Speakers

Javier TEBAS

President

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.

• LALIGA President's Keynote Session

Danny TOWNSEND

CEO

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.

• Investment in Sport: Where is the Next $1bn Coming From?

John MARTIN

CEO

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.

• Investment in Sport: Where is the Next $1bn Coming From?

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.

• Regional Spotlight: Content Acquisition Strategies for APAC

Julie YAMAMOTO

Sr Director, Marketing

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.

• Hollywood Hits the Paddock: F1 Taking Storytelling to the Next Level

Matthew QUINN

VP, Media

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.

• Unlocking the Future of Fan Engagement with AI and Cloud Media Strategies

Michael WELTS

Chief Marketing Officer

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.

• Unlocking the Future of Fan Engagement with AI and Cloud Media Strategies

Djamel AGAOUA

CEO

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.

• Investment in Sport: Where is the Next $1bn Coming From?

Gareth REES

Head of Commercial Distribution

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.

• Driving Fan Engagement in the Next Era of Sports and Streaming

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.

• XRSA: Lessons from the First Experimentation Deployment with E1 Series

Cyprien CASTANEDO

Head of Media Platform & Innovation

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.

• New Live Sports Tech for Tailored Fan Experiences & Personalization
• Owning Your Sport: How Ligue 1+ is Transforming Fan Engagement, Data & Revenue

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.

• Powering Growth in Sports Streaming: AWS & Deltatre in Action
• Hollywood Hits the Paddock: F1 Taking Storytelling to the Next Level

Carlos BALLESTEROS

Co-founder & CEO

Carlos Ballesteros, CEO and Co-Founder of Pendular, is an entrepreneur with 10+ years’ experience specializing in media and sports content automation.

• Pitch Perfect Innovation Contest

Murray BARNETT

Founder

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.

• The Bundle Live @SPORTEL Monaco: The View from the C-Suite
• Hollywood Hits the Paddock: F1 Taking Storytelling to the Next Level

Keith BEDFORD

General Manager, EMEA

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.

• Driving Fan Engagement in the Next Era of Sports and Streaming

Peter BELLAMY

Chief Revenue Officer

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.

• The Bundle Live @SPORTEL Monaco: The View from the C-Suite

Malgorzata BORKOWSKA

Media Rights Director

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.

• Generative AI Redefining the Sports Industry

Laurence BOYD

Chief Content and Product Officer

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.

• XRSA: Lessons from the First Experimentation Deployment with E1 Series

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.

• Building the Brand: Monetizing Sports Content Through Broadcast, Data & Beyond

Mark CHEW

Co-Founder & Managing Director

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.

• Regional Spotlight: Content Acquisition Strategies for APAC

Lowell CONN

President

President & Co-founder of PROTOCOL SPORTS MARKETING 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.

• Building the Brand: Monetizing Sports Content Through Broadcast, Data & Beyond

Alex DUBINSKY

Co-Founder & CTO

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.

• Pitch Perfect Innovation Contest

Jean-Michel FELDERHOFF

CEO

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.

• Pitch Perfect Innovation Contest

Richard GILLIS

Owner

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.

• The Bundle Live @SPORTEL Monaco: The View from the C-Suite

Emil HANSSON

Product Director - Media

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.

• Finding Your AI Entry Points Across the Production Workflow

Jonathan HOWES

SVP, Global Sales

Jon Howes leads global sales at Wasabi, overseeing a high-performance team driving worldwide growth and market leadership. As former head of EMEA, he spearheaded expansion with 77% year-over-year ARR growth and built partnerships with major companies including Retelit, Exclusive Networks, and TD Synnex. He previously held senior sales and channel roles at Juniper Networks, Infovista, and Oracle, where he specialized in scaling managed service offerings, application prioritization, and security services for MSPs.

• Unlocking the Future of Fan Engagement with AI and Cloud Media Strategies

Andreas KAESHAMMER

Head of Football

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.

• New Live Sports Tech for Tailored Fan Experiences & Personalization

Ken KERSCHBAUMER

Editorial Director

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.

• New Live Sports Tech for Tailored Fan Experiences & Personalization
• Generative AI Redefining the Sports Industry

Glen KILLANE

Executive Director

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.

• The Bundle Live @SPORTEL Monaco: The View from the C-Suite

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.

• Building the Brand: Monetizing Sports Content Through Broadcast, Data & Beyond

Peter LEEB

VP, Commercial

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.

• Generative AI Redefining the Sports Industry

Andrea MARINI

Chief Executive Officer

Andrea has been Deltatre’s CEO and executive committee member since 2021.
Andrea has been part of Deltatre for more than 10 years and has held several other positions across the business, including Deputy CEO, Chief Commercial Officer, President (Americas) and Commercial Director.
Andrea featured in Sports Business Journal’s 2020 Forty under 40 Awards and Leaders in Sport’s 2021 Leaders Under 40 list.
In 2019, Andrea was a member of the Sport Advisory Board for Sports Tech Tokyo.

• Owning Your Sport: How Ligue 1+ is Transforming Fan Engagement, Data & Revenue

Armel NEGRET

Sports Lead, France

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

• Women's Networking Panel & Lunch Special Event

Pavol NERUDA

Owner of the OKTAGON MMA

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.

• OKTAGON MMA - The Record-Breaking MMA Powerhouse Redefining Sports Entertainment

Ondrej NOVOTNÝ

Owner of the OKTAGON MMA

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.

• OKTAGON MMA - The Record-Breaking MMA Powerhouse Redefining Sports Entertainment

Michal ORSAVA

Co-founder & CMO

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.

• Pitch Perfect Innovation Contest

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.

• New Live Sports Tech for Tailored Fan Experiences & Personalization

Michael PAYNE

Chairman & CEO

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

• Hollywood Hits the Paddock: F1 Taking Storytelling to the Next Level

Lauren PEDERSEN

CEO & Co-Founder

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.

• Women's Networking Panel & Lunch Special Event

Grant PROPHET

Head of Product Marketing

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.

• Pitch Perfect Innovation Contest

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.

• Generative AI Redefining the Sports Industry

Ashish SHAH

Co-Founder & CEO

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.

• Generative AI Redefining the Sports Industry

Carlos SILVA

President

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.

• Building the Brand: Monetizing Sports Content Through Broadcast, Data & Beyond

Kevin SIM

Head of APAC

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.

• Regional Spotlight: Content Acquisition Strategies for APAC

Alastair SMITH

CEO

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.

• Pitch Perfect Innovation Contest

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.

• Women's Networking Panel & Lunch Special Event

Scott YOUNG

Co-founder

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.

• Driving Fan Engagement in the Next Era of Sports and Streaming

Imran YUSUF

Executive Editor

Imran Yusuf is Editor for SportBusiness Media, the world's most trusted source of media rights deal data, analysis and intelligence.

• Investment in Sport: Where is the Next $1bn Coming From?
• Regional Spotlight: Content Acquisition Strategies for APAC

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.

• New Live Sports Tech for Tailored Fan Experiences & Personalization