Javier Tebas Medrano (San Jose, Costa Rica, 1962), of Spanish nationality, holds a degree in Law from the University of Zaragoza. His involvement in football began in 1993, when he was named president of Sociedad Deportiva Huesca. In 2001, Tebas was elected vice-president of LALIGA, before being named president in April 2013. His tenure as LALIGA president has revolved around key core areas; the introduction of a financial controls system, the collective sale of audiovisual rights and its protection against piracy, and the league's internationalisation, while embracing innovation and data strategies.
Danny Townsend is the CEO of SURJ Sports Investment, leading the strategic direction of the organization as it invests in global sports, brings international events to Saudi Arabia, and elevates the sports ecosystem across the country and the wider MENA region. Since October 2023, he has been steering SURJ’s vision and operations. Recognized as a key influencer in the industry, Danny was listed among SportsPro’s Top Ten Influencers and Sports Business Journal’s Most Influential People in Sports Business in 2024.
With over 25 years of global expertise in the sports industry, Danny Townsend’s career spans leadership roles across New York, London, Singapore, and Sydney. Prior to joining SURJ, he served as CEO of the Australian Professional Leagues (APL) for two years and spent four years as CEO of Sydney FC, where he significantly advanced the commercial viability and global profile of professional football in Australia and New Zealand. He also co-founded Repucom International, a leading sports marketing agency acquired by Nielsen in 2016.
Andrea Marini is a renowned sports and media industry exec. His ongoing priority is leading a team of more than 1,000 experts as they facilitate the evolution of how we all access and enjoy content on every screen and on behalf of the most well-known household names. Becoming Deltatre CEO in his mid-30s, Andrea led the organization through a successful acquisition by Bain Capital and Nextalia SGR in 2022. He remains a significant shareholder in the business and sits on the Board. He combines his perceptive, entrepreneurial spirit with a truly multicultural and global outlook. He has lived, worked, and studied in Turin, London, Paris, Milan, Tokyo, New York, and Los Angeles. As former President of the Americas, he led strategy and operations in North, Central, and South America, plus Deltatre's Asia operations. He has earned several high-profile accolades and has been recognized twice by the Leaders Sports Awards as one of the foremost sports industry executives under the age of 40 to have moved the sports industry forward, and also by Sports Business Journal as a member of the Forty Under 40 Class.
With over 12 years of sports rights and broadcasting experience, Louisa is the CCO of Queensberry Promotions and leads the commercial partnerships arm, driving business development through incremental revenue streams, and with a focus on original content and rights development. Prior to Queensberry, Louisa headed the PPV business across Boxing, UFC and WWE, and the Boxing rights portfolio, for TNT Sport, (Warner Brothers Discovery) having previously held senior commercial and rights roles, as well as being responsible for the PPV launch and social media delivery for the UEFA Champions leagues finals for BTSport.
Julie Yamamoto is senior director of marketing at Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., leading the integrated campaign and brand partnerships practice. The brand partnerships portfolio includes Manchester United, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team, Mercedes F1 Academy, Snapdragon Stadium, and San Diego Padres.
Matthew leads the award-winning media team at LFC who's output never stops, resulting in LFC being the most engaged team in the Premier League for the past 2 seasons. With 2 x 24/7 linear TV Channels, a global OTT offering, editorial content across web and app, commercial content for partners and a social following of over 200M+ fans, the team cover both men, women's and development squads averaging a game every 2 days across the season. Matthew's background in content production and media technology has allowed him to constantly evolve the department enabling talented content creators to connect with the club's international fan base at a fast pace with authentic and exclusive content.
Michael Welts is Wasabi's Chief Marketing Officer and a member of the company's early founding team. Alongside the company's memorable and fun name, he helped to create the "hot cloud storage" category, a revolutionary approach that simplifies data storage and its cost for businesses worldwide. Michael drives the company's global marketing strategy and integrated marketing programs across brand, corporate communications, growth marketing, events and customer marketing.
Michael brings 30+ years of experience building global brands across a wide spectrum of high-growth technology companies, ranging from venture-backed startups to publicly traded global market leaders.
He has held executive roles for companies at all stages of growth from seed/pre-revenue to hypergrowth, IPO, and turnarounds, including Aviatrix Systems, Plexxi, and Colubris Networks (both acquired by Hewlett-Packard), Castle Networks (acquired by Siemens), Bay Networks (acquired by Northern Telecom) and Cabletron Systems (Publicly traded, NYSE). During his various tenures, Michael oversaw the creation of dozens of market categories and breakthrough technologies, including the introduction of the 10BASE-T standard that revolutionized networking.
Djamel Agaoua is an entrepreneur and investor in the technology sector. He has held leadership roles in global companies where he has stood out for his ability to drive growth, including serving as Managing Director of the NBA in Europe and the Middle East, and as CEO of the global messaging platform Viber. He is currently leading the international expansion of the Kings League as CEO, seeking to bring the innovative football competition to new markets worldwide.
Gareth is Head of Commercial Distribution at World Rugby, responsible for driving growth and new revenue streams across digital, video and data. Previously he spent 12 years at Perform Group and then DAZN, starting in the production team managing content delivery, before moving into the commercial team. Prior to that, he worked at the International Tennis Federation, Extreme Sports Channel and lastminute.com and has been involved with sports video (stuff!) for most of his career.
Director of Strategic Alliances & Business Development, Emerging Technologies Accedo
XR SPORTS ALLIANCE
Lucy NGUYEN
Director of Strategic Alliances & Business Development, Emerging Technologies Accedo
Lucy Trang Nguyen is Director of Strategic Alliances and Business Development for Emerging Technologies at Accedo, a global video solutions provider. She represents Accedo in the XR Sports Alliance, co-founded with Qualcomm and HBS to accelerate XR adoption in sports. With a background in XR video solutions across sports, media, and telecom, Lucy has worked with leading brands worldwide. Previously, she led business development at eyecandylab, expanding into the US and Asia before its 2023 acquisition by Accedo.
Cyprien joined the "Ligue de Football Professionnel" in 2022 after experiences at Olympique de Marseille and Canal+. He has been closely involved in building and expanding Ligue 1+, LFP Media’s OTT platform, first through its international rollout, and now through its ongoing development and growth in France. His role focuses on shaping the platform’s distribution and innovation strategy to strengthen its reach with football fans worldwide.
Global Strategy Leader, Betting, Gaming & Sports Technology
AMAZON WEB SERVICES
Paul DEVLIN
Global Strategy Leader, Betting, Gaming & Sports Technology
Paul Devlin is a leader in sports for AWS and has over 20 years of experience at almost every layer of the sports industry. Devlin spent 10 years as a professional rugby player across Europe before pivoting into high performance coaching where he managed staff in the sports science, sports medicine, sports technology, medical, and strength and conditioning departments. He has consulted to many global sports technology companies across the last 15 years, and also has extensive executive coaching experience. Paul has an MSc in strength and conditioning science, an MBA from AGSM in Sydney, and an LLM in International Sports Law in Practice from Sheffield University in the UK.
Head of Content Acquisitions, Commercial Sport
FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA
Marissa BANU-LAWRENCE
Head of Content Acquisitions, Commercial Sport
Marissa Banu-Lawrence is the Head of Content Acquisitions for FOX SPORTS Australia, part of the Foxtel Group. With more than a decade of experience at FOX SPORTS, Marissa is responsible for advising and negotiating with a wide array of domestic and international sports organisations, agents, and distributors. Her expertise ensures that FOX SPORTS, as Australia's largest sports broadcaster, continues to deliver a comprehensive and compelling sports offering. The Foxtel Group stands as the true, unrivalled home of sport in Australia, fiercely committed to delivering the best of global sport to its passionate audience.
Murray is a sports media and commercial expert with over 25 years’ experience commercialising and marketing sports rights and events. He has worked for or on behalf of a wide variety of leagues, events and organisations including NBA, FIBA Basketball, FIFA, F1, WTA, World Rugby, Ladies European Tour, and NHL. Murray has also worked for broadcasters such as ESPN/The Walt Disney Company and consulted to a number of other media entities including direct-to-consumer streamers (such as DAZN). He has expertise in constructing and executing media sales strategies from innovative media production design through to delivery of media sales locally, regionally and globally. He is a regular host of Unoffical Partner’s The Bundle podcast and NED at Gemba Europe.
Callum Baxter is the Senior Vice President of Sales at Deltatre, where he plays a key role in advancing the company’s digital and direct-to-consumer streaming services across sports, media, and entertainment. Based in Europe, he brings extensive experience across these industries, contributing to major deployments with World Rugby, FIH, and FIS, and helping to shape strategies that drive digital transformation and audience engagement.
With over 15 years in sports media, Callum has held roles at Endeavor Streaming, StreamAMG, Emirates Old Trafford, and the National Football Museum. He holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Lancashire.
Jerome Beauguitte is the Co Founder and CEO of FalconHQ, a sponsorship intelligence platform helping brands and rights holders make smarter, data driven decisions.
He began his career at Sportfive before serving as an executive at Google and Sprinklr, where he led global commercial strategy and partnerships.
Having overseen major sponsorship investments, including Formula 1 activations, the French national based in Miami brings a 360° perspective to the business of sport, blending brand experience, data, and innovation.
Keith Bedford is General Manager, EMEA at Wurl, a leader in the streaming TV industry. In his role, Keith oversees Wurl’s operations and key partnerships in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, working closely with his team to drive growth for the region’s publishers and streamers. Keith brings more than 20 years of broadcast experience to Wurl, having built and led teams to design, create, and deliver technology to numerous clients in his previous roles. Prior to Wurl, he founded The Media Tree, a broadcast consultancy business. Before that, Keith was the Managing Director of EBS, which worked with many major players in the broadcast industry - including ITV, BBC Studios, Discovery, CBS, and Time Warner - and eventually became PA TV Metadata following an acquisition by PA Media.
With 20 years of experience in streaming and digital, Peter is a lifelong specialist in his field. As Deltatre's Chief Revenue Officer since December 2024, he oversees new business, customer management, strategic partnerships, growth services, and marketing. His career includes key roles at BSkyB, NeuLion, Saffron Digital, and Endeavor Streaming (now part of Deltatre).
His work with customers has aligned with the rise of digital and smart devices, which transformed media, streaming, websites, and apps into primary content platforms for film, TV, sports, and news. Peter's deep industry expertise and customer-first approach enable the deployment of scalable platforms that deliver value and growth. He is a go-to expert for broadcasters, film studios, media and telecom giants, and major sports organizations. He studied Business and Marketing at Sheffield Hallam University, building a career marked by notable achievements, including deploying large-scale entertainment services for major Hollywood studios, launching BSkyB's first iterations of TV Everywhere and on-demand Premier League and Champions League offerings, delivering UEFA's first direct-to-consumer service UEFA.tv, and overseeing the upgrade of AMC Networks’ direct-to-consumer entertainment services.
George Bevir is editorial director at SVG Europe, where he is responsible for leading the SVG Europe editorial team across the organisation’s physical and digital events, website and newsletters. Bevir joined SVG Europe from Broadcast magazine where he was facilities and technology editor and launched Broadcast Tech magazine. Prior to this, he wrote about the media and telecoms sectors in the Middle East. Before moving into journalism, Bevir worked for the BBC and Red Bee Media.
Currently working as Media Rights Director to the PKO BP Ekstraklasa League (Poland’s top tier mens’ professional football competitions) and to the League’s production arm - Live Park, Malgorzata Borkowska has handled domestic and international media rights tenders for Ekstraklasa and managed the implementation of the League’s own OTT platform Ekstraklasa.TV. Her area of expertise includes digital development and new media partnerships.
Being a former MP&Silva Agency employee, Malgorzata has extensive experience in both sales and acquisition of sports media rights and managed the rights portfolios of i.e. Ligue 1, Roland Garros and Belgian Pro League. Prior to that she’s worked for two telecoms: the alternative NETIA and the Polish branch of Orange, where she’d handled media rights necessary for implementing VOD services, new IPTV offerings, nPVR, Value Added Services and sports content.
Laurence Boyd is Chief Content Officer at the E1 Series, the world’s first all-electric powerboat championship. With a background in content production and tech innovation, he has helped shape how fans experience live sport—bringing new ideas like real-time data overlays and AR into mainstream coverage. At E1, Laurence oversees everything from the host broadcast and digital content to fan engagement, always with an eye on how emerging technologies can make sport more immersive and accessible.
VP, Sports Media & Commercial Partnerships
VERITONE
Craig CARUSO
VP, Sports Media & Commercial Partnerships
Craig has managed Veritone’s expansive advertising portfolio in monetizing core media assets for tier one global sports properties. He’s collaborated on countless high profile commercial campaigns from the largest brands and advertising agencies in the industry from Nike, W+K, BBDO, AT&T, ESPN, Rolex, State Farm and more. Craig also partners closely with the NCAA, Big Ten, Pac-12, US Soccer, US, French and Australian Opens on growing archival media rights and business innovations. He also is at the forefront of net-new sports partnerships and data, with Veritone poised for aggressive growth in 2025 and beyond.
Mark has over 20 years of experience, having held commercial and leadership roles at global sports agency, broadcast media and government positions. In his previous role as Head of Media Sales (APAC) at MP & Silva, Mark was involved in distributing major international sports content and leading key projects such as the broadcast of the Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore, DBS Regatta, and launching StarHub’s live sports news show SuperSports 360. He also led MP & Silva’s partnerships with the Football Association of Singapore and Badminton Asia Confederation and was a key member of the team which launched the beIN SPORTS channels in Indonesia.
Mark had also held the position of Senior Manager in Sport Singapore’s Sports Broadcast Development Division and was Head of Broadcast for the 1st Asian Youth Games Singapore 2009. In his career with Starhub, Mark covered a variety of cross-functional roles such as sports content programming, scheduling, content acquisition, marketing, promotion and production. He led the Euro 2008 Pay-Per-View campaign and launched the Football Channel on StarHub’s Sports Pack with the key acquisition of the English Premier League.
President & Co-founder of PROTOCOL SPORTS GROUP and President of satellite/internet transmission provider TV2GO INTERNATIONAL - Lowell Conn is an expert in media rights distribution, content delivery and live sports production. Over the past decade, Protocol has licensed tens of thousands of hours of sports programming to broadcasters around the world. As traditional broadcast is being gradually displaced by digital and streaming, Conn and his team have pioneered creative approaches to leverage new platforms to enhance revenue for traditional sports properties, and to launch/monetize emerging sports.
Podcast Host & Americas Bureau Chief
SPORTBUSINESS
Catherine DAVIES
Podcast Host & Americas Bureau Chief
Catherine has over 20 years of experience as a senior executive in the sports business sector in Europe and the Americas, and is currently Americas Bureau Chief and podcast host for SportBusiness, the global industry intelligence platform. She was previously at Mediapro Canada, the agency that helped to launch and developed the Canadian Premier League, and has worked across a range of global media rights agencies, international federations, production companies and sports media platforms. She was formerly a professional athlete, representing Spain at several World Championships and World Cups.
Aleksandr Dubinsky is the Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of SyncWords, where he leads AI/ML innovation, automation, and cloud infrastructure for the company’s localization and accessibility platforms. He has deep expertise in speech recognition, text-to-speech, NLP, deep learning, and Generative AI, with a track record of developing advanced algorithms for closed captioning and dubbing. Previously, Aleksandr founded x0x Source, an open-source hardware synthesizer company, and designed massively parallel supercomputers in Shanghai, China.
Founder and President of FAIR VISION, Jean Michel FELDERHOFF is a graduate engineer from UTC and Ecole Polytechnique de Paris.
Before embarking on SporTech and taking over the management of the company, he held numerous management positions in the Offshore industry and has solid experience in complex and international projects.
Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport, with listeners from across the upper reaches of the global industry.
Richard’s career mixes award winning journalism with a career as a strategic adviser to sports governing bodies, sponsors and agencies.
He was listed number 5 in the sport category of PR Week’s Powerbook list of industry influencers. As Cake’s Managing Partner he ran a specialist sport and entertainment consulting group within Havas, the sixth largest marketing group in the world. Before joining Cake, Richard was a strategic advisor to Lloyds Bank on its London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Partnership.
He was editor of SportBusiness International and is a regular contributor to sports industry debate across national and international media, including the FT, WSJ, The Observer and The Irish Times. His book on leadership, The Captain Myth was The Guardian’s sports book of the year.
Emil Hansson is Product Director - Media at Spiideo, where he leads the company’s media portfolio and strategy. Since joining in 2018 to establish Spiideo’s automated sports production platform, he has guided its evolution into a global solution today relied upon by media companies, federations, universities, and clubs worldwide. Prior to Spiideo, Emil held product leadership roles at Sony and other media/tech companies, bringing together UX, technology, and business strategy to deliver innovative products.
Marte Harkestad brings more than a decade of experience in media, broadcast, and streaming technology, with senior roles at Red Bee Media, Ericsson, and Vimeo. As Head of Presales and Solutions at CAMB.AI, she specializes in designing innovative solutions that help organizations reach global audiences. Her deep understanding of broadcast and audience engagement drives CAMB.AI's mission to help any organisation become multilingual and any event accessible to fans worldwide in their native language.
Andreas Kaeshammer is Head of Football at Infront, overseeing football-related business globally. He manages key relationships with international top tier football rightsholders and leads strategic initiatives across media, sponsorship, and fan engagement. Since joining Infront in 2016, he’s driven transformation and commercial growth. His remit spans rights acquisition, partnership management, developing new commercial strategies and shaping Infront’s position as a top-tier partner in the global football market.
Ken Kerschbaumer is co-executive director of editorial services for the Sports Video Group and SVG Europe. He has been writing about how sports networks and leagues use video and audio technology to deliver a quality TV experience since 1991. In 2000, he joined Broadcasting & Cable magazine as senior editor of technology where he covered technology for the broadcast industry. He helped launch SVG and SVG Europe in 2006 and today the company holds events for sports production professionals around the world.
Glen Killane joined the EBU in August 2018 as Deputy Director of Eurovision Sport, stepping up to the role of Executive Director of EBU Sport in June 2020. He is a member of the EBU Senior Leadership Committee (SLC).
Glen began his career as a sports journalist working in editorial positions for RTE and for ITV in London where he was editor of live football. He was Group Head of Sport for RTE from 2004 until 2010 and was elected as Vice Chair of the EBU Sport Committee.
Before joining the EBU, Glen became Managing Director of Eir Sport and Eir TV, owned by Irish Telco Eir, where he led the launch of their OTT pay sports business and ran the company’s IPTV platform. He was Managing Director of RTE Television from 2010 until 2016.
Since taking over leadership of EBU Sport, Glen has overseen the successful Olympic Rights acquisition (2026 -2032) along with several other significant rights acquisitions, the launch of the Eurovision Sport Platform and a restructuring of the department.
Glen is a voluntary member of the Sport Ireland, Women in Sport Advisory Committee. Women’s Sports have been a particular focus for the acquisitions team along with pushing new technological advances such as the use of AI commentary on the Eurovision Sport Platform.
Head of International Business Development
KOREA PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Min Joo KIM
Head of International Business Development
Min Joo Kim is the Head of International Business Development at the Korea Professional Football League (K League), currently leading the league’s global strategy, driving growth through international media rights sales, marketing, sponsorships, and strategic partnerships to expand K League’s presence and value worldwide. With over six years of experience in the sports industry, MJ previously managed the league’s domestic and international media business, including production, distribution, and media strategy.
Peter Leeb is a seasoned revenue leader with experience spanning billion-dollar enterprises to growing venture-backed startups. As Vice President of Commercial at Veritone (NASDAQ: VERI), he drives enterprise AI adoption, strategy, and product growth. His expertise includes complex dealmaking and partnerships, corporate strategy, and go to market across Fortune 1000 enterprises and technology partners.
John Martin currently serves as the CEO of the Professional Fighters League (PFL), the MMA industry co-leader and one of the fastest growing sports leagues worldwide.
Previously, John served as Chairman and CEO of Turner LLC from 2014 to 2018, where he led the company to $13 billion in annual revenue and managed a massive portfolio of cable networks, digital platforms, and sports assets, including TNT, TBS, CNN, and Turner Sports.
Prior to that, John was Chief Financial Officer at Time Warner Inc., comprising Warner Bros., HBO, Turner LLC, Time Inc., and Time Warner Cable.
Armel has 10+ years' experience in Sportech industry. Since joining AWS in 2019, he has been supporting French sports organizations to shape and deliver their digital strategies, helping them leverage cloud technologies to enhance performance analytics, fan engagement, venue operations, and media workflows
Pavol Neruda is the co-founder and creative mind behind OKTAGON, by many the biggest mixed martial arts organization in Europe. From a young martial arts fan in Bratislava, he developed into the man behind a multi million-dollar MMA brand. In 2016, with nothing but a vision and a loan of €25,000 each, he and Ondřej Novotný founded OKTAGON MMA—what started as a bold investment has since grown into one of Europe’s leading MMA organizations, generating millions in revenue. He founded the first MMA federation in Slovakia, wrote the first book about the sport in the country, and brought the athletes' stories to the screens with gripping documentaries. With OKTAGON, he set new standards: spectacular events, captivating storytelling, and well-thought-out branding made the league the leading name in the scene. Today, he is driving expansion into new markets. Pavol is also an artist: in his past as a theater actor and photographer, he developed a sense for staging, design, and storytelling—elements that now make up OKTAGON's distinctive brand.
Ondřej Novotný is one of the key figures in the European MMA scene and co-founder of the OKTAGON organization. The 48-year-old's path to martial arts was anything but ordinary - he originally started out as a handball player, but gradually found his place as a respected commentator and moderator in projects related to Muay Thai, K-1 and mixed martial arts by commenting on boxing for Eurosport, Nova Sport. Before he dedicated himself fully to martial arts, he worked as a Commercial Director at an insurance company, but his passion for MMA eventually won out. In 2016, they started with little more than an idea, a bold dream and a loan of €25,000 each when he and Pavol Neruda founded OKTAGON —what started as a bold investment has since grown into Europe’s leading MMA organization, generating millions in revenue. Ondřej was nominated for "Promoter of the Year" at the prestigious World MMA Awards for his work. Beyond OKTAGON, Ondřej is also the founder and owner of the largest sports and media focused podcast network in the CZE, which includes the country's most followed shows on football, hockey, TV reality shows and MMA.
Founding Control Owner of Angel City FC, Los Angeles Golf Club, and ATHLOS
SEVEN SEVEN SIX
Alexis OHANIAN
Founding Control Owner of Angel City FC, Los Angeles Golf Club, and ATHLOS
Alexis Ohanian is a tech founder and venture capitalist. He is the Co-Founder and former Executive Chairman of Reddit, one of the largest websites in the U.S. currently valued at more than $45B.
In 2020, he founded Seven Seven Six, a new firm built like a technology company that deploys venture capital with over $1B in assets under management.
He is the founding control owner of Angel City Football Club and Los Angeles Golf Club, and the founder of ATHLOS.
In 2022, he launched the 776 Foundation to support marginalized individuals and announced a $20M commitment to climate action through his new 776 Fellowship Program.
He's written a national bestselling book, Without Their Permission, and also created the Business Dad Podcast to interview fathers about what it means to be a dad in today’s world balancing family and career.
Michal Orsava is the co-founder and creative director of Webout, a platform specializing in real-time personalized video content. He designs marketing campaigns driven by personalization and interactivity for brands such as Vogue CS, Notino, and Škoda. With a strong focus on innovation, Michal is a leading voice in video personalization, helping companies boost conversions and build deeper connections with their audiences through tailored and engaging communication.
Sr Director, SaaS Business & Global Strategic Accounts Development
HARMONIC INC
Alexandre PAUGAM
Sr Director, SaaS Business & Global Strategic Accounts Development
As the Director of Business Development at Harmonic, Alexandre leads a dynamic, cross-regional team focused on driving new qualified opportunities, managing strategic accounts and global strategic alliances. Alexandre and his team play a pivotal role in promoting Harmonic's innovative SaaS offerings across EMEA and APAC and nurturing worldwide strategic partnerships.
With over a decade of experience in the video industry, Alexandre brings a wealth of expertise in systems engineering, program management, customer success, and business development. Prior to his current role at Harmonic, he held various key positions at Harmonic and Thomson Video Networks, contributing significantly to the companies' growth and success.
Alexandre holds a Master of Science in Information Technology from ISEN France and a Master of Business Administration from FBS France. His extensive background and leadership skills make him a sought-after speaker and thought leader in the industry.
Michael Payne has been at the forefront of the sports marketing industry for over forty years - having led the global marketing effort for the Olympic Movement for two decades, from 1983 to 2004 as the IOC’s first ever Marketing and Global Broadcast Rights Director. Nominated as one of the world’s most influential marketers by Advertising Age.
On leaving the IOC, Michael founded his own strategic consultancy, Payne Sports Media Strategies, working with many of the world’s leading sports groups and companies. For more than a decade, Michael acted as special advisor to F1’s former Chairman / CEO Bernie Ecclestone, pioneering the effort to bring F1 to new markets. Following the sale of F1 by CVC to Liberty Media, Michael continued to act as a strategic advisor to CVC Group, most recently brokering their investment in World Volleyball.
Michael continues to advises on major Olympic, F1 and other sports, developing some of the world’s largest broadcast and sponsorship deals. Most recently the ground breaking Alibaba - IOC long term partnership deal, and conceived the innovative Joint TOP long term partnership for Coca-Cola & Chinese Dairy giant Mengniu - collectively together valued at over $5billion.
His business book, Olympic Turnaround details the business story of how the Olympic Games stepped back from the brink of bankruptcy to become the world’s best known brand - and a multi billion dollar global franchise.
In 2021 Michael released TOON IN! ( www.olympiccartoon.com ) ‘the unofficial and entirely unsanctioned Olympic History - a large format coffee table book for charity. The book been critically acclaimed around the world and in 2022 won the prestigious Sunday Times Best Sports Book of the Year Award (Illustrated).
Michael is a regular commentator on sports marketing industry affairs for CNN, BBC, Bloomberg, Financial Times and other media groups around the world
Lauren Pedersen is the CEO and Co-Founder of SportAI, where she combines her passion for sports with extensive experience growing global tech companies. SportAI’s mission is to democratise access to sports analysis, making it instant, objective, and accessible for all.
Originally from New Zealand, Lauren played NCAA Division One tennis for American University in Washington, DC. She started her career working in some of the world's largest advertising agencies in New York and London before turning her focus to tech start-ups.
Over the past 16 years, Lauren has held a number of leadership roles in successful international tech start-ups including Opera Software and Airthings. Lauren continues to play competitive tennis and recently represented Norway at the ITF Masters World Championships in Tokyo.
Since joining VITEC in 2015, Grant Prophet has accumulated over 10 years of experience in the ProAV sector. Having delivered industry-leading IP video and digital signage products as part of VITEC's Product Management team, he now leads the Product Marketing team, promoting VITEC products to help win projects including French arenas such as Le Colisée, Reims Arena, and CO'Met Arena, as well as major European venues such as Eintracht Frankfurt and Philips Stadium, home of PSV Eindhoven.
Marathon World Record Holder
MARATHON WORLD RECORD HOLDER
Paula RADCLIFFE MBE
Marathon World Record Holder
Paula Radcliffe was born in Northwich, Cheshire, in 1973, but grew up in Bedford. She joined Bedford and County Athletics Club at the age of 11 and competed at the World Cross Country Championships at 16.
After graduating from Loughborough University with a first-class degree in modern languages in 1996, she devoted herself full-time to her running and is now acknowledged as one of the finest athletes of the modern era.
As well as her achievements on the track, Paula has established herself as the master of the ultimate distance race, the marathon.
She held the world record, set first in the Chicago Marathon in 2002 and later improved in London for 17 years until October 2019, and won the London Marathon in 2002, 2003 and 2005.
In 2004 she won the New York City Marathon in breath-taking style and returned to win twice more in 2007 and 2008. In 2005 she took the gold medal at the World Championships in Helsinki over the marathon distance.
She also held the World Record for 10km on the road, set in 2003.
She was awarded an MBE in June 2002 and later that year was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
She served on the IAAF Athletes Commission and Cross Country Committee, and was also on a WHO Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity as well as advising various IOC commissions from the athlete perspective. She is now an UN Clean Air advocate and IAAF Clean Air Ambassador.
She now works as a Consultant and as a BBC Athletics commentator and pundit, as a commentator on NYC marathon and Dubai Marathons as well as a mentor for athletes. She is passionate about getting families running together and started her event: Families on Track in 2019. Families on Track continues to grow and the Two15 Challenge and Two15 Challenge MC were added in 2021 to help combat falling physical activity levels and act to minimise the subsequent psychological and physical health impacts of the pandemic on children and adolescents.
Head of Business Development - DACH, UKI, Nordics
WSC SPORTS
Ido RATZON
Head of Business Development - DACH, UKI, Nordics
Ido Ratzon is leading WSC Sports' Business in the DACH, UKI, and Nordics markets. WSC Sports is the leading AI-driven platform for sports content automation, management, distribution, monetization, and fan engagement, working with over 600 of the leading sports and media brands worldwide.
Ashish (Ash) Shah is the Co-Founder and CEO of SyncWords, where he leads the company’s mission to help video creators, and media rights owners expand audiences and revenues through AI-powered live captions, translations, and dubbing. With two decades of experience in software solutions for video streaming, accessibility, and e-learning, Ash has secured multimillion-dollar contracts and built cutting-edge products. A Stanford graduate in Industrial Engineering, he lives in Manhattan with his wife and son.
Carlos Silva is a sports media and executive leader currently serving as President of Anthem Sports Group and TNA Wrestling, part of Toronto-based Anthem Sports & Entertainment. He joined from SeventySix Capital, where he was a fund partner and President of SeventySix Capital Sports Advisory. Previously he served as CEO of C360 (known for the NFL’s PylonCam), led the Professional Fighters League (and its predecessor World Series of Fighting), and held senior roles at World TeamTennis, Park Lane investment bank, and NBC’s Universal Sports Network.
Appointed in 2018, Kevin Sim currently serves as the Head of Asia Pacific for Bundesliga International and leads the Bundesliga’s growth efforts in Asia Pacific markets, with the responsibility of driving Germany’s professional football league's presence and various interests in the region.
Prior to joining Bundesliga International, Sim led ONE Championship's global media rights distribution and played an instrumental role in the company's growth, from an early stage start-up to its current status as Asia's largest sports property. Sim also held positions at Multi Channels Asia, Asia's leading independent channel consultancy and distributor, and was also part of the pioneering staff of international sports marketing and media agency, MP & Silva.
Alastair Smith is the founder of Protern.io and a sport technology innovator with over a decade of experience in product development. He led the creation of a platform that has changed alpine ski racing, now used by over 20 national teams and teams in more than 30 countries. With a background in computer science, Alastair pioneered a new way to connect athlete performance data to video, reshaping how highlights are captured, understood, and shared in open-venue sports.
Victorien Tixier is the visionary co-founder and CEO of ScorePlay, a platform revolutionizing how sports organizations manage and monetize their media assets. Under his strategic leadership, ScorePlay has grown to serve over 200 professional sports organizations worldwide, including teams, leagues, and federations. Headquartered in New York, ScorePlay serves customers across regions, with strong presence in Europe and North America. Combining deep technical expertise with industry insights and a relentless focus on customers' needs, ScorePlay's platform allow users to streamline their content management workflows and enhance their storytelling. His unwavering commitment to creativity and customer-centric approaches has established ScorePlay as a recognized leader in sports technology innovation.
Direct to Consumer - Partnership Strategy, Int'l Content Partnerships
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Fiona WONG
Direct to Consumer - Partnership Strategy, Int'l Content Partnerships
In her role as Direct to Consumer, Partnership Strategy at the National Basketball Association, Fiona Wong is responsible for amplifying and accelerating the acquisition, engagement and retention efforts around the NBA’s digital products by identifying and executing global strategic partnerships.
Wong has expanded the NBA League Pass and App partnerships portfolio with pay TV providers, telecom operators, consumer electronics and merchandise companies globally.
Prior to assuming her current role in 2018, Wong spent eight years with NBA Asia in Hong Kong, where she devised, negotiated and managed the NBA’s media distribution strategy across TV, digital, mobile and OTT.
Scott Young is co-founder of Transmit. He has been active in video streaming advertising technology for over two decades with a proven track record of product innovation and early stage startup growth. Prior to founding Transmit, Young built revenue and operations for SET media, which was acquired by Conversant/ Epsilon. Prior to that, he led video solutions at Alloy, and video ad platform YuMe prior to IPO, and was a key growth driver for CBS Interactive as they launched streaming on demand.
Head of Sports Strategy & Business Development
LIVEU LTD
Ophir ZARDOK
Head of Sports Strategy & Business Development
A graduate of the prestigious FIFA Master Course, Ophir has been involved in sports at different levels for over 20 years. Since 2009, he has served as UEFA Venue Director and previously launched a sports tech accelerator to bring innovation to the sports space with Microsoft ScaleUp, Deloitte Sports and HYPE Sports Innovation. At LiveU, Ophir’s role is to lead the sports strategy in EMEA/APAC, working with sports organizations, production companies, broadcasters and media companies.
