• John Sculley Twitter LinkedIn

    John Sculley, managing partner of Sculley Family Office with his wife Diane, is one of America's best-known business leaders, with one foot in the storied history of Apple technology and the other planted firmly in 21st century innovations that change the way the world does business. His success stories include telecommunications, financial services, healthcare, high technology, Internet services, consumer marketing, and outsourcing services.

    Drawing upon more than 40 years experience as a corporate executive, Sculley has become a leading global storyteller for the digital revolution. He will share his perspectives on topics like how adaptive companies succeed in an era of the commoditization of almost everything.

    John is author of the just released new book, “MOONSHOT! Game Changing Strategies How to Build a Billion Dollar Business”.

  • Lars Silberbauer Andersen Twitter LinkedIn

    Global Director of Social Media & Search

    Lars is Global Director of Social Media & Search Marketing at the LEGO Group, driving the well-known toy company's social media & search strategy and execution. He built the company's social media engagement from scratch and now leads a global team of social media and search marketers that drives real time engagement with consumers worldwide.

    When he began in the company there wasn’t even an official LEGO webpage. This Christmas, Adweek scored LEGO as the number one brand on Social Media and YouTube in the toy industry.

    Last year, Lars launched LEGO® TV, a native mobile experience for kids where they can experience high quality animated LEGO content, in 24 markets. Lars is based in London, and previously worked in the digital and broadcast media industry as digital strategist and later creative manager driving digital strategy and leading project development for Danish Broadcasting Corporation. He has also worked in the US, driving web development and user research. He holds and MA in Digital Media Science and a HD in Innovation and Organizational Strategy.

  • Mimi Jonas Sroka

    Global Content Media Manager

    Mimi Jonas Sroka is the Global Content Marketing Manager at The Movember Foundation – the leading global organization committed to changing the face of men’s health. Based out of the US headquarters in Los Angeles, Mimi oversees a global team, covering 21 markets, strategizing and managing the creation and execution of content built to engage the existing Movember community (4.7 million to date) as well as drive new supporters to the cause.

    Mimi’s arrival at Movember in 2011 coincided with the integration and importance of Social and Mobile content strategies and she has championed those efforts on a global scale, with much success – nearly 13% of the $744 million raised since 2011 has come from Facebook and Twitter. She has helped forge innovative partnerships with Facebook, Instagram, Google and a first in class execution with Snapchat.

    Her prior 10 years in agency life creating, executing and supporting strategic marketing and publicity campaigns has been critical to helping the Movember Foundation grow.

  • Gert Wim ter Haar Twitter LinkedIn

    Social Media Hub Manager

    Gert Wim ter Haar is Social Media Hub Manager at KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. Gert Wim has been with the company since 2002 and has experience in numerous e-commerce areas within KLM. Since the start of social media service in 2010, Gert Wim has been involved with providing customers Socially Devoted levels of customer service. Over the past years he has been involved with every aspect of KLM’s activity in customer interaction on numerous social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, VKontakte, WeChat, Sina Weibo, and LinkedIn.

    Gert Wim’s Engage presentation will focus on insights from KLM’s unique approach to social customer care.

  • Shira Feuer Twitter LinkedIn

    Head of Digital Marketing Solutions, The Walt Disney Company, EMEA

    As EMEA Head of Social Media for Disney, Shira Feuer is responsible for social media and digital marketing innovation for The Walt Disney Company across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, working across key business segments including movies, brand TV channels, consumer products, games, and more. She focuses both on using social media as an integral part of the marketing mix and integrating it across all parts of the business to add value and increase efficiencies beyond marketing alone.

    Prior to her role at The Walt Disney Company, Shira managed global social media strategy for Burberry. She launched new platforms and focused on utilizing social media to provide a tangible return on investment for the business. During this time Shira managed social media at Burberry and it ranked at the top of the FTSE 100 Social Media Index.

    Shira sits on a number of digital councils and is a mentor for a number of start-up incubators including Techstars and Seedcamp, where she helps innovative companies with their business development.

  • Beau Avril Twitter LinkedIn

    Global Head of Product Commercialization, Google Preferred

    As Global Head of Product Commercialization, Beau is responsible for bringing Google’s premium video solutions (called Google Preferred) to global markets. This includes partner inventory and O&O; (YouTube). Specifically, Beau is responsible for driving Google’s upfront video strategy (unveiled last year) called “Google Preferred.” He also has oversight of YouTube’s “Partner Sales Program” which enables shared inventory sales between Google and YouTube’s multi-channel networks. Previously at Google, Beau led YouTube sales development for priority accounts in the Finance, Auto, Entertainment, and Travel industries. Before joining Google, Beau worked in programming distribution for CBS Television Distribution Group. Beau attended Cornell University and lives in New York City.

  • Bethany Mota Twitter

    YouTube Personality

    YouTube sensation Bethany Mota has become one of the most recognizable names in the world. Her channel has over 8 million subscribers, and her videos have been viewed over 600 million times. She’s launched clothing and fragrance lines with Aeropostale and was the #1 searched fashion designer on Google in 2014.

    She was a contestant on the hit show “Dancing with the Stars” - making the final four, and has appeared on the Today Show, The View, and in countless print and online publications. TIME Magazine named her as one of the world’s influential teens in 2014 and Business Insider has dubbed her one of the most powerful people in Hollywood. Last year her first single, “Need You Right Now”, hit #3 on the iTunes charts.

    Bethany kicked off 2015 with an interview with U.S. President Barack Obama following his State of the Union address.

  • Sabeen H. Ahmad Twitter LinkedIn

    Associate Director of Strategy

    Sabeen is Associate Director, Digital Strategy at Publicis North America. She has vast experience working with Fortune 100 clients from a variety of disciplines, including financial services, telecommunications, home electronics, nutrition, travel, and lifestyle.

    Sabeen came to Publicis from iCrossing, where she was AD of Social Media Strategy for clients such as LG USA, ING, PNC Bank, and the Bermuda Department of Tourism, among others. Previously, Sabeen was Director of Social Media at Brodie Collins Consulting (BCC), a public relations and fundraising consulting firm in Washington, DC. At BCC, Sabeen developed social media training programs, conducted seminars, and provided counsel to institutions such as The International Monetary Fund (IMF), The Brookings Institution, and Columbia University’s School of Continuing Education.

    A former medical student, Sabeen has experience and insight from the fields of medicine and healthcare. She has worked and interned at various hospitals and clinics both in the U.S. and abroad, and has performed and published research in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, University of Connecticut, and Smith College.

    Sabeen, a graduate of Smith College, enjoys playing tennis and traveling in her free time.

  • John Saydam Twitter LinkedIn

    Head of Social Media

    With more than 15 years of experience in the industry, John has been providing an integrated set of digital and social media services to local and global companies. Currently, he is servicing his organization in the Aviation/Travel industry as the Head of Social Media at Emirates Airline.

    Prior to that, John spent three years building and growing global communities for BlackBerry in Canada. He also has more than a decade of experience in managing online campaigns and strategy for top-tier clients, such as Ministry of Health, Air Canada, BMW Group, CAA, AAA, Scotia Bank, CIBC, Royal LePage, Government of Ontario and Government of Canada.

    John has extensive experience training global corporate teams on social media strategy, community management, content management and engagement tactics, specifically on Facebook and Twitter.

    He brings incredibly diverse experience in digital marketing and has worked in multiple international markets on mobile communication strategy and successful program implementation.

    John currently lives in Dubai, UAE with his wife and his 3 children. He is an avid outdoorsman and athlete, if he gets some spare time; he enjoys long-distance running, biking, hiking and mountain climbing.

  • Björn Bollensdorff LinkedIn

    CEO

    Before founding Panono, Björn studied Computer Engineering at TU Berlin, and Communication in Social and Economic Contexts at UdK Berlin. He worked at Siemens as a student co-worker and wrote his diploma thesis at Pixar Animation Studios in California. After finishing his studies he started Panono with Jonas Pfeil and Qian Qin.

  • Boris Mercier Twitter LinkedIn

    Global Head of Social Media

    Boris is a digital Gen X native who has embraced social media since the very beginning - creating the social media department of Desigual from scratch. Now he leads a multicultural team that manages Desigual’s global social strategy in the 109 countries where the brand has a presence. He started its career in new tech marketing as a consultant in “old school” industries such as Petroleum and Banking (VISA, Total) before switching to fashion. Boris is a native of France, but is well-travelled with professional experience in markets such as Finland, Mexico and Spain.

  • Roberto Ciacci Twitter LinkedIn

    Global Head of Digital Marketing

    Roberto Ciacci is Global Head of Digital Marketing, online brand manager and Connected Car project leader at Automobili Lamborghini. He is 43 and proud father of two hyper-connected kids.

    He joined the supersports car manufacturer in 2011 after a 5-year track record as a digital marketing consultant for renowned companies and organisations like Granarolo, Alpha Wassermann, and regional agencies and municipalities.

    He started his career in 1998 as an Internet technologist at CINECA, the first Italian super computing center, where he was product marketing manager of so-called value added services (streaming media, CDN, multi-video conference, e-learning, digital television, digital signage) and authored many innovative projects.

  • Bryan Cheng

    General Manager of Weibo Business Product and Platform Division

    Bryan's bio will be added as soon as possible, sorry for the incovenience.

  • Shintaro Tabata

    Senior Executive Officer, Head of Corporate Sales

    Hailing from Ishikawa Prefecture, Tabata graduated from Keio University’s Department of Economics in March 1999. After founding and publishing the free magazine “R25” while working at Recruit Co., Ltd., he was promoted to head of advertising.

    After moving to Livedoor Co.,Ltd., and working as the head of Livedoor News, he became an Executive in Charge of Media Solutions. He led the revitalization of Livedoor’s media by managing Livedoor’s main sources of advertising revenue, namely its portal, blog, and news services.

    In 2010, he was hired as the Country Manager at Conde Nast Japan, where he managed the Web Department. In 2012, he was hired as an executive board member for NHN Japan (named changed to LINE Corporation in April 2013), where he managed the Advertising Department.

    Last year, he entered his current position as Senior Executive Officer, Head of Corporate Sales for LINE Corporation, where he manages all aspects of corporate sales

  • Ben Maher Twitter LinkedIn

    Executive Director EMEA

    Ben Maher is Mashable's UK Advertising Director where he oversees sales for the UK market. Ben joined Mashable in September 2014 from Weve, a joint venture between the UK’s three largest mobile network operators, which develops mobile commerce platforms businesses in the UK, where he served as an Agency Director. Ben has over a decade of digital and mobile sales experience in the UK and EMEA markets, working with a host of world-class brands. Prior to Weve, Maher served as Commercial Director and Founder of his own gaming start up and also worked as an EU Sales Director for AdMonsters before that. He has also worked in various capacities for Jaman, Endemol International, MySpace, AOL Time Warner and Yahoo!.

  • Josh Constine

    Senior Writer

    Josh Constine is a writer for TechCrunch who specializes in social products and music technology. He closely covers the competition between Spotify, Google, Apple, SoundCloud, and Pandora. Constine has moderated talks with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, SoundCloud CEO Alex Ljung, the founders of Rap Genius, and more. Previously, Constine was the lead writer for Inside Facebook and earned a Master's degree in Cybersociology from Stanford University. Josh is a life-long music fan who has been speaking and attending concerts at SXSW for years. He's managed and played in bands, ran ticketing and websites for artists like Bon Jovi and The Killers, and booked concerts for Stanford.

  • John Koetsier

    VP Research

    John Koetsier is VP Research at VentureBeat and is building a research team for the company. He has a strong background in technology and marketing: building sites, apps, and companies, and has been a full-time digital journalist. He's built social sites, managed local search sites, and built mobile apps, and he's managed teams creating software for partners like Intel and Disney. In addition, John has managed product families with over $75M in annual revenues, and successfully run international bizdev, closing 6-figure contracts with F100 companies. He occasionally consults on social media in business, as well as mobile and web development, and he speaks at international conferences on tech, mobile, marketing, and social media.

  • Greg Galant

    CEO

    Gregory Galant is the the co-creator and executive producer of The Shorty Awards honoring the best of social media. Greg’s also the cofounder and CEO of Muck Rack, a digital PR and journalism platform dubbed “one of the most useful tools ever invented for media professionals” by The Next Web. Previously, Greg was an associate producer at CNN where he analyzed the latest trends in citizen media. Greg has also worked at Newlight Associates, a $120M technology venture capital fund. A lifelong entrepreneur, Greg founded an award-winning web development firm at age 14.

    To help fellow entrepreneurs, Greg created Venture Voice, a podcast interview series with the founders of Twitter, LinkedIn, The Vanguard Group, Brooklyn Brewery, and more. Greg's a mentor in the TechStars startup accelerator. BusinessWeek named him one of the "Best Young Tech Entrepreneurs".

    Greg’s a frequent speaker on social media, marketing, PR, entrepreneurship and journalism. He’s given presentations at SXSW, Le Web, Harvard Business School and The International Journalism Festival. His columns have appeared in Fortune, Forbes and Business Insider. He’s also a member of Twitter's exclusive first name club. You can follow him at @gregory.

  • Matt Navarra Twitter

    Social Media Director

    At TNW, Matt is responsible for devising and implementing social strategy for one the world's leading technology news sources. He works closely with all the leading social network platform teams and a host of media and corporate sponsors to deliver the the best possible social experience for TNW's readers and help drive revenue across TNW’s full portfolio of operations.

    With over 10 years industry experience, Matt has previously worked for the UK Government as a digital communications expert for numerous high profile departments including the Government Digital Service, Cabinet Office, and Intellectual Property Office.

    Matt is a BA (Hons) graduate from Bristol who developed his skills in marketing, PR, and communications while working for some of the UK's leading banking brands including NatWest, RBS, and HBOS.

    Follow Matt on Twitter @MattNavarra

  • Jim Edwards

    Founding Editor

    Before joining BI, Jim served as managing editor at Adweek, an advertising columnist at CBS Interactive, and a Knight-Bagehot Fellow at Columbia Business School. His work has appeared in Slate, Salon, MTV, The Nation and AOL. His investigative journalism has changed the law in the First Circuit Court of Appeals (U.S. v. Kravetz), the Third Circuit Court of Appeals (North Jersey Media v. Ashcroft), New Jersey (In Re El-Atriss), and New York (Mosallem v. Berenson).

    The U.S. Supreme Court cited his work on the death penalty in the concurrence to Baze v. Rees, on the issue of whether lethal injection is cruel or unusual.

    He won the Neal award for business journalism in 2005 for a series of articles on bribes and kickbacks in the advertising business.