Speaker details will be announced soon - to enquire about speaking opportunities please contact Gavin Whitechurch on:
Tel:+44 (0)20 7017 5130 or email gavin.whitechurch@informa.com

2009 Speakers

Alex Limberis, Chief Operating Officer, Syabas Technology/"Popcorn Hour"

As chief operating officer for Syabas Technology, Alex Limberis manages the company's marketing, product planning and business development from its headquarters in Fremont, California. Mr. Limberis is a 20+ year veteran in software, data communications and media technologies. Prior to joining Syabas he was the director of wireless, broadband and consumer electronics in Microsoft's Digital Media Division where he drove Microsoft's success in the ubiquitous adoption of Windows Media into the consumer electronics, wireless and broadband ecosystems. In this capacity Mr. Limberis gained extensive experience in the areas of mobile wireless, IPTV, MP3 players and music and video services such as Verizon, Tivo, Amazon and Netflix. He drove Microsoft to join the DVD Forum and then served on the DVD Forum steering committee which resulted in the adoption of Windows Media into the HD-DVD and Blu-ray standards. Mr. Limberis also served as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Dolby Labs where he defined Dolby's strategy to enter the networked entertainment ecosystems. Previously he was a vice president at PMI (acquired by Microsoft), VP of strategic marketing at Aureal Semiconductor (acquired by Creative Labs), VP and GM at Korg (Yamaha), and a founder of Ensoniq (acquired by Creative Labs). Mr. Limberis holds several patents in the DSP and media fields. He was a B.S. in electrical engineering major at Drexel University and holds an M.B.A. from Santa Clara University.

Andrew Bethell, CEO, Teachers TV

Andrew Bethell began his career teaching in London’s inner city schools for over 16 years. In 1987, he left teaching to found independent production company, Double Exposure.  He quickly established a reputation as one of the country’s leading documentary producers as well as a prolific and successful producer of programming for teachers and schools.

Since 2003, he has been the creative, and editorial, driving force behind the success of Teachers TV.  In 2006, he was appointed Chief Executive and in 2008 led the team which secured a further five year contract from the UK government.

Bernard Rapaille, Head of TV, Belgacom

Bernard Rapaille started as Producer into the Music Industry in early nineties and crosses over to the audio-visual sector in 98.  He Produced and Directed a lot of video clips, corporate and commercials for various agencies and companies before specialising him selves into TV productions as from 2003.  In 2005, the Spanish group Media Pro requested his support and give him the production direction of the Belgian Football 1ST division LIVE broadcast on the new iPTV platform of biggest Belgian Telco Belgacom. He succeeds to set up in a record time a complete team of experts able to guaranty flawlessly 305 LIVE games a year.  In 2006, Belgacom asked to become Executive Producer of the Belgacom Media Studio’s ( BMS ) of Belgacom TV.  After a lot of new innovative developments for the group going from video goal-alert on mobile to end to end VOD encoding process set up for digital TV, he left his Head of Executive Production function to join the Editorial part of the Business as Head of TV.  Since September 2007, Bernard Rapaille and his team are concentrating themselves on content strategy.  As Head of TV of Belgacom, Bernard Rapaille is become end responsible of the content offer ( Channels, Bouquets, PPV’s, VoD ) and the interactivity ( UI, Red & Blue buttons, voting, etc…) of one of the best and fasted growing iPTV platforms of the world.

Bob Hughes DSc (Hons), Chief Executive, Association of Optometrists (AOP)

Bob Hughes has been Chief Executive of the Association of Optometrists (AOP) since the beginning of 2005 having served for seven years in the same position at the Federation of Ophthalmic and Dispensing Opticians (FODO). 

He played a key role in the establishment of the new School of Optometry at Anglia Ruskin University in 1998, and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Science by the University.     

Previously he was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Harrow West and served in Government as a Whip and as Cabinet Office Junior Minister for Science, Public Services and the Civil Service

Before that he worked in Film and Television as an Editor and Director.

David Webb, Nielsen

At Nielsen’s online division, David oversees management of clients in broadcast, print, social media, gaming and entertainment sectors for the UK.  The focus of his role is to develop closer relationships with these clients, helping them understand their digital user base and how new technologies and trends impact their advertising business. 

David joined Nielsen in from CNN International where he held dual roles, heading up digital research globally and overseeing advertising research in EMEA.  He oversaw the measurement and reporting of all digital platforms for the international division, developing proprietary studies to understand user behaviour and advertising effectiveness on emerging platforms such as video and mobile.

David Wood, Head of New Media, European Broadcasting Union

David Wood has worked for the BBC, IBA, and The European Broadcasting Union in the UK, Belgium, and Switzerland.  David was educated at Southampton University in the UK, the Popov Institute in Odessa, and the Harvard Business School in the United States.   David is the Chairman of the ITU Working Party 6C, which is responsible in the ITU for content origination, and he has been associated with a number of ITU Recommendations such as Rec. 500, Rec. 601, and Rec. 709.  His special subjects at the EBU include High Definition Television, Internet Television, and potential 3D television systems, and is author of papers and articles about them.   He has tried to help EBU Members to coordinate research and development for many years. 

Einar Kristian Vågmo, Product Manager, Streaming and Online TV, Telenor

Einar Kristian Vågmo is graduated telecom engineer, and has been working in Telenor Norway since 2001.  Since 2005 he has been working as product manager for streaming and broadband content.  Today Einar Kristian Vågmo is product manager for streaming and Online TV, the new web-tv portal Telenor has just launched.

Javier Lasa Castro, Manager Product Development, Prisacom (Grupo Prisa)

Javier Lasa has been working in digital media industry since 1998, with 4 years professional TV experience, 8 years of multimedia and 8 years of Consumer Internet content management experience.

He received his MA in Television Production from Middlesex University and B.Sc degree in Marketing and Advertising form Complutense University, Madrid and B.Sc degree in Information Science form Basque Country University, Bilbao.

His professional interest include new media and digital production, multimedia and online video. He actually manages at Prisacom product development for elpais.com (press) cuatro.com and plus.es (webTV), los40.com (online radio)

Kuldip Johal, Business Development Director, Samsung Electronics

Responsible for working with PayTV Operators and Content providers in Europe, Middle east and India to ensure that Samsung is able to develop and deliver products that meet their goals both immediately and in the future.

An individual with over 22 years of experience in the PayTV world where 14 have been as a supplier and 8 with a UK Cable TV Operator.

Michael Comish, CEO and Co-founder, blinkbox

Michael Comish is the CEO and co-founder of online TV and film company, blinkbox.  

Michael helped found one of the pioneers of online video, AtomFilms, where he served as AtomShockwave's President of international operations across Europe and Asia.  Over a three year period, Michael helped build a business revenue worth $25m which included two global websites. AtomShockwave was sold to Viacom for $200m in 2006.
 
Michael's experience led him to Channel 4 as Managing Director of 4 Services; a role which included running New Media, the Studio and Post Businesses, 4 Creative and Corporate Development.
 
The early part of his career was spent at Braxton Associates and later as partner at Mercer Management Consulting, where he advised media clients in Europe and the US.
 
Michael graduated from The University of Western Ontario, and later earned an MBA from INSEAD in France.

Bob Hughes has been Chief Executive of the Association of Optometrists (AOP) since the beginning of 2005 having served for seven years in the same position at the Federation of Ophthalmic and Dispensing Opticians (FODO). 

He played a key role in the establishment of the new School of Optometry at Anglia Ruskin University in 1998, and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Science by the University.     

Previously he was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Harrow West and served in Government as a Whip and as Cabinet Office Junior Minister for Science, Public Services and the Civil Service

Before that he worked in Film and Television as an Editor and Director. 

Paul Shen, CEO, TVUNetworks

Paul Shen, founder and CEO of TVU Networks, a live global Internet TV service with over 40 million viewers in 200 countries worldwide, is a renowned expert in the online video arena and a successful serial entrepreneur.  Paul was the founder and CEO at Imedia Corporation, a leader in digital video communication, and developer of the first statistical re-multiplexer, CherryPicker, which played a central role in digital television distribution in cable and satellite TV services.  Imedia Corp. was acquired by Terayon in 1999.  Previously, Paul defined the hardware architecture for General Instrument's first all-digital television system and the first digital high definition television (HDTV) system. He served as a General Instrument representative to the MPEG Committee, where he chaired the MPEG4 Syntax Group and led the effort to define a new object-oriented descriptive language. Paul holds 10 patents. Paul has a B.S. from the New York Institute of Technology and a M.S. degree from M.I.T., under well-known professor William Schreiber. 

Pascal Dormal, VP Group Development, Numericable

Pascal Dormal is in charge of Group Development at Numericable and also leads Numericable’s operations in Belgium.

Before joining Numericable, Pascal has spent 8 years with Telenet in Belgium where he was successively in charge of  business development, M&A, strategy and content activities.

He also spent 4 years at McKinsey, working mostly in the Telecom and Transportation areas.

He started his career as an officer at the Belgian Air Force, managing F16 avionics.

Pascal holds a MSc in Engineering (telecommunications), a Msc in Physics and a MBA.

Pierre Jean Sebert, Chief Executive Officer, SeeSaw

Pierre-Jean Sebert was appointed to the role of CEO for Arqiva’s new TV-on-demand service SeeSaw in August 2009.  Before joining Arqiva Pierre-Jean had been working as a senior advisor to major media and entertainment companies including Virgin Media (2nd largest pay-operator in the UK), ONO (largest cable-operator in Spain), UKTV (part JV between BBC Worldwide and Virgin Media), Rainbow Media (content division of US cablecom Cablevision), UEFA, and Broadcast Australia.  Pierre-Jean was Managing Director UK for Eurosport from 2001 to 2005 and had previously engineered the joint-venture with NTL for the launch of British Eurosport in 1999.  He also oversaw the launch of EurosportNews.  He was part of the original launch team of Eurosport, which has become the largest pan-European TV channel, and was with the organisation for 13 years.  He held successive roles as Head of Research (1992-95), Director of Programmes (1995-99), Secretary General in charge of Business Development (2000-01) and Managing Director UK (2001-05).  Under his leadership Eurosport UK went from £21m to £48m turnover between 2000 and 2005.

Richard Griffiths, Director of TV and Entertainment, Eircom, Ireland

Richard Griffiths is one of Europe’s leading telco TV authorities. He joined the Irish telco eircom in July 2008 as Director of TV and Entertainment after four years at BT as Director of Technology Strategy and Development of BT Vision. Prior to BT, he was on the management teams of two internet start-ups including the pioneering online streaming company Virtue Broadcasting that broadcast events from Madonna, Paul McCartney and Lennox Lewis. In the 1990s, he launched four cable TV channels and worked for the BBC, Channel 4 and GMTV. He has an MBA from London’s Imperial College Business School.

Richard Vargas, Senior Vice President of Development & Production, FMX (FremantleMedia)

Richard Vargas is Senior Vice President of Development & Production at FMX, the cross-media division of FremantleMedia. FMX is tasked with taking FremantleMedia’s core skills of storytelling, format creation and production and using them to create scripted and non-scripted online entertainment experiences.

At FMX, Richard is responsible for the development and production of new online entertainment experiences which are created by the FMX team and in partnership with third parties. Richard works with the FMX team to generate new entertainment ideas and collaborates with external partners to bring new projects to the market. He is also responsible for their execution. Some of FMX’s recent projects include Freak, an online drama produced with MySpace for Red Bull and P&G, as well as urfantastic, an online fan music website.

Before joining FMX, Richard worked in FremantleMedia’s Worldwide Entertainment division, where he looked after development activities across the group, working on projects to network and strengthen FremantleMedia’s Entertainment development.

Prior to that, Richard worked at Thames Television as a Series Producer, producing “The Richest…” a 20 x 30 minute factual entertainment series for Sky One, and in the Entertainment development division, where his credits include “The Farmer Want’s A Wife” for ITV1 in the UK.

Richard started his career in television working on natural history documentaries.

In his spare time Richard enjoys sailing and skiing.

Sian Baldwin, Director, Broadband & Content Services, BT Wholesale

Sian joined BT in 2004 and is currently BT Wholesale’s Director, Broadband & Content Services. Sian is responsible for the current and future direction of BT’s broadband business which supports 8million end users and the strategy and development of BT Wholesale’s 21st Century Network-based broadband and fibre portfolio. Additionally, Sian is leading BT Wholesale’s direction in the content services market. 

Sian’s key achievements at BT include, in 2005, leading a team of more that 200 people to develop and implement a single way of working for customer and sales management across 20 disparate country sites.  In 2007, Sian was responsible for running and improving the cost efficiency of BT’s billing platform globally. This encompassed more than 300 systems in more than 40 countries, operating in 30 different currencies. Additionally, Sian transformed BT Wholesale’s White Label Managed Services operation in 2008. This broadband and voice company ‘in a box’ enables brand extenders to become broadband operators without the need to hire any staff or build a network. Sian implemented a series of major changes that significantly improved the quality of the customer experience and increased the customer numbers and profitability of the service.

In 2009, Sian was recognised as one of the leading young executives in the telecoms industry when she was included in Global Telecoms Business's Forty under Forty 2009. She is currently studying at Harvard University.

Sian’s drive and commitment doesn’t just apply to her career.  When not at work, Sian can be found doing something adventurous. She trekked to Everest Base Camp in 2007 and climbed to the top of Kilimanjaro in 2009, raising several thousand for Asthma UK.

Simon Calver, Chief Executive Officer, LOVEFiLM International

Simon formed LOVEFiLM International in 2006 by merging with Video Island, where he was CEO to create one of Europe’s largest online entertainment services. In 2008 LOVEFiLM acquired the online DVD rental business from Amazon.

Previous roles include time as COO and President at Riverdeep in 2004/5, one of the fastest growing interactive digital education companies in the US. Simon has also been GM and VP of Dell’s UK and Ireland Home and Small Business Operation, International VP of Sales Operations for PepsiCola, and GM and VP of PepsiCola UK where he launched Pepsi Max and Pepsi Blue as well as developing Pepsi Music activity.

Early in his career he held a number of marketing and sales management positions at Unilever and was a senior associate in the Strategy and Marketing group of Coopers Deloitte management consultancy division.

Simon is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and was a finalist in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2008 and a London South East winner in 2009.