About
Boutique, two-day media business event in the heart of Riga. A meeting space for media managers and editors, content writers, communication & marketing professionals, innovators, and digital experts to meet, share, create, and collaborate.
At first, it might appear that media is only about creating content. While that’s important, our shared goal goes deeper. We all wish to build stronger and more sustainable media while helping people better understand the importance of its presence. Additionally, media companies themselves have undergone significant changes lately. They have stories to tell that can both inform and inspire.
The aim of the forum is to bring the media business community together. Here we will exchange the latest professional knowledge that will help discover hidden opportunities in the ever-changing media business world.
You can find more information about the organizers on The Centre for Media Studies at Stockholm School of Economics in Riga webpage.
SPEAKERS 2023
Alyona Nevmerzhytska is the Chief Executive Officer of the leading Ukrainian independent online media hromadske.ua. Alyona started her career in media in 2012 at English language news source Kyiv Post and since that time media became her passion, work and interest. Alyona always worked on the media business side. Her main goal is diversification of the streams of revenue and media development. She is a graduate of Stockholm School of Economics Riga, media management program. Hromadske was founded in 2013 by a group of journalists at the peak of the Revolution of Dignity. hromadske has no owner, serves its community by delivering objective information of what’s really happening in Ukraine and top world news. Among hromadske recent achievements - together with 6 other media received an award from International Press Institute as a leader among Ukrainian media in adherence to journalistic standards. The reach on all hromadske platforms gathers around 23 million views monthly.
Alyona Nevmerzhytska
CEO
Hromadske.ua
Mari-Liis has been working for Ekspress Group almost 11 years. She started as a CEO of Delfi Estonia which is the biggest news outlet in Estonia. After merging two companies together (legacy media and online portal) she was the CEO of the newly formed company called Ekspress Meedia back then. In 2017 Mari-Liis became the CEO of the whole group. She has been driving the digital change throughout the years. The digital revenue in Ekspress group is already 80% of the whole revenue. In the digital media segment, Ekspress Group is implementing a strategy of rapid growth, the goals of which are market development and at the same time increasing market share. By the end of the second quarter of 2023 Ekspress Group has over 175 000 digital subscriptions.
Mari Liis Rüütsalu
CEO
Ekspress Group
Shira founded SCREENSHOT Media in her mid-20s with a mission to create a next gen media company with a mission to allow young people easy access to content that matters. Today SCREENSHOT Media is a market leader in speaking to youth audiences across all digital platforms, with a cumulative monthly reach across its 2 brands of 450 million. Shira’s area of expertise is rooted in her ability to build teams, grow audiences across platforms and take bold risks in the media space. Shira is also an associate lecturer at Central Saint Martins where she teaches digital media to year 2 BA students, and advises on media investment readiness programmes like the BFI and National Lottery's Evolve.
Shira Jeczmien
Founder & CEO
SCREENSHOT Media
Sebastian Katthöver is DW’s head of Audience Development in Bonn. The team aims to build a network within the multi-language organization, connecting editorial, marketing, web analysis and strategy units. The team manages more than 200 accounts and advises editors on how to improve their footprint on social media and the web. Prior to his current position, Sebastian worked in DW’s strategy department and in communications with RTL Germany. Deutsche Welle is Germany’s international broadcaster with 289 million weekly users on all platforms.
Sebastian Katthöver
Head of Audience Development
Deutsche Welle
Daryna Shevchenko is the CEO of the Kyiv Independent. Daryna has over 10 years experience as a media manager, trainer and media consultant. After working at Kyiv Post, she became the executive director of Media Development Foundation, ran the investigative journalism department at TV channel ZIK and worked as executive producer of award-winning investigative media Slidstvo.Info before joining Jnomics Media consultancy as Partner. Please give me some time to plan a travel itinerary for Daryna. I'll provide you with all the information a bit later. If you need something else, please let me know!
Daryna Shevchenko
CEO
Kyiv Independent
Federica Cherubini is Director of Leadership Development at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, where she hosts programmes to equip the current and next generation of newsroom leaders with the skills, evidence-based research, and networks they need to navigate journalism’s ongoing transformation and build a stronger and more sustainable future for the industry. Federica is an expert in newsroom operations and organisational change, with ten years’ experience spanning major publishers, research institutes and editorial networks around the world. Federica specialises in devising and implementing new and improved ways of working, bridging people, disciplines, departments, projects and cultures. Prior to joining RISJ, she worked for start-ups like Hearken and publishers like Condé Nast, working on audience first strategies and audience engagement. She is an expert on newsletter strategies and editorial initiatives that drive audience loyalty. Federica was a coach for the Membership Puzzle Project and is currently part of the Mentor Network program for News Product Alliance.
Federica Cherubini
Director of Leadership Development
Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
Andreas Bengtsson is Head of Futures Lab at Schibsted. The Futures Lab is a research and development unit. The Lab’s objective is to influence Schibsted, by providing evidence and point of view on application of emerging technology for business and product innovation. Andreas has 20 years of management experience in technology and has been CTO of both FINN.no and Blocket.se and CPO of Blocket.se.
Andreas Bengtsson
Head of Futures Lab
Schibsted
Christofer Ahlqvist has been the Editor-in-Chief of Göteborgs-Posten for six years. Prior to this, he served as Editor-in-Chief at Metro. Under his guidance, Göteborgs-Posten has experienced robust digital growth and garnered recognition for its journalism and business achievements. The newspaper was awarded "Newspaper of the Year" in Sweden in 2022 and received three first-place awards at the INMA awards in New York in May. Ahlqvist also serves on the board of directors for Utgivarna, an interest organization for Swedish publishers, and TU, a member company comprising all established Swedish newspapers.
Christofer Ahlqvist
Chief Editor
Göteborgs-Posten
Patrick Boehler leads product, audience and marketing efforts at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and oversees its Academy and Innovation Lab. An award-winning reporter and editor, he has worked on digital transformation and efforts to serve audiences in some of the world's most challenging markets incl. China and Russia with The New York Times, The South China Morning Post, the Swiss public broadcaster, and other outlets, and taught reporting at the University of Hong Kong.
Patrick Boehler
Acting Head of Innovation and Audience Engagement
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Greg Piechota is a researcher-in-residence at the International News Media Association and the lead of INMA’s strategic initiatives: Readers First and Subscription Benchmarking. An ex-research fellow at Oxford and Harvard universities, he studied technology-enabled disruption patterns across industries and business model innovation in news media. In 2023, he lectured on AI in marketing at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Greg is a former media executive with 20+ years of industry experience, beginning at Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza in 1996 where he worked his way up from local reporter to news editor and vice president of Agora Foundation. He serves on boards of non-profits, publishing groups and e-commerce companies in the United Kingdom, Germany and Ukraine, including the Bureau of Investigative Journalism in London. His book, Unlocking the Customer Value Chain, written with Thales Teixeira of Harvard Business School, was published in 2019 by Currency. His latest report, AI Guide and ChatGPT Promptbook For News Marketers, was released in 2023 by INMA.
Grzegorz Piechota
Researcher-in-residence
International News Media Association
Konstantīns joined Delfi Latvia as CEO in 2013, following his tenure as Chief Operational Officer at Super FM group. Delfi Latvia, a leading news media organization, has received numerous professional industry awards. In recent years, it has become the largest local advertising online platform and a digital subscription pioneer with over 20,000 subscribers. Konstantīns also is a graduate of the media management program at the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga.
Konstantins Kuzikovs
CEO
Delfi Latvia
Charles Minty is Director of Digital Reader Revenues at The Guardian News and Media. With a decade of service to The Guardian, Charles has been a key driving force in revolutionising their revenue approach. This transformation has led to a total paying base of over 1 million digital subscribers and The Guardian achieving record income levels following the shift of audiences from traditional print to online platforms. Prior to his current position Charles worked within the retention and engagement team at The Times of London.
Charles Minty
Director of Digital Reader Revenues
The Guardian News and Media
Vesa Lindqvist works in strategy and business development for Sanoma Media Finland - publisher of the biggest news media in Finland. He has over twelve years of experience in leading new subscription business projects in Helsingin Sanomat, Today HS has more than 400,000 subscribers, a base that’s been growing every year since 2017, when the 25 years of subscription decline began turning around. Peviously he has worked in telecom industry responsible for mobile subscription business growth. He is passionate about reseach and data driven business development.
Vesa Lindqvist
Strategy and Business Development Manager
Sanoma Media Finland
Rawan Damen - Director General of ARIJ (Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism) has 25+ years of experience in television and digital production and training in addition to media management. Before joining ARIJ in Jan 2020, Rawan worked on producing and directing more than 30 hours of documentaries and investigative TV stories, published in different languages. She was a senior commissioner at Al Jazeera Network for 10 years (2006 – 2016). She also led large interactive multi-language international platforms. Rawan received a Master’s degree with honorable distinction in media and communication from the University of Leeds in the UK, 2003. She was also awarded the Media Creativity Award from the Arab Thought Foundation in Beirut, 2015.
Rawan Damen
Director General
ARIJ (Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism)
Tomas is a media entrepreneur since 2005. He has been involved in various forms of media business. News sites, newspapers, magazines, news agencies, classifieds, cinema, books. Tomas has worked with Schibsted media group for over ten years. Has served on the board of Lithuanian National Television and Radio, has served as independent board member of Telia Lithuania. Currently Tomas is co-owner of 15min group and few other companies as well as CEO of news companies 15min and BNS Lithuania.
Tomas Balžekas
CEO
15min group
SPEAKERS 2022
Caitlin Clarke leads Business Development at the Financial Times. She has a background in commerciasing new content products, developing alternative revenue streams and go-to market strategy. She's worked at other major media outlets like the New York Times and Bloomberg and has also worked at two start-ups who sold primarily into the media industry - Trint and Hearken.Caitlin Clarke
Business Development Director
Financial Times
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
As a member of the DW’s Digital Format and Product Development team, Laura Döing is responsible for podcast development across all sections of DW; Deutsche Welle (DW) is Germany's international public broadcaster.Laura Döing develops digital formats for diverse target groups all over the world. She is a multimedia journalist who has been working with video, audio, text anddata for more than 10 years - and got hooked on user-centred design and data-based development.Laura Döing
Digital Format and Product Development
Deutsche Welle (DW)
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
Digital & Publishing Director
IMPRESA
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
Alex Chapko is a General Manager at Piano Software, overseeing company growth, partnerships, and client relationships across India, Central Asia, Middle East, and Eastern Europe. Alex has been working with the Indian market for over 8 years, starting as a CEO of Newzmate - a content marketing cloud acquired by Piano in 2018. He is today working alongside hundreds of brands and content publishers across 30 countries, helping them identify and implement the necessary strategies and technology stack to improve audience understanding, engagement, and monetisation.Alex Chapko
General Manager
Piano
Nils Riise is a General Manager at Piano and oversees company growth, partnerships and client relationships across the Nordics. A marketing technology expert with a strong background, Nils has extensive knowledge of how to drive revenue in the publishing industry, particularly through Digital Subscription, Programmatic Advertising and Targeting.Nils Riise
General Manager
Piano
Sonali Verma works with content producers all over the world to help them transform their business models and embrace a data-driven culture. As the manager of digital production and audience engagement teams at The Globe, she led a mind shift in getting journalists to understand how data could make them more effective, while staying true to their mission to build a better Canada. She also collaborated with The Globe’s data science team on an analytics project that evolved into an artificial-intelligence and machine-learning platform called Sophi.io, which is now used on five continents. She has been Sophi’s senior product manager and director of customer success, and also oversaw marketing efforts that won several international awards. Her current role as Director, Business Development entails working closely with publishers to help them build sustainable revenue models by using Sophi’s automation, prediction and optimization technology. Sonali was previously the editor of Globe Investor, an editor at Bloomberg News, a senior producer at CNBC and one of 10 young journalists chosen worldwide for the coveted Reuters Trainee program.Sonali Verma
Director of Business Development
THE GLOBE AND MAIL
In 2014 Galina established Meduza Project - independent news outlet and became editor-in-chief and the CEO and publisher. Previously she worked at Kommersant newspaper as an editor, from 2004 to 2014 and was editor-in-chief of the most popular Russian news outlet Lenta.ru.GALINA TIMCHENKO
CER & Publisher
MEDUZA
Olga Rudenko is the chief editor of the Kyiv Independent, an award-winning media start-up launched in November 2021 by the former editorial team of the Kyiv Post. Olga is the former deputy chief editor of the Kyiv Post. She has written for global publications, and was a fellow at the Chicago Booth School of Business in 2021.Olga Rudenko
Editor in Chief
Kyiv IndependentSPEAKERS 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
October 3
9:00 Registration + coffee
9:30 Opening remarks
9:45 Where are we going? An old craft in a fractured new world. Drew Sullivan, co-founder at Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP)
10:00 Turning Things Around: The Göteborgs-Posten Story, Christian Ahlqvist, chief editor of Goteborg Post
10:30 Empowering Change: The Evolution of Revenue Streams for NGO Media, Alyona Nevmerzhytska, CEO of Hromadske
11:00 COFFEE BREAK
11:30 10 Mistakes I did Building Up an Investigative Network, Rawan Damen, Director General of ARIJ
12:00 AI in the News – how we innovate through exploration of emerging technologies, Andreas Bengtsson, head of the Futures Lab, Schibsted
12:30 Next gen media: How to win big when creating content for youth audiences today? Shira Jeczmien, Founder & CEO Screenshot media
13:00 LUNCH BREAK
14:30 Key Lessons from The Guardian’s Supporter Strategy, 10 Years On, Charles Minty, Director Digital Reader Revenues at The Guardian
15:00 Mental support in times of war (the case of the Kyiv Independent), Daryna Shevchenko, CEO of Kyiv Independent
15:30 COFFEE BREAK
16:00 Panel discussion: Creating a practical toolkit for alignment (Moderator: Patrick Boehler):
- Federica Cherubini, Head of Leadership Development, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
- Sebastian Katthöver, Head of Audience Development, DW
- Patrick Boehler, Head of Innovation and Audience Engagement, RFE/RL
17:00 Evening reception (drinks & snacks)
October 4
9:30 Navigating the future of news business in the age of AI, Grzegorz Piechota, Researcher-In-Residence at INMA
10:00 How DW identifies the white space opportunities on social media using AI-fuelled tools like Tubular Labs, Sebastian Katthöver, Head of Audience Development at Deutsche Welle
10:30 COFFEE BREAK
11:00 Experiences in using target group content to create subscription growth. Case Helsingin Sanomat, Vesa Lindqvist, Strategic Partnerships Manager, Sanoma
11:30 Panel discussion: Introducing a subscription model
- Toms Ostrovskis, Editor in Chief , TVNET Group (Moderator)
- Mari-Liis Rüütsalu, CEO Ekspress Grupp
- Konstantīns Kuzikovs, CEO Delfi Latvia
- Vesa Lindqvist, Strategic Partnerships Manager, Sanoma
- Tomas Balžekas, CEO, 15min group
12:30 End notes + lunch
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
A minimal participation fee is applied, so that we can cover basic expenses of the event – travel and accommodation for speakers, venue hire, lunch and coffee breaks and evening reception. By purchasing the ticket you contribute to the event and the community building amongst media professionals in the region.
Venue
Reinventing Media Business 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.
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
— Newly built 4* Marriott Hotel is only a 4-minute walk to the venue. A special rate is offered to Reinventing Media Business Forum attendees. If you’d like to book, please follow the link.
— The 4* superior hotel Monika Centrum Hotels is located in the historical centre of Riga, encircled by one of Europe’s most eminent block of buildings in Art Nouveau style and is only a 3-minute walk to the venue.
To make a reservation, please send your request with a special code Media Business Forum 2023 to the e-mail address: sales.monika@centrumhotels.com
Partners
International Ander forum is proudly organised by
Our partners
