About
What is the future of media business? What changed and emerged in the past years and how have we reacted? Are there mistakes we can learn from and come up with better ways to deal with the disruption? Which emerging media formats and audience engagement strategies are most effective? It’s never been more important than now to understand the current trends and challenges affecting and shaping the media business world.
Media professionals, journalists, editors, digital & tech innovators and those in related industries are invited to join the forum to collaborate and innovate, to discover hidden opportunities and sustainable business models in this ever-changing media business world.
Breakthrough ideas and visions, inspirational success stories and recent research findings – Reinventing Media forum is an exclusive, boutique, two-day event in the heart of Riga where top media business professionals meet to shape, create and share the most innovative business models for future media.
The Online Pre-seminar of the Forum will happen on November 23 at 14:00 – 15:30 Riga time. Everyone is welcome to join – the event is free of charge. The Forum will take place on-site in Riga in May 2022
SPEAKERS 2022
Agnes Stenbom leads the work within Responsible AI at the Nordic media group Schibsted. In addition, Ms Stenbom is an industrial doctoral candidate at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm where she conducts research on AI as a transformative force in journalism. She is the co-founder of the largest industry network for AI journalism in the Nordics and serves as an advisory board member to the Wallenberg Research Arena for Media AI.
Agnes Stenbom
Responsible AI Specialist
Schibsted
Martin is an Editorial Development Director of Bonnier News - Sweden's largest media house, with 45 newspapers and 50 magazine titles. Employed at Dagens Nyheter as Head of Editorial Development since 2016. With the 40 years of experience in journalism, for the past 15 years he has been focusing on digital transformation, media trends and media consumer behavior. Previous experience involves being a Director of Digital at Swedish Public Radio, Managing Editor at Svenska Dagbladet, Editor in Chief of trade journal Journalisten and several other magazines. Guest Professor in journalism at the University of Gothenburg 2008-2009.
Martin Jönsson
Editorial Development Director
Bonnier News, Dagens Nyheter
Alina Fichter is Head of Digital Format and Product Development Deutsche Welle (DW), Germany´s international public service broadcaster. Together with her team, she develops digital formats for diverse target groups all over the world. She was awarded the John S. Knight Fellow of media innovation at Stanford University in 2017 and has worked as a media manager and reporter for Die ZEIT, BR and Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Alina Fichter
Head of Digital Format and Product Development
Deutsche Welle
Meelis has been with Äripäev, Estonian biggest business news media channel, since the mid 90ies - as a reporter, opinion editor, news editor and head of opinion. Since 2007 Meelis has been an Editor in chief of Äripäev, leading a strong editorial team and growing their digital subscription base. Also responsible for the Russian version Delovoje Vedomosti.
Meelis Mandel
Editor in Chief
Äripäev
Michael is a Head of the Product at Tortoise Media, a news startup based in the UK who have built a membership community of 100,000 over the past two years. Tortoise offers a mix of daily live events, long interactive reads, email briefings, and podcasts. Michael is a New Zealander who has long been resident in London, where he has worked on major media projects for the London 2012 Olympics, Newscorp, and the Guardian. He has previously co-founded three technology startups, developing new platforms for technologies ranging from data visualisation to augmented reality. He curates Confluence, an annual conference about storytelling.
Michael Kowalski
Head of Product
Tortoise Media
Richard has worked at Guardian News & Media for 23 years and in that time has overseen some groundbreaking marketing initiatives including the launch of the Guardian's Subscriber scheme, the "3 little pigs" commercial which aired in 2012 to great acclaim, Glastonbury sponsorship and a multitude of digital product launches and newspaper redesigns.
In his most recent roles Richard led as the Guardian & Observer's transformation into tabloid shaped newspapers as Publishing Director and in 2018 was promoted to Managing Director of Consumer Revenues & Publishing, leading on GNM's digital subscriptions, newspaper strategy, e-commerce and live events.
In May 2021 Richard was appointed Managing Director of Customer Engagement & Business Development and is focussing on building a coordinated strategy across the Guardian’s growing multimedia portfolio and reader revenue opportunities.
Richard Furness
Managing Director of Consumer Revenues & Publishing
Guardian
Kirill is a co-founder and a CEO of the St. Petersburg based media company Paperpaper.ru. Besides doing local online daily media, Paperpaper.ru makes educational events and city festivals, sociological researches for brands, paid email-newsletters as a part of a membership program for their readers. Before starting Paperpaper.ru in 2012 from scratch as a lean media startup Kirill worked as a reporter for different local and nationwide news outlets. From 2012 to 2018 he was an editor-in-chief and a CEO of Paperpaper.ru the same time, after 2018 he focused on the business issues of the company. In 2021 Paperpaper.ru is a break even media company with almost 35 people in staff.
Kirill Artemenko
Co-founder and CEO
Paperpaper.ru
Responsible for Digital & Publishing Business in IMPRESA since 2015. In the previous 14 years led the digital advertising business of Portugal Telecom with an integrated approach to 4 screens, with focus in second screen apps, linear TV interactive spots and re-targeting ads based on behavioral data collected by the set top boxes.
Founding Member of IAB Portugal in 2014, representing IMPRESA in the Board of Directors.
João Paulo Luz
IMPRESA
Adam B. Ellick is the Director and Executive Producer of Opinion Video at The New York Times. He has produced Pulitzer Prize- and Emmy-winning video journalism. Previously, he was a senior international video correspondent and print reporter at The Times covering human rights. He has won three Overseas Press Club awards for his coverage of Pakistan and the Arab Spring, and for leading The Times's video coverage of the November 2015 Paris attacks. He has garnered three nominations for the Livingston Award, which honors journalists under the age of 35, and he has twice been nominated for an Emmy, including once for a video he produced about the lone survivor of an ISIS massacre. In addition to reporting, he has worked on several digital evolutions at The Times, including as an author of The Times Innovation Report in 2014.
Adam B. Ellick
Director and Executive Producer of Opinion Video
The New York Times
Olle Zachrison is Head of Digital News Strategy & Deputy News Commissioner at Swedish Radio (SR). Before taking on his new role at SR, he was Head of News & Current Affairs for four years. He has a background in newspaper journalism and has been Managing Editor and Business Editor of national daily Svenska Dagbladet.
Olle Zachrison
Head of Digital News Strategy & Deputy News Commissioner
Swedish Radio
Cécile Schneider is Product Lead at the AI + Automation Lab of German Public Broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR). She is a Scrum-certified Product Owner, setting up hybrid workflows to make AI and automation beneficial for newsrooms. Cécile Schneider has worked in the tech and media industry for more than 10 years, among others for Telefónica Germany's big data unit and various gaming brands.
Cécile Schneider
Product Lead
Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR)
Michael Silberman is SVP Strategy at Piano, overseeing strategic services to help publishers and brands define, launch and optimize their digital businesses for revenue growth. Michael was previously General Manager, Digital Media at New York Media, (NYMag), and has held roles at Rodale, MSNBC.com and CBS News.
Michael Silberman
SVP Strategy
Piano
SPEAKERS 2020
Victoria is a board member of NWT Gruppen AB, and a president of NWT Media, as well as president of the Swedish association of publishers TU and vice president of the Association of European Publishers News Media Europe (NME). Victoria also holds MBA from Stockholm School of Economics and is an honorary doctor at the University of Karlstad. Having worked in the industry for many years, she has gained experience in media industry in various board positions and positions in NWT Media.Victoria Svanberg
Chairman
NWT Media
After 12 years as an editor at Schibsted and Sweden's leading national news source Aftonbladet, Robin left for Sweden's leading local news source – Mittmedia. After being responsible for the product development team at Mittmedia, which is part of Bonnier News group, Robin has become a Director of Development at Bonnier News.Robin Govik
Director of Development
Bonnier News
Before taking on the current role, Wiebke had worked for more than four years at Süddeutsche Zeitung in Munich, setting up performance marketing there and at the end leading the marketing and sales for digital products. In 2018 she joined the digital distribution team at SPIEGEL with a strong focus on pushing SPIEGEL+. In 2019, direct marketing and digital distribution teams were merged and Wiebke took charge of the subscription growth business for all products at SPIEGEL, digital and print, being responsible for the development of the circulation and revenues of digital products and the further development of digital marketing as well as the existing sales analysis and e-commerce processes..Wiebke Meeder
Head of Subscription Growth
Spiegel
Founded and lead NYT Digital Transition team. Created in 2015 as a training team to bring digital skills and thinking to the core of the newsroom, the department matured into a 25-person strategy, training and 24/7 publishing support group that’s responsible for the continuous transformation of the Times’ 1,600-person newsroom. The team’s goal is to drive specific and tangible change. Kim worked closely with top leadership to implement strategy at scale; this encompasses newsroom structure and workflow, establishing new teams and mandates, brainstorming coverage and digital storytelling, and other strategic initiatives. In July 2020 as an essential partner in major digital initiatives, Kim Perry becomes director for International strategy and operations.Kim Perry
Director for International Strategy and Operations
The New York Times
Tomáš Bella is co-founder and web director of "Denník N" (dennikn.sk), which is independent Slovak daily newspaper, supported mostly by online subscriptions, with editorial focus on high quality long-form journalism: reportages, interviews, analyses. Editorial policies are entirely controlled by its own journalists, who own 49% of the shares of the company. Tomas also was editor-in-chief of the largest provider of Slovak web journalism; sme.sk and co-founder and first CEO of Piano, company offering publishers paywall software. Listed among the world's 50 leading innovators in journalism and media, Tomas had won several journalism prizes- recently the Slovak Best Reportage award for his coverage of European refugee crisis.Tomas Bella
Head of Digital
Denník N
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen is Director of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. He is also Professor of Political Communication at the University of Oxford. He was previously Director of Research at the Reuters Institute and Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Press/Politics. His work focuses on changes in the news media, on political communication, and the role of digital technologies in both. He has done extensive research on journalism, American politics, and various forms of activism, and a significant amount of comparative work in Western Europe and beyond.Rasmus Kleis Nielsen
Director
Reuters InstituteSPEAKERS 2019
As Director of Strategic Initiatives at The Washington Post, Jeremy works to identify, create, and execute unique digital products and storytelling experiences. He works closely with The Post’s engineering, product design, graphics, audience, analytics and advertising teams. In this role, Gilbert figured out how to tell the story of the 2016 presidential race with 3D printers, built The Post’s first automated stories, created The Post's first virtual reality project, initiated the use of 360 cameras, oversaw its first augmented reality story, built a freelance network that changes how The Post covers national stories and launched a new leadership vertical. Before joining The Post he helped National Geographic develop and deploy its digital strategy and was an associate professor teaching media product design, interactive storytelling, web and print design tools and techniques for Medill and the Segal Design Institute at Northwestern University. Previously Jeremy led The Poynter Institute in rethinking and redesigning its industry leading website and served as an art director at a couple of newspapers.Jeremy Gilbert
Director of Strategic Initiatives
Washington Post
Renée Kaplan is Head of Audience and New Content Strategies at the Financial Times. She heads up a team that helps grow the reach and engagement of FT journalism and pilots innovation in the newsroom. She also directs newsletters and audio, leading content strategies that are transforming and diversifying the FT's journalism. Previously Deputy Editorial Director of news network France 24, and Chief Content Officer at Havas, she is Franco-American and lives in London.Renée Kaplan
Head of Audience and New Content Strategies
Financial Times
Nicholas Johnston is the editor in chief of Axios, a new media company that through Smart Brevity, gets you smarter faster on the topics that matter most in business, tech, media and politics. He leads the entire Axios newsroom and regularly speaks about politics, policy and business on MSNBC, CNBC and Fox News. Before helping to launch Axios in 2017, Nick was a managing editor at Bloomberg where he oversaw newsletters and breaking news coverage in Washington. Previously as a reporter for Bloomberg he covered the White House, Capitol Hill and the 2008 presidential campaign. Nick began his journalism career at the Washington Post and is a graduate of Georgetown University.Nicholas Johnston
Editor in chief
AXIOS
Before joining Guardian, Ana was Head of Product Management for news at Sky, with responsibility for creating and managing Sky News’ digital product portfolio. Previously, she was the lead for product proposition and consumer experience on all platforms for BBC Store, and Channel 4’s Product Manager for its digital channels C4 News, Scrapbook, Film4, E4 and 4Now. With her experience in creating digital and editorial strategies for platforms and management of successful digital products development, Anna is now looking after GNM's digital product portfolio at Guardian.Ana Jakimovska
VP Product for Content
Culture Trip, ex Director of Product at the Guardian
Director of public policy at Schibsted Media Group and chairwoman of WAN-IFRA Media Freedom Board. Formerly she was political editor-in-chief at Aftonbladet, Scandinavia’s biggest daily newspaper. She is a 2017 Nieman and Berkman Klein Fellow at Harvard, and the co-founder and former editor-in-chief of Fokus, Sweden’s leading newsmagazine.Karin Pettersson
Director of public policy
Schibsted
Founder and Publisher of The Local, which publishes news from nine European countries for a worldwide audience of 5 million users. As the founding editor of The Local Sweden, James has been reporting on Sweden for fourteen years, and under his leadership, The Local has taken a leading role in debunking false stories about Sweden and the other countries it reports from. James has also led The Local’s push towards a digital subscriptions model.James Savage
Founder, CEO & PublisherThe Local
Ivan Kolpakov (born 1983), cofounder and editor-in-chief at ‘Meduza.io’, Russian media outlet based in Riga, Latvia. He started working as a journalist in 2001 in Perm (industrial city in the center of Russia), where wrote for a number of local political and business newspapers. In 2010 he launched his own project — ‘Salt’, a political and satirical media about Russia, also based in Perm (it closed down 1,5 years later because of problems with investors and officials). In 2012, Ivan moved to Moscow and became the head of the special correspondents department in ‘Lenta.ru’ — the most popular online publication in Russia at that time. He left ‘Lenta.ru’ with the rest of the team following the firing of it’s editor-in-chief — Galina Timchenko. Together with Timchenko moved to Riga to establish Meduza.io.IVAN KOLPAKOV
Co-founder and editor-in-chief
Meduza.io
Mari-Liis has been working for two different industries which both have been under a change for at least decade. She was a product development and marketing director in the biggest travel agency of Baltics - Estravel. Then, 8 years ago was she invited to work for Ekspress Group. For two years she was the CEO of Estonian biggest online portal Delfi. After that she merged two companies together which became Ekspress Meedia. It’s Delfi and the biggest media brands in Estonia - Eesti Ekspress, Maaleht, Eesti Päevaleht. In 2017 was she invited to lead Ekspress Group which has also the biggest news outlets in Latvia and Lithuania. Ekspress Group has also expanded to digital outdoor media and other digital services which stand close to media. She is a big believer in digitalisation in every aspect. As she believes that we are in the middle of the turbulent changes and times it’s more than exciting to work for media.Mari-Liis Rüütsalu
CEO
Ekspress Group
Riccardo graduated in Economics at Bocconi University in 2004 and earned his Executive MBA at SDA Bocconi in 2015. Always passionate about Internet economy, he has worked in different managerial contexts between media, technology and innovation. He developed a global managerial vision, strongly oriented to performance management and today he mainly supports his partners on the acceleration of their digital transformation process. For five years Riccardo worked in consumer online division at Microsoft. Later he worked as Chief Digital Officer in Viacom. He joined Google in 2013 where he has been working in Strategy and Operation division for 3 years. Today he works in the Strategic Partnership Solutions team of Google, where he takes care of the News & Publishing ecosystem development in Italy and Eastern Europe. As digital ventures passionate and startup-up lover, since 2013 he is an advisor at the IULM Innovation Lab and he is an equity partner and angel investor of iStarter, the Italian accelerator based in London focused on scale-up ventures.Riccardo Terzi
Strategic Partnerships
Google News Initiative
20 years of author and editor career in leading Russian magazines – Forbes, GQ, Afisha, PROsport. Founder of Sports.ru – one of the largest Russian independent media working for 15 million sports fans. Founder and CEO of Tribuna.com, global media and community for football fans.Dmitry Navosha
Founder
Sports.ru
Alessio Cornia is Assistant Professor at Dublin City University and Research Associate at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, University of Oxford. His research interest is comparative research on political communication and journalism, with a focus on the relationship between media and politics, news industry developments, digital news, social media platforms, and EU journalism. He was previously Research Fellow at the Reuters Institute and Researcher at the University of Perugia, where he completed a PhD in social and political theory and research. He has published a monograph on EU journalists in Brussels and several articles in academic journals including Media, Culture and Society, the International Journal of Press/Politics, the European Journal of Communication, Journalism, Journalism Studies, and the Journal o Risk Research.ALESSIO CORNIA
Research Associate
Reuters Institute/DCU
Andrew Rolf is Innovation Media Group's EMEA Director and advises organisations on digital transformation, customer experience and commercial strategy. Andrew has worked with news and magazine publishers from Abu Dhabi to Zimbabwe to help them prepare for and implement significant and lasting change to their businesses. He was Head of Commercial Delivery at Guardian News and Media, London and a senior member of the team that relaunched the Guardian's award-winning website and mobile live news apps in 2014. Prior to this Andrew spent 15 years in various consultancies working in Europe and the US. He was Head of Customer Experience at organisational design consultancy KPMG Boxwood where he worked with clients operating in the media, technology and retail sectors.Andrew Rolf
EMEA Director
Innovation Media Consulting
Before being appointed Art Director of STERN magazine, Frances Uckermann was Art Director for the magazines "Zeit Wissen", "Allegra" and "Max", headed the editorial design team at SPIEGEL and developed a number of new magazines. She has won numerous awards from highly respected organisations, such as the Art Directors Club Germany and the Lead Awards. Since 2009 she also gives lectures and workshops on editorial design at various design and journalism academies and creative events in Germany.Frances Uckermann
Creative Director
Before founding NBM Sasa co-founded and served as the founding CEO of Media Development Loan Fund, mission-driven investment fund providing debt and equity financing to independent media companies in developing world. During Sasa’s 16 year tenure, MDLF provided USD100 million in different forms of financing. Prior to MDLF, Sasa was a journalist in Yugoslavia, where he served as the first CEO of Radio B-92 in Belgrade and Editor in Chief of magazine “NON”.Sasa Vucinic
Managing Partner and Co-Founder
North Base MediaVictoria is a board member of NWT Gruppen AB, and a president of NWT Media, as well as president of the Swedish association of publishers TU and vice president of the Association of European Publishers News Media Europe (NME). Victoria also holds MBA from Stockholm School of Economics and is an honorary doctor at the University of Karlstad. Having worked in the industry for many years, she has gained experience in media industry in various board positions and positions in NWT Media.Victoria Svanberg
Chairman
NWT Media
Launched the leading global youth brand, VICE, as a full-scale media company in India. Currently Consulting with the New York Times. Held Leadership Roles in Times Internet (Bennet & Coleman), Ernst & Young – Media Advisory Practice and Buddh International Circuit (Formula One in India). She has recently completed the prestigious fellowship at the Reuters Institute for Study of Journalism at Oxford University. As a consultant and Leader, authored multiple articles published in leading business papers and Industry reports for leading institutions such as TRAI, Prasar Bharti, USIBC and Ernst & Young. Her strength within the ambit of media strategy lies in introducing a new concept, idea or brand targeting the youth and helping it build resonance in a new market.Chanpreet Arora
Independent Media Consultant
Former CEO – VICE Media India | RISJ Fellow, Oxford University
Journalist with over 20 years of experience, also worked as an international news editor for Dienas Bizness, the largest business oriented daily newspaper in Latvia. Member of Latvian Journalists' Association.Didzis Meļķis
Content Manager
ManaBalss.lv
Agenda for online pre-seminar
November 23, 2021 (14:00 - 15:30 EET)
14:00 – 14:05 | WELCOME WORDS
by Victoria Svanberg and Inga Spriņģe
14:05 – 14:20 | MARTIN JONSSON
Bonnier News (Sweden)
14:20 – 14:35 | MEELIS MANDEL
Äripäev (Estonia)
14:35 – 14:50 | KIRILL ARTEMENKO
Paperpaper.ru (Russia)
14:50 – 15:05 | AGNES STENBOM
Schibsted (Sweden)
15:05 – 15:20 | MICHAEL SILBERMAN
Piano
“Engagement Insights and Benchmarks Across the Marketing Funnel”
Explore valuable lessons of Piano’s proprietary data from hundreds of publishers s about the nature of digital audiences that engage, convert and retain.
15:20 – 15:30 | Q&A for PIANO
15:30 | CLOSE
Programme for May 24 - 25, 2022 to be confirmed.
VICTORIA SVANBERG, NWT | 2020
RASMUS KLEIS NIELSEN, REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM | 2020
WIEBKE MEEDER, DER SPIEGEL | 2020
TOMAS BELLA, DENNIK N | 2020
ROBIN GOVIK, BONNIER NEWS | 2020
KIMBERLY PERRY, THE NEW YORK TIMES | 2020
MARK LEE HUNTER AND KEVIN DAVIS | 2020
Tickets
including coffee breaks + lunch for both days + evening reception
SCHOLARSHIPS
Limited amount of scholarships available
Special scholarships* are offered by the Centre for Media Studies at SSE Riga to journalists and media professionals running a newly established independent quality media outlet and/or not making any profit while demonstrating entrepreneurial mindset.
Motivational letter + materials (links, publications etc.) demonstrating your work needs to be submitted.
---
*Scholarship does not include travel and accommodation.
---
*Scholarship does not include travel and accommodation.
€0
ONLINE PRE-SEMINAR
Registration required
Online (Zoom) pre-seminar will take place on November 23 at 14:00 - 15:30 Riga time. You will hear from the speakers and will have an opportunity to ask questions. The event is free of charge. We require a registration because we won't be streaming it on any open platforms.
€0
Venue
Reinventing Media Forum will take place at the STOCKHOLM SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS IN RIGA, a leading business school in the Baltics. It is located in the heart of the famous historical art-nouveau district in the capital of Latvia.
Surrounded by beautiful architecture, the venue is just a 10-minute walk away from the Old Town, with its charming, narrow cobblestone streets, beautiful canal side walkways and Riga’s cultural heritage waiting to be discovered round every corner.
Address
Stockholm School of Economics in Riga,
Strelnieku Street 4a, Riga (Latvia)
Travel & Accommodation
Flying to Riga
Riga international airport (RIX) is well connected and has direct flights scheduled every day with more than 100 destinations in 80 countries.
Getting to the venue
Located just a 20-minute drive from Stockholm School of Economics, RIX airport has easy access to the city centre by bus (Nr. 22) running every 20 minutes and taxis available at the entrance (AirBaltic or RedCab).
Hotels
There is a beautiful, newly built 4* Marriott Hotel, which is only a 4-minute walk to the venue. Special rate is offered to Reinventing Media Business attendees:
- Comfort King room (18m2) for single use: 60 EUR per room and night
(including breakfast and VAT) - Comfort King/Twin room (18m2) for double use: 70 EUR per room and night
(including breakfast and VAT)
BOOK the special rate via this link.
To experience art-nouveau to its fullest, stay at the historical Clarion Hotel Valdemārs or Hestia Hotel Jugend, both only 5-minute walks away.
If you prefer to enjoy a homely atmosphere and experience your stay at a 19th century neo-gothic cultural heritage setting, choose Monika hotel around the corner from the venue.
Partners
International Ander forum is proudly organised by
Our partners
