Speakers | Asian Media Leaders Summit 2020
Asian Media Leaders Summit 2020
VP, International Events, Dow Jones
Angus is Vice President of International Events at Dow Jones/The Wall Street Journal - a role he assumed in 2017, after almost twelve years with Dow Jones in a variety of event based roles, initially starting as an Events Assistant in 2008 for Financial News - another Dow Jones title.
Angus has full accountability and responsibility for overseeing all event & experience management for the full Dow Jones product suite outside of the US including -The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s Group, the Professional Information Business and the Corporate Group - leading a team of twelve based in London and Hong Kong.
While Angus ensures the successful delivery of all events within his regions - his key focus are the flagship conferences/events that are hosted within his regions - most notably the pop up Journal House concept which he and the team recently produced at the 2020 World Economic Forum in Davos - a concept also previously showcased in Cannes and Singapore.
Before joining Dow Jones Angus worked in a number of hospitality and event management roles for firms including - Visa Europe, Carnival Cruises and Langham Hotels.
Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Singapore Press Holdings Ltd., Singapore
Anthony joined SPH as Executive Vice-President, Chinese Media Group in February 2015. Anthony was appointed Deputy Chief Executive Officer on 1 July 2016. He oversees the media businesses of SPH, which includes titles such as Straits Times, Lianhe Zaobao, Berita Harian, Tamil Murasu, as well as radio stations under SPH Radio.
Anthony also manages the Group’s Healthcare business.
Prior to joining SPH, Anthony was Deputy Secretary (Policy), Ministry of Health and concurrently Special Assistant to the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew (2011-2014). During his career with the Singapore Public Service spanning more than 15 years, he served in various organisations including the Ministry of Finance, Home Affairs, Manpower as well as the People’s Association.
Anthony currently serves on the boards of Singapore Power Limited and several SPH subsidiaries. He also serves on private/non-profit organisations.
Anthony graduated from the National University of Singapore in 1997 with a Bachelor of Social Science (Honours) in Political Science. He also has a Master of Science (Management) degree from the Stanford Business School.
Strategist, Cyber Communications Inc.
Asako Nojima joined Cyber Communications Inc. as a Strategist in 2012. She has worked with global advertising agencies and platform companies such as WPP Group, Google, Facebook and gained significant experience in the marketing and advertising industry.
She is now responsible for developing business in Japan by forming alliances and partnerships with global ad-technology companies across buy-side products.
She is also involved in creating and executing the tactical strategies needed to help global partners and products penetrate the Japanese market. This includes expanding business through cooperation with all stakeholders and using market research for trend analysis and for identifying new opportunities.
Editor in Chief, Vision Group, Uganda
Barbara joined the New Vision in 1992 as a sub-editor trainee and rose through the ranks to Deputy Features Editor and then Features Editor, a position she held for ten years. In 2006, she was appointed deputy Editor-in-Chief and in April 2010, she was promoted to Editor-in-Chief. Barbara’s current responsibilities include overseeing the editorial strategy and journalistic standards of the Vision media platforms. Vision Group owns nine newspapers, six radio stations, three TV stations, a set of magazines and websites.
She heads the editorial team that provides leadership in all managerial aspects: strategic planning, content generation and editing, product marketing, staff development, audience interaction and external relations.
Barbara holds a Masters Degree in Journalism and Media studies from Rhodes University, South Africa and a post-graduate Diploma in Practical Journalism from the Thompson Foundation, Cardiff, United Kingdom. Before she became a journalist, Barbara was a high school teacher. To this effect, she holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Education from Makerere University and a Masters Degree in Education from Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
Barbara was an international Journalism Exchange fellow in 2007 with the International Centre for Journalists and American Society of Newspaper Editors.
Her speciality is development journalism and she has coached and groomed many journalists in Uganda towards this. In 2012, Barbara received the National Jubilee Award in recognition of her contribution to the media in Uganda.
Together with the team at Vision they have evolved a unique brand of journalism that has grown from simply telling stories to media products that foster development by offering role model practices in farming, education, health, entrepreneurship, environment etc. These projects started off as newspaper stories but they have since developed into big media projects and events throughout the country.
Director Consumer Business - Schibsted Media
Bård Skaar Viken is Director Consumer Business in Schibsted Media. In his position Bård is responsible for all user revenues across four major Norwegian news media brands: Aftenposten, Bergens Tidende, Stavanger Aftenblad and Fædrelandsvennen. He also oversees a portfolio of magazines, niche services and junior products.
He joined Schibsted in August 2012 and has been in his current role since January 2017. Prior to his current role Bård has been Director Product and Consumer Business in Stavanger Aftenblad (2014-2015) and Director Digital User Revenues Schibsted Norway Subscription Media (2016)
Since 2014 he has worked primarily on growing Schibsteds subscription business with a special focus on increasing the number of paying digital subscribers, refining paid content models, drive conversion/sales and improving the overall customer journey.
He is a board member in the Norwegian Media Businesses’ Association.
Bård graduated from the University of Oslo in 2009 with a Master in Political Science and International Political Economy. He also has a Bachelor in International Studies.
Partner / Mainland China and Hong Kong Media Leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Cecilia is a Partner in our Assurance practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers and has been appointed as Mainland and Hong Kong Media Leader since 2018. Cecilia holds a BA (Hon) in Economics from the University of Hong Kong and is a member of Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants. She is also an AIPCA qualification holder. She has more than 20 years of assurance and business advisory experience across Asia Pacific region.
Cecilia has extensive experience in both China and Hong Kong which includes audits, financial due diligence, risk assessments review, floatation work and Sarbanes Oxley 404 control audits. She has deep understanding and relevant experience in dealing with IPO related issues for media, technology, education and medical industries.
During her career, she has led the teams to serve a number of reputable listed and the multi national companies including Television Broadcast Limited, Sony Corporation, The Interpublic Group of Companies, Metro Newspaper Group, Emap and Beijing Youth Daily IOP etc.
Director, Digital Skills Agency, Australia
Corinne Podger is a results-driven consultant and training facilitator, through her consultancy, the Digital Skills Agency. She has a proven track record of supporting newsrooms, NGOs and social impact organisations in more than 50 countries to implement digital innovations that grow audiences and support business priorities. Corinne’s expertise draws on more than 30 years in the media industry as a reporter, editor, lecturer and author. Her specialisms include digital-first newsgathering, online verification, mobile journalism, social multimedia production, podcasting and audio storytelling, and strategic audience engagement that drives brand awareness and media revenue. Her clients include WAN-IFRA, Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, European Journalism Centre, Thomson Reuters Foundation, BBC Media Action, and ABC Australia. She also works with science and public health organisations to tackle misinformation and disinformation. Corinne teaches on a sessional basis at the Universities of Sydney and Melbourne, and speaks regularly at international journalism conferences. She is a firm advocate of media diversity and inclusion in all her work.
School of Journalism & Communication, University of Oregon / Fellow, Tow Center for Digital Journalism, Columbia University
Damian Radcliffe is the Carolyn S. Chambers Professor in Journalism, a Professor of Practice, and an affiliate of the Department for Middle East and North Africa Studies (MENA), at the University of Oregon. Alongside holding the Chambers Chair at the School of Journalism and Communication (SOJC), he is also a Fellow of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University, an Honorary Research Fellow at Cardiff University’s School of Journalism, Media and Culture Studies, and a fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA).
An experienced digital analyst, consultant, journalist, and researcher, Damian has worked in editorial, research, policy, and teaching positions for the past two decades in the UK, Middle East, and USA. This includes roles in all media sectors (commercial, public, government, regulatory, academic, and nonprofit/civil society) and all platforms (print, digital, TV and radio).
Damian continues to be an active journalist, writing monthly columns for ZDNet (CBS Interactive) and What's New in Publishing, and frequently writing for other outlets such as Journalism.co.uk and the International Journalists’ Network (IJNet). He writes about digital trends, social media, technology, the business of media, and the evolution of journalism.
Inquirer Prime Content Editor and Writing Editor for the Business section, Philippine Daily Inquirer
Director of Insights & Editor-in-Chief, WAN-IFRA, Germany
Dean is Director of Insights and Editor-in-Chief of WAN-IFRA, he is responsible for coordinating all activities related to the organisation's array of multimedia publications. He has more than 25 years’ experience working in the news publishing industry, much of that time spent researching, analysing, identifying and ultimately reporting about global media developments.
Coach, Table Stakes Europe / Journalism lecturer, UK
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.
Marketing Strategic Manager, Kompas Daily
Eko Prabowo is Marketing Strategic Manager at Kompas Daily. He has 16 years’ experience in media research, print circulation, advertising, and innovation, especially in digital media products.
COO, South China Morning Post
Elsie Cheung was appointed Chief Operating Officer of the South China Morning Post in January 2011. In this vital role, she implements strategic change to bring SCMP’s cultural and digital transformation to bear. She spearheads SCMP’s business operations, including advertising and marketing solutions, circulation and syndication, global marketing, print production, and the recruitment services business.
Ms Cheung started her career at SCMP before broadening her experience at other well-established organisations including Television Broadcast Limited (TVB), Hong Kong Telecom, and Sunevision. Upon her return to SCMP, Ms Cheung held the senior leadership positions of Head of Sales and Director of Advertising prior to her appointment as COO; she is now a 17-year veteran of the company.
Co-founder, fathm, London, UK
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.
CEO, South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd
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.
Chief Operating Officer, VICE Media Group
Hosi Simon is the Chief Operating Officer of VICE Media Group globally and oversees international operations, shared services including production and marketing, across VICE’s five lines of business – Studios, Television, Digital, News and VIRTUE as well as Pulse Films, i-D and Garage. Collaborating with global line of business leaders, he is leading emerging businesses, global expansion, and transformation. Simon has been with VICE for over 14 years - most recently CEO of VICE Media Group Asia-Pacific and Executive Managing Director, International.
VP, Digital, South China Morning Post
Ian Hocking is Vice-President for Digital at the South China Morning Post where he provides strategic direction and leadership to deliver sustainable revenue across all SCMP digital platforms. He is responsible for the company’s digital agenda both internationally and in Hong Kong, ensuring digital operations deliver the highest quality experience for SCMP’s marketing partners.
Mr Hocking was previously Head of Programmatic and Data at NewsUK, a division of News Corp, which publishes The Sun and The Times of London, where he successfully led adtech and strategic partnerships, building their capabilities and reputation to an internationally renowned standard.
Before joining NewsUK, Mr. Hocking was the Head of Agency Sales and Programmatic for ebay.co.uk.
Chief Commercial Officer, Singapore Press Holdings
As Chief Commercial Officer, Ignatius leads the team that sells and executes advertising and content marketing solutions across SPH’s print, digital, radio and outdoor media platforms.
After 17 years in The Straits Times newsroom, Ignatius crossed over to media sales in 2016 to lead the merger of what were previously separate sales teams for each of the four platforms. Today, the team is a one-stop integrated sales unit that handles about $1 million in ad bookings daily. The next phase of transformation will see SPH better leverage its unique position as a multi-platform and multi-lingual media owner with premium paying audiences, in order to offer more impactful and efficient ad solutions that are both online and offline.
During his time in the newsroom, Ignatius was business editor and news editor at The Straits Times. He also wrote a fortnightly column in Sunday Life that ran for more than 12 years and has written or co-written four books. In his last role as managing editor of the newspaper, he was responsible for newsroom operations including staff recruitment and deployment, budget and project management, strategic partnerships and business development. He was also part of the core team that planned and executed the newsroom’s digital transformation.
Senior Fellow, Centre for Media Transition, University of Technology, Sydney
Jacqui is a journalist, editor and media strategist. She is a senior research fellow at the Centre for Media Transition at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) and founder and principal of Engagement By Design. She is currently advising the International Press Institute on membership and digital transition strategy. She writes a fortnightly newsletter on media startups and innovation in Asia Pacific. Previously she was CEO of the prestigious Australian Walkley Foundation for journalism, co-founder of the Splice Beta festival for Asian media startups and innovators in 2019 and a 2016 Knight fellow at Stanford University. Her research on news media innovation 2020 was published by UTS in December 2019.
Senior Director of Customer Education, Chartbeat, USA
President, Innovation Media Consulting Group, UK
As a Partner at Innovation, Juan Senor has directed projects all over the world helping news operations to re-invent their products and stay relevant with shifting audiences. He has worked and advised hundreds of media companies on every continent. He serves on the Advisory Board of several media companies around the world.
He has been listed as one of 'The World's Leading Innovators' in Journalism and Media' by Journalism UK Site.
Mr Señor is a highly-sought commentator on the media industry, speaking at global forums and quoted frequently in leading publications such as The Economist and The Financial Times.
He is also the co-editor of two annuals books; Innovation in NewsMedia and Innovation in MagazineMedia, written on behalf of WAN-IFRA and the FIPP respectively.
He is a former journalist and presenter for PBS's NewsHour, EBN-Wall Street Journal TV, CNBC Europe. And he served as London correspondent of International Herald Tribune Television. His work has been nominated for an Emmy Award and his television programme, Media Report, was voted by viewers as Europe’s Best Business Programme. He continues to work as a live events and television host and presenter globally.
Executive Editor of In Zhejiang , Zhejiang Daily Press Group
Ke Ye is the executive editor of In Zhejiang, a leading English-language website of Zhejiang Daily Press Group.
In Zhejiang covers stories about Zhejiang, China and trending topics in the world. Prior to handling the operations of In Zhejiang, Ke’s works centered on the coordination of global communication for ZDPG.
Born in Zhejiang, Ke currently lives in Hangzhou, the capital city of Zhejiang Province. Ke is a graduate from London School of Economics and Political Science.
Media analyst & Newsonomics author, USA
Ken Doctor’s work centers on the disruption and transformation of the news business in the digital age. For 15 years, he has covered both the great successes of digital transformation and democracy-crippling losses of local news across the Western World. He speaks, writes and consults with companies and associations on four continents, and has become a go-to source, much quoted in media across the globe, on the landscape and the road ahead.
Newsonomics is the word he coined to describe this new discipline of understanding the money flow within the print and broadcast transition to digital. His Newsonomics site collects his broadcast appearances, and his work, including his columns for Harvard’s Nieman Journalism Lab.
That career followed a 21-year one with Knight Ridder, then the country’s second-largest newspaper company, where he served in a number of top newsroom and digital strategy roles.
Ken has been at work on his new local news model, Lookout Local, with the announcement of its launch time and place out in 2020 – and of its strategic partnership with the L.A. Times.
Senior Managing Director, Telecommunications, Media & Technology, FTI Consulting
Ken Harding is a Senior Managing Director in the Telecommunications, Media & Technology industry practice and leads the Publishing + Digital Media group. Mr. Harding has more than 30 years of professional experience in the publishing and media industry and has provided strategic business and transformation, due diligence and operational advisory, and leadership services to newspaper, magazine, printing, direct marking and additional media companies of varying size.
Mr. Harding has provided services to publishers of varying scale, including Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Boston Globe, Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune, Dallas Morning News, Denver Post, GFR Media, Houston Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, Palm Beach Post, Portland Oregonian, Prensa Libre, San Francisco Chronicle, and Tampa Bay Times.
Previous newspaper corporate clients include Advance Publications, AH. Belo, CNHI, Cox Media Group, Digital First Media, Gannett, Hearst Newspapers, Lee Enterprises, McClatchy, Postmedia, SCNI, Sun Media, Tribune Publishing and Unidad Editorial.
Prior to joining FTI Consulting, Mr. Harding was President and Chief Executive Officer of Harding Consulting Alliance, a boutique consulting firm specializing in performance optimization across media businesses’ core functional areas.
Before that, Mr. Harding was corporate Vice President of Operations and Distribution for Tribune Publishing.
Editor, Generation T & Director, Tatler Asia Lists
Lee Williamson is a Hong Kong-based journalist with a decade of experience in the Greater China region. Formerly in the editor’s chair at Time Out Beijing, he now heads up editorial for Generation T, Tatler Asia's content and events platform for young leaders who are shaping Asia’s future. He was selected as a WAN-IFRA World Editors Forum Asia Young Media Leaders Fellow 2020.
President, Caixin Media
Ms. Lihui Zhang is the President of Caixin Media, Founding Director & Secretary General of Caixin Foundation, and one of the founding members for Caixin. Being in charge of business operation and management, she is committed to branding Caixin as the leading financial news media group in China by devoting herself to promoting innovation of products and business models of Caixin Media. Her former posts include Director of Strategic Development, Vice President, Executive Vice President and Executive President of Caixin. Prior to Caixin, Ms. Zhang served as Director of Strategic Development of Caijing Magzine and Vice President of New Alliance Consulting International Group. Ms. Zhang holds a MA degree from Harbin Engineering University and a joint executive MBA from Fordham University & Peking University.
Chief Membership Officer, Malaysiakini, Malaysia
A graduate in English Literature from the University Malaya, Lynn D'Cruz started her career lecturing in English for 10 years. After which, she left and joined the media.
In 2014, she spearheaded Malaysiakini’s first crowdfunding campaign. The Buy a Brick campaign raised RM 1.7 million towards financing Malaysiakini’s first self-owned premise @Kini, in Petaling Jaya. She also led the interior design of @Kini which promotes a productive and engaging working environment.
She implemented Malaysiakini’s internship programme, which is aimed at helping the younger generation understand the importance of independent media.
She has a Masters in Managerial Psychology and is a 2019 Google News Initiative Newsroom Leadership Programme Fellow. She joined Malaysiakini in 2011 and today heads its Membership Development department.
Her policy in life is quite simple “It’s not a job, it’s life.”
Chief Strategy & Digital Transformation Officer, The Daily Star
With over 14 years of experience across variegated fields, Tajdin is currently the Chief Strategy & Digital Transformation Officer at The Daily Star, the leading English daily in Bangladesh. Apart from being a distinctive leader who has been highlighted in INMA- International News Media Association, GXpress- An Australian Tech Newspaper, Global Ties U.S., etc., Tajdin is an adjunct faculty member at Daffodil International University.
Tajdin is also a successful Google Squared (The digital marketing leadership course developed with Google) online graduate. He is also passionate about writing articles in his blog (www.tajdinhassan.com) and sharing those on various social networking sites.
Managing Director, Asia, Syno International
As MD for Asia and Head of Marketing at Syno International, Michael McDowell is responsible for building Syno's business throughout Asia, in particular, ex-Japan and Korea, and coordinating global marketing efforts. Syno International works with many different industries, including market research, media, and brands.
Having grown up in the United States, Michael moved to Japan in 2004 and has been with Syno since 2018.
CEO and Founder of García Media, USA
Dr Mario Garcia is CEO and Founder of Garcia Media, a global consulting firm.
He is also the Senior Adviser for News Design/Adjunct Professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, which he joined in 2013 as the Hearst Digital Media Professor in Residence.
He is known worldwide as one of the premiere media designers, having completed over 700 projects in 120 countries, including TheThe Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Paris Match (France) , South China Morning Post (Hong Kong), New Straits Times (Malaysia), Aftenposten (Norway), The Philadelphia Inquirer, Die Zeit and Handelsblatt (Germany), all the McClatchy newspapers in the US, eight Postmedia newspapers in Canada, Goteborgs Posten( Sweden), Il Secolo XIX (Italy), The Citizen (South Africa). His current projects include Tagesspiegel (Berlin), Kurier (Vienna) and NOZ Digital group (Hamburg).
Currently, Dr. Garcia devotes most of his consulting and workshops to help organizations with transformation to a mobile-first approach, including training for how to write/edit/design for the smallest platform - that of the smartphone - where a large percentage of users get their information.
His mobile storytelling digital book, The Story, was published in late 2019 in a trilogy covering Transformation, Storytelling and Design.
Mario founded the Graphics & Design program at The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, where he serves as a member of the Poynter Foundation. He has been involved with the Institute's EyeTrack studies since the 1980s, including the most recent EyeTrack for the Tablet in 2012.
His academic career includes full professor at both Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Public Communications and the University of South Florida's Department of Mass Communications. He is the author of 13 books, including his first digital publication, Storytelling in the Age of the iPad.
Mario has received over 300 SND Awards including the Lifetime Achievement Award. People Magazine selected Mario among the 100 Most Influential Hispanics. The University of Missouri awarded Mario its Medal of Honor in Journalism.
Senior Vice President, CNN Digital Programming, USA
S. Mitra Kalita is the senior vice president for news, opinion and programming for CNN Digital. Kalita leads the national news desk and efforts to creatively share CNN's journalism and storytelling across an ever-exploding array of platforms.
Her portfolio also includes the Entertainment team, News & Alerting, and Mobile & Off-Platform teams. She arrived at CNN in 2016.
Kalita was previously managing editor for editorial strategy at the Los Angeles Times. During her time there, she helped latimes.com traffic soar to nearly 60 million unique multiplatform visitors monthly, innovated new forms of storytelling and increased audience engagement, including hiring a correspondent to cover "Black Twitter." She launched Education Matters, a vertical covering L.A. schools that connected the Times to new communities via events, new beats, translations and partnerships. She helped direct coverage of a mass shooting in San Bernardino (notably, a multimedia reconstruction of the police pursuit ending in the killers' deaths) that led the Times to win a Pulitzer Prize in breaking news.
She also served as the executive editor at large for Quartz, Atlantic Media's global economy site, and was its founding ideas editor, reimagining opinion and commentary for the internet. She also oversaw the launches of Quartz India and Quartz Africa, working closely with sales, product and marketing teams along the way.
Kalita worked previously at the Wall Street Journal, where she directed coverage of the Great Recession, launched a local news section for New York City and reported on the housing crisis as a senior writer for Page 1. She was a founding editor and columnist of Mint, a business paper in New Delhi, and has previously worked for the Washington Post, Newsday and the Associated Press. She has won many awards for her journalism and her series on the Indian economy is included in the "Best Business Writing."
Kalita is the author of two books related to migration and globalization, including the highly acclaimed "Suburban Sahibs," about how immigrants transformed the American suburb, and "My Two Indias," an economic memoir and study on globalization. She has studied seven languages (English, Assamese, Bengali, Hindi, Spanish, French, Mandarin Chinese) and can converse in at least five of them.
A former journalism professor at St. John's, UMass-Amherst, and Columbia University, she also previously served as president of the South Asian Journalists Association. She speaks frequently on diversity in media, digital innovation and managing change.
Editor-in-Chief, APAC, VICE World News
Natashya Gutierrez is Editor-in-Chief of VICE World News in APAC. In her role, she oversees teams in Australia, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Korea and Japan, and is growing VICE's coverage across Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, and Thailand. Prior to this, she spent seven years as an multimedia journalist reporting on human rights and women’s issues in Southeast Asia, as Regional Correspondent for Rappler. She has been awarded several journalism fellowships including the 2015 Asian Journalism Fellowship in Singapore. Natashya received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Yale University, and was a Yale Journalism Scholar.
Co-founder and Chairman, PictureWealth
Neal Cross is a globally recognized corporate, social and start-up entrepreneur with a long track record across blue-chip technology, finance and data companies. He is currently co-founder and chairman of PictureWealth, one of the world’s fastest growing wealth fintech companies managing over $2bn of funds and serves on the advisory board of Razer Fintech. Prior to this, Cross was the Chief Innovation Officer at DBS Bank, where in his tenure he drove their transformation into a global innovation powerhouse culminating in achieving the world’s best Digital Bank 2016 and 2018 and worlds best bank 3 times across 2018 and 2019.
He has personally been awarded the world’s most disruptive CIO/CTO globally from judges Sir Richard Branson and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and is a regular winner of best innovation lab and innovation leader awards. In June 2020, he was awarded a lifetime achievement award for Innovation from The Digital Banker.
His early life as a game developer has left him with a passion for gaming and the realisation that software should be engaging and rewarding. To this end Cross is passionate about solving problems in an elegant manner and deploys world class programs to engage the entire work force in the business of innovation. Cross has advised hundreds of the major brands in Asia and is a trusted adviser to several leading CEO’s, government agencies and start-ups.
In his spare time, he has built social enterprises to help save the endangered orangutans and coral reefs in Sumatra. and due to this was recently listed in The Meaningful Business 100 which focuses on the individual, cutting through the corporate messaging to uncover which leaders are driving truly impactful, purpose-led business to align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Strategic Partner Manager, Instagram APAC
As a Strategic Partner Manager with Instagram Asia Pacific, Nicci works closely with creators on best creative practices and integrations on the Instagram platform. She is based in Singapore.
Prior to this current role, Nicci was a liaison for Channel Partnerships at Foxtel and covered external channel groups, including Discovery, Turner, Disney, Viacom and the BBC. One of her favourite career moments was launching the Foxtel Kids App in 2016. Nicci has over seven years of experience in traditional media production focused on brand integration and broadcast talent for national Australian networks and production companies.
Nicci holds a Bachelor of Media in Screen Production from Macquarie University. She loves cooking and watching all kinds of sports.
Owner and Executive Chairman, Los Angeles Times and The San Diego Union-Tribune
Patrick Soon-Shiong, MD, is a surgeon, scientist, inventor, and philanthropist with over 400 issued worldwide patents and 100 scientific publications. He serves as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NantWorks, an ecosystem of companies with deep understandings in a wide variety of complex industries, from medical science to physics, from data to AI and from communications to mobility.
Under the NantWorks umbrella, Soon-Shiong serves as Chairman and CEO of NantKwest, a Nasdaq-listed immunotherapy company focusing on natural killer cells; Chairman and CEO of NantHealth, a Nasdaq listed transformational healthcare company converging biomolecular medicine and bioinformatics with deep learning AI to empower physicians, patients, payers, pharma and researchers to transcend the traditional barriers of today's healthcare system; Chairman of NantEnergy, a privately-held company accelerating the worldwide transformation to clean, reliable energy disrupting industrial scale methods of heat production, cement and plastics manufacturing ; and Owner and Executive Chairman of California Times, publisher of two of the states largest newspapers, the Los Angeles Times and The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Dr Soon-Shiong is also Chairman of the Chan Soon-Shiong Family Foundation and of the Chan Soon-Shiong Institute of Molecular Medicine, a nonprofit medical research organization.
Born and raised during apartheid in South Africa, Dr. Soon-Shiong has lived in Los Angeles since 1980 and is a citizen of the United States.
Events Director, Audience Growth, South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd
Rohan Tiwary, Head of Media, News & Entertainment Partnerships, APAC, Google Asia Pacific, Singapore
Rohan Tiwary is a technology and media executive with experience across sales, strategy consulting and product marketing. As Head of Media, News & Entertainment Partnerships for Google Asia Pacific, he is responsible for conceptualising and managing complex cross-Google initiatives including the Google News Initiative for the region. These initiatives are aimed at bringing relevant solutions to partners in the media industry to help them remain at the forefront of innovation and technology. Prior to joining Google, Rohan led management consulting projects at Accenture for the Communications, Media and Technology industries. He also has varied experience in strategy and sales with the Times Group and STAR group (Disney) in India.
Managing Director, Jang Media Group
Sarmad Ali is Managing Director at the Jang Media Group, Pakistan’s largest media conglomerate having presence in Print, Broadcast and the Digital space. He is responsible for the group’s revenue function.
Sarmad has over thirty years of experience in marketing, advertising and media management. He has been associated with the Jang Group since 1994 when he joined the group as Executive Director of the English daily “The News”. Under his stewardship, The News became one of Pakistan’s two premier English dailies. In 1997 he took over as the Group’s Executive Director, Marketing & Sales and in 2006 was promoted as Managing Director.
Prior to joining the Jang Group, Sarmad has been associated with some of the country’s leading advertising agencies including IAL/Saatchi, where he worked as Director Client Service from 1987 to 1993.
He is presently President of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) and has previously served as its Secretary General and Joint Secretary. He is also President of the International Advertising Association’s Pakistan Chapter and serves on IAA’s Global Board of Directors. Sarmad also serves on the council of the World Branding Forum. He is Board member and Hony Secretary of the Management Association of Pakistan. He is also the Chairman of the Ad-Asia 2019 organizing committee.
Described as of one of Pakistan’s marketing thought leaders, Sarmad has been thrice the President of the Marketing Association of Pakistan. In 1999, he was awarded the coveted Marketing Excellence Award for his contribution in the field of marketing, Ranked amongst Pakistan’s top 100 Business Leaders, Sarmad received the Asian Brand Leadership Award from the Asian Brand Congress in 2007 and the 50 Most Talented CMOs Award at the World Marketing Summit in 2013.
In 2013, the President of Pakistan conferred upon Sarmad the Sitara-I-Imtiaz, Pakistan’s third highest Civil Award.
He serves on the Governing Board of the Intellectual Property Organization, Cabinet Division, Government of Pakistan and on the Board of Directors of the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP). He has served in the past, as member of the Prime Minister’s Task Force on Privatisation and Investment in 2003 and as member of the Sindh I. T. Board from 2000–2003.
Sarmad has also been on the Jury of the Global AME Awards (Advertising & Marketing Effectiveness) as well as the M&M Global Media Marketing & Advertising Awards and INMA (International News Media Association) awards.
Sarmad is also on the Board of Directors of the Pakistan Parkinson’s Society and Board of Governors of the Friends of the Burns Centre.
He holds a Master degree from Villanova University, Pa, USA.
Tagesspiegel/The Daily Mirror, Berlin
Sebastian Turner is the publisher of Tagesspiegel, the German capital newspaper. He studied political science, economic history and business administration in Bonn and at Duke University in the USA. In 1985 he founded "Medium - Magazin für Journalisten", which he published until 1995. In 1990 he founded offices of the international communication group Scholz & Friends (www.s-f.com) in Dresden and later in Berlin, where he was CEO until 2008. In 2009 he initiated the international Falling Walls Science Conference (www.falling-walls.com), Berlin. Since 2013 he has been on the supervisory board of DvH Medien-Holding of Dieter von Holtzbrinck (ZEIT, Handelsblatt, Tagesspiegel, Wirtschaftswoche), and since 2014 he is publisher and shareholder of the Tagesspiegel.
Co-founder & CEO, Antsomi
Serm Teck Choon (Serm) is a digital evangelist who is passionate about using digital to help businesses transform.
Serm is the co-founder & CEO of Antsomi, a marketing technology company building the first artificial intelligence-enabled customer data platform, CDP 365, in Southeast Asia, empowering companies to unify and activate their customer data.
Serm was President of the Malaysian Digital Association (MDA) from Mar 2016 till Apr 2020. Serm was also former Malaysia Country Head at CtrlShift.
Before he joined CtrlShift, Serm was Digital Products Head at Star Media Group, a listed media company in Malaysia. He played a key role in building its digital business as one of the key growth areas for the media group.
Working for CtrlShift, Serm oversaw CtrlShift Malaysia's operation and led product initiatives and strategic partnerships regionally. Serm launched AMP, Asia's first multi-publisher, multi-geography marketplace for premium inventory. Serm also played a crucial role in commercializing CtrlShift's flagship product, The Hub, an enterprise advertising software.
As one of the founding members of MDA, Serm actively involves in industry initiatives. He launched the Malaysian audience measurement currency under MDA in 2010, while he also helped Audit Bureau of Circulations Malaysia (ABC Malaysia) to launch ePaper auditing in 2013.
Serm was elected as President of MDA in Mar 2016 and Apr 2018, respectively. He worked closely with MDA members and industry leaders to drive MDA's key initiatives, such as digital measurement standards, Digital Wednesday, MDA School, Best Practices Reports, MDA Video Series, and d Awards.
Serm is an active industry thought leader and is regularly invited by regional and Malaysian media to share his views on the latest digital trends and developments. He is also a sought-after speaker in digital-related conferences, and mentor/judge for start-up competitions
Data & innovation Strategy, Google News Initiative, APAC
Sheena has been leading programs on the Google News Initiative since its launch in APAC in 2018. She has worked with partner newsrooms on programs that span the full spectrum of newsroom operations and strategy, from diversity, equity, and inclusion to analytics and data. She has designed and executed programs like the GNI APAC Subscription Lab, Design Accelerator & Data Labs in 2019-2020, helping newsrooms develop ideas for news products that serve the needs of both their audiences and internal constituencies.
Sheena's professional background also includes experience in brand strategy, programmatic ad technology, mobile app productization and sales, and media production - in both corporate and non-profit settings. She also possesses rich geographical experience having worked in different Asian markets including Tokyo, Sydney, and now Singapore.
CEO, Stuff Ltd, New Zealand
Sinead was appointed Stuff CEO in August 2017, following a career of more than two decades in media in New Zealand and abroad. Prior to becoming CEO, Sinead was New Zealand Group Executive Editor for four years, responsible for New Zealand’s largest newsroom. Under Sinead’s guise, Stuff’s stable of newspapers, magazines and number one news site, Stuff.co.nz, grew to record audience numbers and was named New Zealand’s most influential publishing brand.
Sinead started her career as a reporter for The Press and gained international experience in London working as a digital journalist for the Financial Times site and as a general correspondent for Reuters’ London bureau. She was Stuff’s first digital editor, leading the growth of the young Stuff site into the largest digital brand in New Zealand.
In 2015, Sinead won Fairfax’s internal Woman of Influence Award recognising the special role she has had in advancing gender diversity, at Fairfax and beyond.
Sinead was also awarded the 2012 Wolfson Fellowship prize, the highest personal accolade in New Zealand journalism.
Sinead is a strong leader with a passion for inclusive and diverse workplaces and digitally-advanced business.
Deputy Director, Digital Revenue Network, WAN-IFRA, France
Since joining WAN-IFRA in 1997, Valérie has accrued more than 20 years of experience as a media journalist. Currently, she is a team member of WAN-IFRA's Global Advisory division where she works with the Advisory Team in leading global consulting projects. She is also the Programme Lead for WAN-IFRA's top global conferences including: World News Media Congress and our Digital Media Event Series. She has contributed to numerous research reports, including Alternative Revenue Streams for Publishers. As part of her research, Valérie interviewed numerous publishers who had found success discovering new business models - whether its through events, e-commerce, video or marketing services - Valérie has experience taking the pulse on what generates revenue for publishers.
Editor-in-Chief, The Straits Times & SPH's English/Malay/Tamil Media Group, Singapore
Warren Fernandez joined the paper in 1990 as a political reporter and rose to become a News Editor. He went on to serve as Foreign Editor and Deputy Editor.
Fernandez then joined Royal Dutch Shell in 2008 as a Global Manager for its Future Energy Project, before returning to the paper in February 2012 as its Editor. He assumed the role of Editor-in-Chief of Singapore Press Holdings’ (SPH) English/Malay/Tamil Media group (EMTM) from July 2016.
Fernandez graduated with First Class Honours from Oxford University, where he read Philosophy, Politics and Economics. He also holds a Master’s in Public Administration from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
