Noemí Ramírez is Chief Digital Officer at PRISA News (El País, As, among others) where she leads the Product, Analytics and Audience Development areas, accordingly to the business' strategy, objectives and digital transformation process. Previously, She was Product Director at PRISA Innovation, chief editor at El Mundo and worked at Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), the largest investigative journalism association in the US. She has a Master in Journalism from Missouri University, thanks to a Fulbright Scholarship. She is an habitual speaker at several digital media trends fora.

Wolfgang Krach, 54, is currently Editor-in-Chief of “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, the largest selling national quality newspaper in Germany, based in Munich. Wolfgang studied philosophy, worked for several news agencies (AP, Reuters, dpa) and served as Munich correspondent for the regional daily “Donaukurier”. From 1993 to 1997, he was a political reporter at STERN magazine in Hamburg. Following this post, Mr. Krach was deputy bureau chief in Berlin of the news magazine DER SPIEGEL, after which he headed the national desk at DER SPIEGEL based in Hamburg. In 2003, he came to “Süddeutsche Zeitung” to serve as the paper's managing editor. In 2007, he was appointed to the role deputy editor-in-chief, since 2015 he has been editor-in-chief. As Editor-in-Chief he oversaw “Süddeutsche Zeitungs” investigation first of the Panama Papers – a cooperation with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) that was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting 2017, then the investigation of the Paradise Papers – also in cooperation with the ICIJ – that won a George Polk Award in 2018.

Gary Liu is CEO of South China Morning Post, a leading English-language media company covering China and Asia. Founded in 1903, SCMP is headquartered in Hong Kong and is the city’s newspaper of record. Along with its flagship news products, SCMP also publishes Hong Kong’s premier lifestyle and fashion magazines, including Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, Elle Men, Esquire and Cosmopolitan. Prior to joining SCMP in January 2017, Gary was CEO of Digg, spearheading the New York startup’s transformation from aggregator to a data-driven news platform. Previously, Gary was Head of Spotify Labs, where he led emerging technologies and business strategies for Spotify’s global markets, after joining as Global Director of Ad Product Strategy. Gary has also worked at AOL and Google.

Born in the United States, Gary grew up in Taiwan and New Zealand, before returning to the American Northeast where he lived and worked for 20 years. He currently lives in Hong Kong with his wife Katrina, a pediatric dentist. Gary is an Economics graduate from Harvard University.

Nancy Lane is the dynamic leader of the Local Media Association, an organisation that supports nearly 3,000 newspapers, TV stations, digital sites, radio stations and R&D partners in North America. LMA’s mission is to reinvent business models for news.  

The association announced the creation of Accelerate Local last year and launched six different labs including the GNI Subs Lab, The Branded Content Project and the Digital Transformation Lab for Publishers of Color. In 2020, four new projects have been launched: COVID-19 local news fund (has raised $1.4 million for over 200 publishers), Oklahoma Media Center, a news collaborative in Chicago and The Fund for Local Journalism.

Lane has served as CEO since October 2000 and prior to that she held publisher and senior level positions with daily and weekly newspapers in Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Missouri. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Villanova University and also serves as the immediate past president on the VU Alumni Association Board of Directors.

Mariana Santos founded Chicas Poderosas, a non-profit organization that aims to bring more women into technology, started in Latin America, back in 2013. Today she runs it full time with her co-director Vicki Hammarstedt and a board of directors, experts in the different areas of journalism, entrepreneurship, business, innovation and design thinking. Former infographics editor at Olympic Committee Rio 2016, former director of Interactive and animation at Fusion Media. Knight Innovation Chair at Florida International University in 2015-16. JSK Knight fellow at Stanford 2015 and Knight International Journalism Fellow 2013-14 working all across Latin America in major newsrooms and with independent journalists. Mariana Santos is a visual storyteller, who did groundbreaking work as a member of the interactive team at The Guardian in London. A trained animator, she pioneered the newsroom’s use of motion graphics to make data stories more compelling. She leads design thinking workshops to increase multidisciplinary approach to storytelling, and she is a leader in community transformation via digital training.

Zuzanna Ziomecka is an American-educated, Polish-based media maker professionally involved in print, television and internet projects. She works for Poland's largest liberal daily - Gazeta Wyborcza - where she is responsible for digital innovations for their women's brand "Wysokie Obcasy" and is Editor-in-Chief of NewsMavens.com - a news round-up curated exclusively by women from European news organisations. The project is funded by Google DNI and Gazeta Wyborcza and aims to discover whether gender has an impact on news narrative. She was awarded editor of the year for founding and editing the first Polish lifestyle magazine for parents in 2008. She was also one of the few women to ever act as chief editor for a weekly magazine (Przekrój) in Poland. 

Rana Sabbagh is executive director at Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) – the region’s leading media support network spreading the culture of “accountability journalism” in nine Arab states since 2005.

She has dedicated the last 33 years of her career as journalist, columnist and media trainer to promote free speech, independent media, “accountability journalism” and human rights.

As former chief editor of the Jordan Times (1999-Jan 2002), she became the first Arab female in the history of the Levant to run a daily political newspaper. She is a former correspondent for Reuters International News Agency and The Times (London) and helped establish Jordan’s latest independent newspaper, Al-Ghad.

Now she is News Head at Times Internet, After 15+ years in digital media and commerce - product development that changes consumer behaviour, and consumer technology are deep interests. Have spent the last few years obsessing about mobile experiences and thinking more about monetization of digital products — ads, daily transactions and subscription. Happy to help consumer media startups think through the stages of product-market fit, executing for scale and business metrics 

Durga Raghunath is responsible for managing the business and editorial operations of all digital brands of India’s Express Group. She is the founder-CEO of Firstpost, India's first exclusively digital newsroom and was CEO of Network 18 digital, overseeing Moneycontrol, IBNLive, News18, Firstpost, Burrp!, In.com and regional media products.

Raghunath started out in book publishing in India and with HarperCollins in New York. She co-founded and was CEO of Juggernaut Books, a digital-first publishing startup, focused on creating new genres of ebooks and a writing platform for the Indian public on their smartphones.

She is a Facebook #SheleadsTech Mentor and has an MBA from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad and a Publishing Degree from Columbia University in New York City. 

Andiara Petterle is an entrepreneur and executive of the digital market since 1998. Currently, she is senior vice-president of Product Development and Operations at Grupo RBS. Previously she was vice president Newspapers and Digital Media for the same group. Before joining RBS, Petterle was the Executive Director of Strategy and Business Development at e.Bricks, RBS’s investment company focused on the digital industry. At e.Bricks, she acted as an advisor to several technology, e-commerce and media companies. She founded Grupo Bolsa de Mulher, one of the largest women's digital media companies in Latin America, and was CEO of Predicta and other digital companies in the country. Petterle has a bachelor and a master’s degree in Social Communications from PUC-RJ, was an invited researcher at Brown University, and has participated in business training programs at Harvard Business School and Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Alexandra Borchardt a senior journalist, keynote speaker, media consultant and Senior Research Associate at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford. As a Director of Leadership Programmes at the Institute until July 2019 she developed and led on the seminar series “Oxford Perspectives”, targeting senior journalists, editors and media managers. Prior to this, she was managing editor of Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), Germany’s leading quality daily.

Alexandra’s main focus is digital transformation and how it impacts the media, democracy, the workplace and human behaviour. She teaches “Leadership and Strategy in the 21st Century” at TU Munich, gives lectures and talks on digitisation and the media and publishes opinion pieces with Project Syndicate, NewsMavens and theEuropean Journalism Observatory. She is the author of Mensch 4.0 – Frei bleiben in einer digitalen Welt (Freedom in a digital world), Guetersloher Verlagshaus (Random House), 2018. She serves as vice chair of the Council of Europe Committee of Experts on Quality Journalism in the Digital Age.

At SZ she held several functions in the politics and business sections. She was also founding editor of Süddeutsche’s ‘Plan W’, an award winning quarterly magazine for women and business. In her reporting she has focused on internet and democracy and the future of work. In 2015 she published Das Internet zwischen Diktatur und Anarchie: Zehn Thesen zur Demokratisierung der digitalen Welt (The Internet between Dictatorship and Anarchy: Ten Assertions about Democracy in the Digital World), Süddeutsche Zeitung Edition Streitschrift. Before joining SZ she worked for Financial Times Deutschland and Deutsche Presse-Agentur.

Alexandra holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Tulane University, New Orleans (1994), and in 2013 completed a Programme for Management Development at IESE Business School, Barcelona.

Jessica Stahl is the director of audio at The Washington Post, where she oversees a team developing popular podcasts like “Can He Do That?” and “Constitutional,” and experimenting in audio storytelling with programs like “Letters From War” and “Retropolis.” The Washington Post was also one of the first news organisations to produce audio specifically for smart speakers with “The Daily 202’s Big Idea,” and continues to pioneer around audio programming, as well as delivery and monetization strategies.   

Jessica previously was The Post’s deputy editor for audience, focusing on community-building and digital-first storytelling, as well as the implementation of smart digital strategy. Prior to joining The Post, she was the social media editor at the Voice of America. Jessica has an MA from Johns Hopkins Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, and an AB from Princeton University.

Shannon Kinney is a seasoned startup Founder and Executive with over 25 years of experience. With deep experience in sales, marketing, online product development and leadership, this is her third nationally-scaled digital marketing solution company. She founded Dream Local Digital in 2009 “to bring the power of online marketing to small and medium sized businesses”, and also to master the craft of how to make SMBs successful on social media. She has a wide and highly engaged network of leaders in media, technology, and startups worldwide, and has developed Dream Local Digital to be a widely recognized brand as best of breed in social media fulfillment.

Beginning in the mid-90s, Kalle was one of the key designers of the strategy and success of Aftonbladet’s digital business development. The strategy and its implementation have deeply influenced the Schibsted corporate strategy.
Driving Aftonbladet to be one of the first digital news media in the world to ask users to pay for digital content, Kalle was also instrumental in developing its mobile strategy. He has over 35 years in media and is Senior Advisor to Schibsted Sweden as well as WAN-IFRA. Kalle is also a Board Member of Svenska Dagbladet.

Graduated in journalism from UFF and postgraduate in Public Policy by Iuperj, he worked as a reporter for O GLOBO and Folha de S.Paulo, in Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia. He won the Embratel, Rey de España and two Esso Prizes for Journalism in the main category, among others. In Folha de São Paulo, he worked as Deputy Editor of Politics, and Editor of the section "Cotidiano" and Editor od the First Page. At GLOBO, he served as Editor of Politics and Executive Editor until he was promoted to Editor-in-chief.

Geesje van Haren established Verspers.nl in 2005. VersPers is a training and publication platform for investigative journalists, with a large network of publication partners and extensive experience in training creative investigative journalism skills. Geesje van Haren initiated and produced books, video-productions, journalistic events and exchange programs. In addition, she is the chief editor at Small Stream Media. As part of this cross-local platform, she travelled to OESO-DAC countries like Bosnia Herzegovina, Malaysia, South Africa, The Philippines and other countries, where she trained young talents how to move around to find cross-local stories.

Joyce Barnathan is president of the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), a non-profit dedicated to advancing quality journalism worldwide. She helps develop and oversee high-impact programs that combine the best professional practices with new technologies.

Previously, Barnathan served as the executive editor of BusinessWeek. Barnathan also completed a seven-year assignment as Asia regional editor and Hong Kong bureau manager for BusinessWeek. She came to BusinessWeek from Newsweek, where she served as State Department correspondent, Moscow Bureau Chief and Special Projects Correspondent covering presidential elections.

Chani Guyot is a journalist, designer and the CEO and Publisher of RED/ACCIÓN, an Argentinian news startup. He is the founder of Next Idea Lab and the former Editor-in-Chief of Argentina's La Nación. He relinquished this role in 2017 to feed his entrepreneurial and innovative spirit with the startup of Next Idea Lab. Guyot began his career at La Nación's Sunday magazine in 1996, working as journalist and designer. He was appointed Design Director and in 2009, the company's first Innovation Director. He led the newspaper's modernisation process and move into television. Guyot studied Journalism at the University of Buenos Aires and Social Communication at Austral University, where he taught for 10 years. He holds a Media MBA from Navarra University in Spain and is a founding member of FOPEA (Argentine Journalism Forum) and the Society for News Design, SND.

Jana Moser is an innovation and privacy expert. She gives advice regarding data, innovation and regulation. As attorney she also answers questions concerning data protection and privacy. Previously, she was with Axel Springer SE as Head of Data Innovation, where she lead a group-wide data strategy project with focus on business and strategy.

From 2007 Jana Moser worked as a so called knowledge architect at knowledgeTool International GmbH in Berlin before she was legal counsel and privacy officer at studiVZ, a former popular German social network. From 2011 she worked as inhouse legal counsel at Axel Springer SE for more than 2 years and investment manager for 1,5 years. As legal counsel she gave advice in particular concerning IT law, data protection and various online web and mobile services. Aside from that, she supported a digital product portfolio with special consideration of data protection laws as well as new digital innovations and ideas like bitcoin and blockchain.

From 2008-2010 Jana Moser wrote her doctorate thesis about “Browser games and client-based online games – The contractual relationship between provider and user” at European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder).

Since September 2017 she supports Spirit Legal LLC as of-counsel.

Seng Mai Maran is an award-winning journalist/photographer and editor-in-chief of Myitkyina News
Journal in Kachin state in Myanmar. In 2014 the 28-year- old co-founded the paper, the only regional
independent newspaper in the state. She has gained wide recognition for her work addressing
women issues in conflict areas, such as drug abuse, discrimination and violence.  In February, she
won the prestigious first prize at the Yangon Photo Festival for her photo essay about female
soldiers fighting for the Kachin Independent Army. Seng Mai has background form BBC Burmese
Radio and various newspapers in Myanmar. She has a college-diploma in computer science.

Before joining TheStreet as CEO in 2016, David was Editor-in-Chief of USA Today, responsible for news coverage on America’s largest newspaper and fifth-largest digital news portfolio. David directed more than 400 journalists and worked with another 3,000 tied to 100 newspapers owned by USA Today parent company Gannett Inc.

 David joined USA Today in mid-2012 from MarketWatch, where he was also Editor-in-Chief. David ran MarketWatch through eight years of ownership by Dow Jones Co. and subsequently, News Corp., and four years before that as a public company which owned the website CBS MarketWatch. Dave also wrote a weekly column for MarketWatch, and was twice honored by the Society of American Editors and Writers for his commentary.

Before joining MarketWatch, Dave spent five years working for Bloomberg, almost all of it in London, where he ran a team that covered the financial services industry throughout Europe. Before Bloomberg, he spent six years as a reporter and columnist for The Boston Herald. He’s a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and currently splits his time between New York City and Corte Madera, Ca.

David Callaway is president of the World Editor’s Forum, a unit of WAN-IFRA, and a board member for the International Center for Journalists.

Ros Atkins is the creator and presenter of Outside Source on BBC World News and, in the UK, on the BBC News Channel. He’s been a lead anchor on TV and radio for BBC News for many years covering Brexit, the recent German and Dutch elections, the death of Nelson Mandela and many many other stories. Ros is also the founder of the 50:50 Project which has become the largest gender-balancing initiative that’s ever happened at the BBC and is driving an increase in women contributors across many BBC programmes.

Stephen Rae is Group Editor-in-Chief of Independent News and Media (INM), Ireland’s largest media group. INM is the market leader in online news and in the daily, Sunday and regional newspaper sectors.

Stephen has led the group’s online transition, building a seven-day Platform Neutral newsroom, making Independent.ie the largest and fastest growing news source in Ireland. He designed the central editorial hub which produces journalism for all of the group’s news, sport and entertainment platforms – both online and print. Previously, Stephen was editor of the Irish Independent newspaper and before that edited the Evening Herald. Stephen is a qualified barrister-at-law and criminologist.

Matthias Berninger is the Vice-President Public Affairs at Mars, Incorporated and Deputy President for the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA). After 13 years in Politics, representing the Green Party of his home state Hessen, Matthias Berninger retired in 2007 from his seat in the German Federal Parliament and joined Mars Europe as their Director Corporate Health and Nutrition for Europe and the CIS. In April 2008, he moved into the role of Global Head of Public Policy for Mars Incorporated. He joined the Global Chocolate Management Team of Mars Incorporated in 2009. In addition to his corporate responsibilities, he supports Mars Chocolate in communication and strategy development. In September 2009, Matthias was promoted to Corporate Staff Officer Public Affairs with responsibilities for the Central Public Policy and Programs team and the Public Affairs teams in Washington DC, Brussels, Moscow, Asia, Latin America, Africa with the Middle East reporting into him. He also leads the global trade team within Mars, Incorporated. 

Ritu Kapur is the co-founder and CEO of The Quint and board member, World Editors Forum. She is also a Board Member at Oxford University’s prestigious Reuters Institute Of Journalism and the World Editor's Forum. She used to head Programming at History Channel, was Features Editor at CNN IBN, where she launched the popular CJ (Citizen Journalist) Show, among others. Kapur has been recognized by Outlook Business as "Woman of Worth 2017 - The Newsmaker".

Under her leadership, The Quint has grown by nearly 250% Year on Year in terms of both Unique Users and Pageviews, and seen a 100%+ growth in revenue, and pulled in some of the biggest clients in the industry. She has also driven the redesign of The Quint's website, founded the proprietary interactive microsite format "Quint Lab", and launched the health content platform "Quint Fit".

Along with being an accomplished leader, she has spearheaded many initiatives and campaigns tackling social issues. Some of her most successful campaigns are Register To Vote and Power Of 49, which championed a manifesto for women, who comprise 49 per cent of the population. Another significant initiative was The Quint's partnership with BBC, which led to the birth of #SwachhDigital India, a campaign against fake news.

Ritu Kapur has also strived to provide multiple platforms for free speech such as Talking Stalking, Bol and Citizen Q.

Lisa MacLeod was Head of Digital at Tiso Blackstar Group, South Africa’s largest English-language publisher, and owner of 8 newspapers, 15 websites, music, film and radio businesses across the continent.  Her role was to lead digital strategy and innovation, and manage Tiso Blackstar’s online properties with 6-million unique browsers monthly on titles such as TimesLIVE, SowetanLIVE and BusinessLIVE, as well as implement sustainable digital monetisation streams.

Lisa was previously General Manager of Digital for Media24’s 24.com in Cape Town, and prior to that spent 12 years in London at the Financial Times, helping to drive their print to digital integration. She served as Head of Operations for FT.com, widely thought to be the most successful paid website in the media industry, and FT Managing Editor, overseeing staffing, strategic planning and budgets for the FT globally

From 2018-2020, Lisa served as the Vice-President of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers and is currently a member of the Supervisory Board. She has been on the board of the World Editors Forum (WEF) for many years, and has taught and spoken at numerous international conferences and training events for WAN-IFRA , WEF and Women in News.

Dr François Nel and Dr Coral Millburn-Curtis lead the Innovation Research Group which is a partnership between applied researchers from Green Templeton College at the University of Oxford and the University of Central Lancashire, where François is the founding director of the pioneering Journalism Leaders Programme. He has worked with WAN-IFRA since 2009 to research the priorities of news executives worldwide and is the editor of the association's World Press Trends initiative. François is the first academic to become an executive member of the World Editors Forum and works to support entrepreneurial individuals and forward-thinking organisations worldwide, including News UK, Trinity Mirror, Johnston Press, CN Group and Times Media Ltd (South Africa).

Raju Narisetti previously was Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and also Director of Knight-Bagehot Fellowship in Economics and Business Journalism.

Previously, he was CEO of Gizmodo Media Group, a group  of digital journalism sites that included Gizmodo, Jezebel, Deadspin, Lifehacker, and The Root.

A media executive with a track record in creating, rethinking and managing major media organizations  in North America, Europe and Asia, Raju was previously Senior Vice-President of Strategy at News Corp.

Prior to that, he was Managing Editor of The Wall Street Journal Digital Network, where he is responsible for WSJ's digital / mobile content strategy and execution;  the Managing Editor of The Washington Post, where he led the integration of its digital and print businesses; the Editor of The Wall Street Journal Europe; and is the Founder of Mint, the second-largest business newspaper in India.

Raju is a Board Trustee of the Wikimedia Foundation, which manages Wikipedia. His home is in New York City though he is often found, rather plainspoken, @raju

Isabel Amorim is currently Director of Products, Digital and Editorial Strategy for all brands of Editora Abril. Previously, she launched the digital version of the newspaper El Pais in Brazil, accumulating responsibility in the area of copyright for the Prisa Group.

From 2001 to 2013 she directed The New York Times Syndicate in Latin America, Mexico and the Caribbean.

Isabel holds a bachelor's degree in business administration, a post-graduate degree in communication from the School of Communication and Arts at the University of SP, has an MBA from Business School SP and Rothman School in Toronto, and a postgraduate degree from IE Madrid in Global Management. 

In June 2016 Isabel was Fellow of the course taught by Francis Fukuyama and Roger Leeds for Stanford LAD and Insper in Brazil. Today she participates in the LAD group of Stanford.

Isabel is a member of the LATAM advisory committee of WAN-IFRA, part of the board of INMA-International News Marketing Association, and a member of the jury of the journalistic award offered by the Inter-American Press Association since 2011.

Alexis Marcombe, Managing Director of MEDIA.figaro since 2014, has been a key player in the digital advertising industry for 15 years now. Prior to joining MEDIA.figaro, Marcombe was Managing Director of Hi-Media in 2009 and founded Audience Square in 2012. As Managing Director of MEDIA.figaro, the sales house of Group Figaro in France, Marcombe leads the organisation’s development in its digital business and operations. By the end of 2015, Figaro Group bought CCM Benchmark Group and became the first digital media group in the French market with 35 million unique users per month in France and 100 million unique users world wide. As a result, Figaro Group is able to provide its advertisers (i.e. premium sales, data, programmatic, trading desk, etc.) with a complete and innovative range of digital solutions.

Leon Willems is Director Policy and Programmes of Free Press Unlimited. Under his guidance, Netherlands-based Free Press Unlimited has become one of the leading press freedom organisations of today, active in almost 40 countries. He believes that media are crucial tools for democracy building and contribute to the development of society as a whole.

A journalist in Asia for nearly 35 years, Maria Ressa co-founded Rappler, the top digital only news site that is leading the fight for press freedom in the Philippines. As Rappler's executive editor and CEO, Maria has endured constant political harassment and arrests by the Duterte government, forced to post bail eight times to stay free. Rappler's battle for truth and democracy is the subject of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival documentary, A Thousand Cuts. 

For her courage and work on disinformation and 'fake news,' Maria was named Time Magazine’s 2018 Person of the Year, was among its 100 Most Influential People of 2019, and has also been named one of Time's Most Influential Women of the Century. She was also part of BBC's 100 most inspiring and influential women of 2019 and Prospect magazine's world's top 50 thinkers. Among many awards, she received the prestigious Golden Pen of Freedom Award from the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, the Knight International Journalism Award from the International Center for Journalists, the Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Shorenstein Journalism Award from Stanford University, the Columbia Journalism Award, the Free Media Pioneer Award from the International Press Institute, and the Sergei Magnitsky Award for Investigative Journalism. 

Before founding Rappler, Maria focused on investigating terrorism in Southeast Asia. She opened and ran CNN's Manila Bureau for nearly a decade before opening the network's Jakarta Bureau, which she ran from 1995 to 2005. She wrote Seeds of Terror: An Eyewitness Account of al-Qaeda’s Newest Center of Operations in Southeast Asia and From Bin Laden to Facebook: 10 Days of Abduction, 10 Years of Terrorism.

Nick runs WAN-IFRA's most advanced digital revenue programmes, including the Table Stakes Europe programme and the subscription focused eRev initiative, as well as managing our events and operations in Europe & Africa.

He started his career in London and has over fifteen years experience in innovative digital projects and collaborative working.

Before joining WAN-IFRA, he managed IT projects for ExxonMobil, Deutsche Bank and the European Patent Office, and facilitated the exec forums and conferences for the e-gov agency London Connects. He has a Diploma in Creativity, Innovation & Change from the Open University Business School.

Consultant and advisor to organizations on digital and commercial strategy. Formerly at Guardian Newspapers, KPMG Boxwood and BAE Systems. Skilled in setting up, managing and delivering complex, global change and transformation programs.

Fergus Bell is an experienced journalist, editor and leading expert in digital newsgathering, verification, newsroom innovation and collaborative journalism projects. He is also a strong advocate for higher ethical standards in digital journalism.
Fergus’ experience spans both the business and editorial sides of the news industry. He spent eight years at the Associated Press, where he became their first International Social Media and UGC Editor. He then headed up newsroom partnerships and innovation for digital newsgathering start-up, SAM Desk. Fergus founded Dig Deeper Media in 2015 and advises broadcasters, publishers and start-ups on social and digital newsgathering, newsroom transformation and innovation. In 2017 he launched Pop-Up Newsroom, a framework for collaborative journalism projects that has already seen success in the US, UK, Sweden and won an Online Journalism Award in 2018 for "Verificado" - an initiative designed to monitor for misinformation during the Mexican elections. Fergus was named as a 2019 Reynolds Journalism Institute Fellow. He is a faculty member of the European Broadcast Union’s Academy. He serves on the board of the Online News Association. He is the co-founder and CEO of fathm a media consultancy and news lab.

In his role, Madhav Chinnappa works on partnerships and collaboration between Google and the news industry.  Most recently, he launched the Digital News Initiative which in March 2018 evolved to become part of the Google News Initiative, Google's overarching global framework for engagement with the news ecosystem.  

Madhav joined Google in 2010 to focus on Google News & Magazines in the EMEA region. He has worked in the news industry since 1994 - first in the launch team of Associated Press Television (APTV), a year in M&A at United News & Media and spent over 9 years at BBC News, latterly as Head of Development & Rights.

Nicolas Henchoz is the Founder and Director of the EPFL+ECAL Lab in Switzerland. The EPFL+ECAL Lab is a unit of the EPFL (Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne) in cooperation with ECAL (University of art and design Lausanne). Its mission is to foster innovation at the crossroads between technology, design and architecture.

The Lab bases its activities along three axes: giving new meaning to technologies developed in the scientific labs, fuelling innovation by widening the scope of designers’ work and forming new links between research and applications for society.

Fionnuala O'Leary is the Group Digital Editor for Independent News & Media. She was previously a news executive with the company. For the past five years she has spearheaded INM’s digital success, growing its flagship digital title, Independent.ie to become Ireland's biggest news website.

Fionnuala is also the CEO of a Hubble, a MarTech consultancy that uses computer science, artificial intelligence and authorship tracking to transfer audience and commissioning insights into other industries.

Manfred Werfel was WAN-IFRA’s Deputy CEO until he retired on 1 June 2019. He was responsible for the Expo business of the association. He also managed the World Printers Forum, the print community within WAN-IFRA.

Since 1996 Werfel was part of WAN-IFRA’s management team. Over time he was responsible for Research, WAN-IFRA Reports, Expert Committees, Consulting, Training, Print Quality Projects, Events, Innovation Projects, World Press Trends, World News Media Congress, World Printers Forum and Expo. In 2012 he acted as Interim CEO.

Michael Cooke is the outgoing Editor of the Toronto Star, a position he has held for the past nine years. Raised near Lancaster in Northern England, Michael worked on London’s Fleet Street, and at Bristol’s Western Daily Press before emigrating to Canada. There he joined The Star, Canada's largest newspaper, before moving to The Gazette in Montreal and The Edmonton Journal. He became editor in chief of The Vancouver Province in 1995.

Michael was one of a team of founding editors of Canada’s new national newspaper, The National Post.  And, for the summer of 1998, Michael served as the last editor of The Financial Post, supervising the paper’s merger with the new national newspaper.  During both periods, Michael continued to edit The Province.  He was named editor in chief of the Chicago Sun-Times in 2000.

He was appointed editor in chief of the New York Daily News in 2005, returning to Chicago as Vice-President of Editorial for the Chicago Sun-Times news Group (100 titles) in 2006 and re-appointed editor in chief of the Sun-Times that same year.

Michael has travelled extensively in Africa in the last five years, most notable doing pro-bono work for the Canadian-based Journalists For Human Rights foundation. He has given journalism seminars in many countries, with longer stays in Congo, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Liberia and has recently become a videographer.

Jonny Wright was appointed Managing Director International of Dow Jones in January 2016. He previously served as Managing Director APAC and Publisher of Financial News and WSJ Pro. Mr. Wright is responsible for defining and implementing growth strategies for The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones outside the United States. Mr. Wright is based in Hong Kong.

Previously, Mr. Wright was Circulation Director in Europe for The Wall Street Journal, a role he held from January 2013. Mr. Wright first joined Dow Jones in 2010 as Advertising Sales Director for Dow Jones’ Financial News.

Before joining the Dow Jones, he was Publisher and Group Sales Director at Euromoney Institutional Investor based in New York.

Since 2009, as an executive board member, Cristina Soares manages the transformation of Público, aiming at a sustainable business model based on digital, as this Portuguese Newspaper remains a national reference for journalism quality, innovative company and corporative efficiency. She runs also other companies in the group, in radio, printing and distribution.
Previously, Cristina worked with Bonança Assurance, ELF OIL Portugal, HCB - Cahora Bassa Hydroelectric Mozambique and Siderurgia Nacional Portugal, as controller, organizational advisor and corporate conversion process. Cristina joined the Board of WAN-IFFRA in 2017. She has a Master and MBA from ISCTE Lisbon.

Fatemah Farag is the Founder and Director of Welad Elbalad Media Services LTD, a company dedicated to community media development and media excellence in Egypt. She is also currently a Nieman Fellow, the MENA Director for WAN IFRA’s Women in News Program and a WEF Board Member.

Before establishing Welad Elbalad Media Services, Ms. Farag was the founding chief editor of the English Edition of Al Masry Al Youm. Before 2009, she divided her professional time between the newsroom and journalism training and education. She was Assistant Chief Editor, responsible for the features and life-style sections and senior staff reporter at Al-Ahram Weekly, the English language newspaper issued by Al-Ahram, before which she worked for the Regional Bureau of the Washington Post, was a full time staff reporter for the Middle East Times – Egypt, and has freelanced for a host of local and international news organizations. 

As an educator she has held the position of Training Consultant for the Heikal Foundation for Arab Journalism and has also consulted and trained for various organizations including the European Union, the British Council, Free Voice and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. She also taught journalism at the American University in Cairo (AUC) for two years and continues to dedicate time to journalism training.
Ms Farag began her career specializing in development issues with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and as a reporter and newspaper editor she has dedicated much of her work to the coverage of social issues. She is a graduate of the American University in Cairo, from which she also received a Masters degree in political science.

Guilherme Döring Cunha Pereira is the Chief Executive Officer of Grupo Paranaense de Comunicação (GRPCOM), the largest communication group of the State of Paraná and one of the foremost media companies in Brazil. It administers newspapers such as Gazeta do Povo and Tribuna, three radio stations, eight regional TV stations affiliated to Rede Globo, and the Instituto GRPCOM, which has a strong participation in education and the third sector.

Mr. Cunha Pereira holds LLM and JD degrees from the Universidade de São Paulo (USP), where he was also a Business Law professor for three years (1996-1998). He is the founder, the coordinator and one of the professors at the master’s program in Journalism for Editors, a course dedicated to capacitate leaders in Brazilian and Latin American media companies.

As the CEO of GRPCOM, Mr. Cunha Pereira has had prominence in the Brazilian communication industry for his strong positioning in the defense of democracy and of the freedom of speech. He recently concluded the transitioning of Gazeta do Povo from a traditional print newspaper to a modern digital vehicle.

Michael Golden was appointed vice chairman of The New York Times Company in October 1997. He was also elected to the Company’s Board of Directors in 1997. From 2009 to January 2012, Mr. Golden served as president and chief operating officer of The New York Times Company Regional Media Group. Mr. Golden served as publisher of the International Herald Tribune from 2003 to 2008.

Mr. Golden is the President of WAN-IFRA. He is also chairman of the board of directors for International Center for Journalists, a Washington, DC-based non-profit organisation that raises journalism standards through hands-on training workshops, seminars, fellowships and international exchanges. Additionally, Mr. Golden serves on the boards of The Associated Press and the Newspaper Association of America. He also serves on the board of directors of Graham Windham.

Own words: With more than 15 years of experience in the Media, Communication and Advertising market(s), I always worked in the areas of New Business and Partnerships, Marketing Management, Project Management, in close contact with IT/IS and Sales. Before my corporate / executive career, I have also successfully launched two start-ups. In my latest roles, as Deputy Director New Business / Innovation, I have developed, implemented and successfully managed short and long-term projects, most of them complex and with high impact on P&L, leading multidisciplinary teams. On top and beyond my very effective track record, these functions allowed me to have a strategic vision of business and an international network connected to different business areas, of which I highlight in particular the Portuguese and International Media, Internet and Technology companies.

Andreas Rickmann is Head of New Platforms at the German Media Brand BILD since 2014. He graduated with a diploma at German Sport University Cologne and was trained at Axel Springer School of Journalism.