, both large and small, with cooperative advertising programs. As an extension of their affiliate departments, we have handled everything from promo production to publicity and fulfillment. Currently, our clients include the networks, ABC, CBS, NBC & The CW. For syndication, we handle programs distributed by CBS Media Ventures, such as Dr. Phil, Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, etc. We also handle NBC Universal & Debmar Mercury. Those shows include everything from Family Feud, to Kelly Clarkson to name a few.

Russ Nelligan

Creative Services Director
WCVB Channel 5, Hearst Television

Russ Nelligan is Creative Services Director at WCVB Channel 5, Boston’s ABC affiliate and Hearst Television station. He is completing his term as Chair of the ABC Marketing Advisory Board and currently serves on the Board of Governors for NATAS, Boston/New England chapter. His marketing career has taken him from Burlington, VT (WPTZ, NBC) to Baltimore, MD (WBAL, NBC) to Boston. Russ began his career as a news photographer, putting him on the front-lines of news coverage during a crisis. Russ is a graduate of Binghamton University (NY).

Ardis Gonzalez Leon

Director, Corporate Promotions, Marketing & Community
Sinclair Broadcast Group

Ardis joined the Corporate Promotions Team at Sinclair in February 2020. She supports promotion managers and creative services directors in the TV broadcast division and is a part of SBG’s Sinclair Cares team, creating and producing company-wide campaigns to help uplift various community and charitable initiatives and inspire audiences and employees to make a positive impact in their communities.

Prior to joining SBG, Ardis worked in promotions, programming, public relations and community services at various stations including WSFL, CBS in Miami and Los Angeles, WTVJ/WSCV and WPLG.

Ardis has led creative teams producing engaging campaigns that drive tune-in, help the community and entertain audiences – garnering a shelf-full of Promax, Emmy and Telly awards, all lined up alongside her son’s athletic and school trophies.

Heath Myrick

Creative Services Director
WPBF 25 – Hearst Television

Heath Myrick is the Creative Services Director at WPBF 25, Hearst Television’s ABC affiliate in West Palm Beach, FL overseeing WPBF 25, Estrella TV, and True Crime Network brands. He joined Hearst Television in 2004 at WTAE in Pittsburgh, PA where he began as a CS Writer/Producer and later transitioned to Assistant Creative Services Director. Heath also served as the Promotions & Marketing Director at WBKO in Bowling Green, KY.

He is a graduate of Western Kentucky University and co-founder of the school’s first Broadcast Meteorology storm team which is still in existence today. Additionally, he is a graduate of the Poynter Institute and Hearst’s Leadership Development Program by Harvard Business Publishing. Heath is a beach and dog lover, foodie, and is a certified television news geek starting a student-run newscast in middle school.

Dana Feldman

Senior Vice President, Marketing, Promotion and Community
Sinclair Broadcast Group

Dana Feldman is Senior Vice President of Marketing, Promotion and Community for Sinclair Broadcast Group.
 
In her role as Senior Vice President, Feldman supervises a team of Corporate Promotion Managers and oversees the daily on-air promotional efforts and priority roadmaps for Sinclair’s 185 owned/operated television stations in 86 markets.
 
Feldman leads marketing campaigns and initiatives for special corporate projects and is the liaison between Sinclair Corporate and its stations’ Creative Services Department as well as all major networks and television studios’ Affiliate Relations and Marketing Divisions. As Sinclair has expanded its footprint into sports, Feldman now works closely with Bally Sports 21 regional sports network brands.

Additionally, Feldman has championed and spearheaded, Sinclair Cares, the Corporate Social Responsibility arm for Sinclair. She has created and led important community partnerships with American Red Cross, International Red Cross, DAV (Disabled American Veterans), Salvation Army and Feeding America.

Feldman has been with Sinclair since 2000, most recently serving as Vice President of Promotion and Programming. Prior to joining Sinclair, she worked as Director of Domestic Distribution at Claster Television. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Broadcast Journalism from The University of Maryland. Feldman resides in Baltimore, Maryland and Naples, Florida.

Scott Rowe

Managing Director
SRowe2000 Media and longtime host of “State of our Art”

Bio coming soon.

David Lee

VP, Marketing
WLS-TV / Disney

Dave Lee is long-time TV promotion and production professional. He kicked off his TV career in Great Falls, MT (market 170-ish at the time) and is currently overseeing marketing and local programming at ABC7 WLS-TV in Chicago. There have been plenty of memorable stops along the way (Georgia, Minneapolis, Spokane, WA, Fresno, CA and Houston). As a local TV station marketing lead, Dave stresses the need to lead with our people and content first messaging and the need to continue to elevate our contributions with each new project. He think it’s important to push creative people with new and unique challenges – and then give them the room and support to problem-solve their solutions. He also think it is imperative to create a work environment that is willing to take chances and push beyond the normal role boundaries. Over the course of many years, Dave have served on the ABC Affiliate Marketing Board in a couple of stints and serves as mentor across ABC/Disney. He is also a graduate of the NAB Broadcast Leadership Training program.

Brian Wright

Vice President, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
The CW Network

Brian Wright has over 25 years of Human Resources and Talent Acquisition experience working for some of the largest media and entertainment brands in the world such as Universal Studios, House of Blues, Disney, The WB Television Network, and FOX Sports. Over his career, Brian has led high-volume recruiting teams, launched nine new broadcast and cable networks, and implemented a dynamic project-based training strategy in collaboration with Veterans in Media & Entertainment and AT&T/Warner Media. Currently, Brian is the Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at The CW Network. He is tasked with building a DE&I infrastructure that supports The CW’s core business functions. This includes creating a practice of engagement, access, training, and real-life project opportunities to build larger, more diverse pools of skilled professionals.

Denise Fitch

Vice President All Days
The AGENCY

After a brief stint with a movie production company, I moved on to work with The AGENCY and have been doing do over 20 years. We have assisted networks and syndicators, both large and small, with cooperative advertising programs. As an extension of their affiliate departments, we have handled everything from promo production to publicity and fulfillment. Currently, our clients include the networks, ABC, CBS, NBC & The CW. For syndication, we handle programs distributed by CBS Media Ventures, such as Dr. Phil, Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, etc. We also handle NBC Universal & Debmar Mercury. Those shows include everything from Family Feud, to Kelly Clarkson to name a few.

Michelle Toy

Content Strategist
SmithGeiger

Michelle works with local television stations across the country using data and insights to develop content strategy across multiple platforms. She spent 20 years working in local news as Managing Editor, Digital Content Director, Executive Producer, Director of Social Media and Assignment Editor. She specializes in driving new initiatives and leading great teams.

Wendy McMahon

President and Co-Head
CBS News and Stations

Wendy McMahon is president and co-head of CBS News and Stations. She began her new role in May 2021.

McMahon and Neeraj Khemlani, also president and co-head of CBS News and Stations, are responsible for overseeing a newly-formed division that unifies CBS News, CBS News Digital and CBS Television Stations. Together, they have editorial and business oversight of CBS News broadcasts and operations; the CBS News Streaming Network 24/7 national and 13 local streaming channels; cbsnews.com; 28 CBS-owned stations and their digital extensions; CBS News Audio; and CBS News’ affiliate service Newspath.

McMahon is as an experienced, award-winning television stations executive with a record of success driving audience and revenue growth as well as creating industry-leading content, products and newsrooms. As an innovator of next-gen storytelling and champion of community-focused content, she is recognized for her extensive creative, marketing and digital expertise, as well as pioneering the uses of data and technology to deepen viewer engagement and drive operational modernization.

Prior to joining CBS News, McMahon was president of the ABC Owned Television Stations Group, with direct responsibility for the Walt Disney Company’s eight broadcast stations, local newsrooms and streaming assets, as well as oversight of the 1,500 team members who collectively achieved their 12th consecutive year of local television news leadership in 2020. Under her leadership, the group realized its largest local television news competitive advantage in a decade and achieved national leadership in digital reach and streaming minutes consumed across their markets.

Earlier, McMahon was the senior vice president, ABC Digital, where she crafted a multi-platform future for the group, responsible for leading digital content, products and technology, and audience development strategies and initiatives. As senior vice president of ABC Digital, she led the pivot to streaming and launched the group’s first connected TV apps. McMahon also launched the digital-first brand Localish and a first-of-its kind data journalism unit that powered exclusive investigations across the network and stations.

During McMahon’s tenure at the ABC Owned Television Stations Group, she oversaw the creation of a Race and Culture team as well as the multi-cultural series, “Our America.”

Previously, McMahon served as vice president of marketing at KABC in Los Angeles and as a creative services director at CBS-owned stations WBZ in Boston and WCCO in Minneapolis-St. Paul. She began her career as a promotion manager for WTOC in Savannah, Georgia.

In 2019, McMahon was named the Young Alumna of the Year by her alma mater, Louisiana State University and the Digital Leader of the Year by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB). Throughout her career, her teams have received numerous Emmys, Associated Press and regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for excellence in news reporting, including the 2020 National Edward R. Murrow award for breaking news coverage. Her creative teams have also been honored with several Promax, Telly and Broadcast Design awards for excellence in marketing and brand development.

McMahon graduated Summa Cum Laude from Louisiana State University with a bachelor’s degree in mass communication – broadcast journalism. She is married to William Burton and they are proud parents of a 10-year-old son.

Ben Tracy

Senior National Correspondent
CBS News

Ben Tracy is CBS News’ senior national and environmental correspondent based in Los Angeles. Tracy is a multi-faceted and award-winning journalist who has covered major stories overseas, in the nation’s capital and across the country. He reports for all CBS News platforms, including the CBS EVENING NEWS WITH NORAH O’DONNELL, CBS MORNINGS and CBS SUNDAY MORNING.

In his current role, Tracy has covered the escalating emergency of climate change and its environmental impacts. He has reported extensively on the historic drought ravaging the western U.S., the transition to electric vehicles and renewable energy, as well as issues of environmental justice. Tracy has also traveled to Iceland to report on the impact of climate change on the country’s glaciers and attempts to capture and store planet-warming carbon emissions.
 
Previously, Tracy was CBS News’ White House correspondent and covered the second half of the Trump administration, following every fast-moving development coming out of the executive branch. Before moving to Washington, Tracy was based in Beijing where he covered all of Asia for CBS News. His first assignment for the network had him covering the Western U.S. with a home base in Los Angeles.
 
Since joining the Network in 2008, Tracy has reported from 18 countries on five continents. He has been to North Korea three times and was the only western broadcast television correspondent to report from that country’s main nuclear testing site.
 
Tracy has covered many national and international stories including both impeachments of President Donald Trump; the 2020 presidential campaign and election; the historic summit meetings between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi and Singapore; the rescue of 12 boys and their soccer coach from a cave in Thailand; the 2018 Winter Olympics in Japan; and the 2016 Summer Games in Rio. He also covered the massive wildfires in the Western U.S. and Canada; the 2014 hostage crisis in Sydney, Australia; the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan; and the royal wedding of Prince William and the former Kate Middleton in London. In 2016 Tracy traveled to Cuba to explore the increase in American tourism resulting from the lifting of travel restrictions.
 
Before joining CBS News, Tracy was a reporter for WCCO-TV in Minneapolis, where he was a member of the station’s investigative team, covering major stories, such as the methamphetamine epidemic and the collapse of the 35W bridge.
 
During that time, he also was a contributor to CBS News’ “Saturday Early Show,” to which he brought his signature “Good Question” segment, started at WCCO-TV, to a national audience.
 
Prior to joining WCCO-TV, Tracy worked as a reporter at WISN-TV Milwaukee and WBAY-TV Green Bay, Wisc.
 
He is the recipient of six Emmy Awards and two Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia Awards honoring excellence in broadcast news.
 
Tracy was born in St. Paul, Minn. He graduated from Marquette University with bachelor’s degrees in broadcast journalism and political science. He also earned a master’s degree in public service from Marquette University.

Todd Lacey​

Director of Creative Services
KGUN-TV, E W Scripps

Experienced Media and Promotions professional with a demonstrated history of working in the broadcast marketing and advertising industry. Skilled in Digital , Media, & Marketing Strategy. Over 25 years at local and national television brands including FOX, Warner Bros., ABC, CBS, and CW. Awards include Addy, Telly, and Promax.

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Michael Vamosy

Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer
Vivid Zero

Emmy winning, creative executive Michael Vamosy, teamed up SmithGeiger to build an advertising and brand design agency that uses data insights to drive creative.

Vamosy, harnesses Vivid Zero’s creative and design firepower with the 20-year commitment to insights and strategy that SmithGeiger delivers throughout the media landscape. Together, they offer 360 creative services across entertainment, eSports, and consumer brands, with a deep focus on new frontiers, and innovative branding and campaign solutions. Vivid Zero’s clients including Showtime, CNN, ABC News, The ABC Owned and Operated Station Group, NBC Universal, Warner Bros, Peacock, PUBG and Headspace.

Vamosy formerly served as the CCO of Stun Creative, now Known, where he led creative strategy across the company, including its branding and advertising divisions for all networks, studios, streaming services, eSports and consumer clients, including the rebrand of Beyond Meat…before their historic IPO.

Vamosy brings a wealth of experience from the network side, previously as SVP Creative Services at Starz, where he reorganized a team of 115+ people and led creative marketing campaigns on the network’s original series “Outlander,” “Black Sails,” “Power” and “DaVinci’s Demons,” as well as affiliate marketing initiatives, OTT campaigns, and rebrands for Starz and Encore.

Prior to joining Starz, he was SVP of Design at FOX Broadcasting. Vamosy was the architect of FOX’s “Glee” campaign, “L for Loser”. He also redesigned the FOX network brand image “So FOX” and spearheaded campaigns for “Fringe,” “American Idol”, “House,” and many more.

Before that, Vamosy was VP of Design at FX Networks. He developed the network’s in-house design team “StudioFX,” which designed the brand looks and feel for original series “The Shield,” “Nip/Tuck” and “Rescue Me.”

Over the course of his career, Vamosy’s work has earned a recent Emmy Award, Emmy nominations, numerous CLIOs, PROMAX awards, including agency of the year (multiple years) and New York Festivals honors.

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