Dr Ahmed El Adl
Ahmed El Adl
Technology and business innovation leader
Dr. El Adl is a technology and business innovation leader with a proven track record of global scale achievements in envisioning and building intelligent technologies and applying them to solve real-world problems to accelerate the digital and cognitive transformation of businesses, workforce, services, and machines. He has Ph.D. in Computer Science with a focus on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. Mr. El Adl is a Forbes contributor, Cognitive World magazine Advisor & Author, and a frequent public speaker at different global conferences mainly around artificial intelligence adoption, Innovation, Cognitive Digital Twin, Industrial IoT, Intelligent Enterprise and Human-Machine workforce. Additionally, he is actively engaged with and serves on the board of different key organizations and academic institutions driving the right adoption and advancement of AI/ML, Intelligent Automation, Digital Twin and Quantum Computing for Deep Machine Learning and real-time complex systems and solutions.
Anil Ranchod
Anil Ranchod
Deputy Director PR & Communications, Stroke Association
Award-winning Deputy Director PR & Communications at the Stroke Association. Anil features in PRWeek’s Power Book 2018, 2019 and 2020 and has a fountain of knowledge of the charity and voluntary sectors having previously worked at Mencap, RNIB, The Children’s Society, Help the Aged and NSPCC in a number of communications roles. He is passionate about diversity, measurement and evaluation, corporate social responsibility, crisis communications, fundraising, strategic planning and corporate communications.
Ben Chodor, President, Intrado Digital Media
Ben Chodor
President, Intrado Digital Media
Ben Chodor has 20+ years of experience as a leader in enterprise communications, social video, and digital health, and is a pioneer of online communications through interactive and streaming content. As President of Intrado Digital Media, Ben leads the organization in expanding its best-in-class solutions for public relations, investor relations, marketing, and internal communications that support more than 12,000 global customers with their mission-critical communications. Previously, Ben served as Co-Founder & CEO of Happtique, the first digital health mobile application marketplace. He was also Founder & CEO for digital media and webcasting company Stream57, and the former Global Head of Streaming & Virtual Events at InterCall. Ben acts as a mentor for startup accelerator Blueprint Health, is an active investor and board member for digital startups, has hosted radio shows mHealth Zone Live & HealthTech Talk, and is a frequent speaker on digital media and technology. Ben is the author of “Transitioning to Virtual and Hybrid Events: How to Create, Adapt, and Market an Engaging Online Experience”, a book that provides expert advice and real-world instructions for delivering engaging hybrid, virtual, and streaming events and webinars for companies of all sizes. When not working in one of his many business roles, Ben enjoys spending time with his family, boxing, yoga, traveling and training for his first triathlon.
Caitlin Johnson
Caitlin Johnson
Senior International PR Manager, VisitBritain
Caitlin Johnson is the Senior International PR Manager for VisitBritain, with more than 8 years’ experience working in PR across many sectors including fashion, lifestyle, and travel. Caitlin has worked for VisitBritain, promoting the UK as a destination to visit, working with partners to promote and develop the visitor economy, to a global audience for the past 3 years. Currently she leads on creating, implementing and measuring global PR strategies, ensuring that activity is integrated across the organisation. In 2018, Caitlin led the successful tender for global evaluation, leading on the implementation and embedding of Commetric and Intrado’s services to collect and curate evidence of earned media outputs across 21 territories in order to understand performance against KPIs and how these supported organisational objectives.
Catherine Hernandez-Blades
Catherine Hernandez-Blades
Senior Vice President, Chief ESG and Communications Officer, Aflac
Catherine Hernandez-Blades is senior vice president, chief environmental, social and governance (ESG) and communications officer at Aflac. She is responsible for corporate communications, organizational communications, philanthropy and ESG activities for the company, including the company’s Global SABRE award-winning corporate social responsibility (CSR) program. Hernandez-Blades joined Aflac in 2014 as senior vice president of Corporate Communications and has held leadership positions of increasing responsibility, including chief brand and communications officer in 2017 and her current position in February 2019. With 25 years of professional success in optimizing operations, driving revenues, decreasing expenses and building high-performing, diverse teams, Hernandez-Blades is a metrics-focused integrated marketing and communications strategist, tactician and leader who understands the business side of the business. An acknowledged change agent, she spent the last 15 years building organizations from the ground up and orchestrating and implementing large-scale turnarounds in highly regulated industries for international public companies in the Fortune 500. In 2020, Hernandez-Blades became one of four women inducted in Ragan’s inaugural class of the Women in Communications Hall of Fame. She is also one of Forbes magazine’s Top-50 Most Influential CMOs, Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals’ CHANGEMAKERS and a two-time Cannes Lion winner. Additionally, she serves on the Forbes Communications Council.  In 2019, The Holmes Report’s Innovation SABRE Awards for North America recognized her as the Most Innovative Marketing/Communications Professional (Brand) and LATINA Style magazine named her the Corporate Executive of the Year. In 2018, PRWeek honored her as the Outstanding In-House Professional and PR News named her a Top Woman in PR for the fourth consecutive year. She was also named to NY Moves magazine’s 25 Power Women list and the Top Latino Executives in Corporate America list by Latino Leaders magazine. A 2017 inductee into the PRWeek Hall of Femme and the PR News Hall of Fame, she is also the winner of the World Communications Forum Davos “Relations of the Future” award. Under Hernandez-Blades’ leadership, Aflac’s award-winning CSR program has received top honors from Points of Light’s Civic 50, the American Innovation Index, the Public Relations Society of America’s Silver Anvil, The Holmes Report’s SABRE North America and Global SABRE awards, and PR News’ Platinum PR Award for 2018. Aflac also has been named PR News’ Top Place to Work in PR for four consecutive years and PRWeek’s Best Places to Work list in 2016. A past chair of Operation Homefront’s board of directors, Hernandez-Blades is currently past chair of The Seminar, a member of the Arthur W. Page Society and an Institute of Public Relations Trustee. A past member of the Marketing 50/M50, she is currently a member of the Communications 50/C50 and serves on the Communications Advisory Board for the Ethisphere Institute. A contributor to four books, she has also been profiled in two books, “What More Can I Say?” and “Diverse Voices: Profiles in Leadership,” recognized by ExecRank as a Top-30 CMO and is an Accredited Business Communicator. Hernandez-Blades earned a Bachelor of Arts in mass communication from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and is a Loyola University Environmental Communications Fellow.
Danny Rogers, Editor-in-Chief, PRWeek EMEA
Danny Rogers
Editor-in-Chief
Danny is one of the world's pre-eminent media and marketing journalists. He has been editor of Campaign and PRWeek and, in 2015, wrote a successful book called 'Campaigns that Shook the World: the Evolution of Public Relations'. He has won many industry awards including the British Society of Magazine Editors' 'Editor of the Year' in 2008. Rogers has also been a contributing editor to The Independent, The Guardian and Financial Times' Creative Business, and is a regular commentator on international broadcast media.
Fred Cook
Fred Cook
Chairman, Golin & Director, USC Center for Public Relations
Fred Cook has worked at Golin for over 30 years. He started as an account supervisor in the Los Angeles office and moved to Chicago 15 years ago to become Golin’s third CEO. Fred credits the company culture for his long tenure with the firm. During his time with Golin, Cook has had the privilege to work with a variety of high-profile CEOs, including Herb Kelleher, Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs. He has also managed a wide scope of crises for his clients, including airline crashes, product recalls, and sexual harassment. Fred is proud of the firm’s accomplishments, but he is even more excited about the future. The world is experiencing profound changes in demographics, globalization, multiculturalism and technology which are impacting the way people communicate with each other. To stay ahead of their changes, five years ago, Golin completely redesigned the agency by adopting a proprietary business model called g4, to deliver deeper insights, bigger ideas and broader engagement to their clients. Since that time, Golin has been named ‘Agency of the Year’ more than a dozen times. In 2014, Cook published “Improvise – Unconventional Career Advice from an Unlikely CEO,” which shares the wisdom he gained as a cabin boy on a Norwegian tanker, doorman at a 5-star hotel and chauffeur for drunks. In 2015, after speaking on college campuses around the world, Fred accepted an additional position with the University of Southern California as the Director of the USC Center for Public Relations at the Annenberg School whose mission is to shape the future of public relations and those who will lead it - through research, education and thought leadership.
Gabby Stern
Gabby Stern
Director of Communications, World Health Organization
Gabriella Stern is Director of Communications at the World Health Organization. Based at WHO headquarters in Geneva, Gabby is in charge of the organization’s global communications strategy, manages a team of communications professionals, and serves as spokesperson for the Director-General. Gabby joined WHO in March 2019 after more than three years at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Based in Seattle, she was the Director of Media & External Relations. Before moving into communications in early 2016, Gabby was a journalist. She spent almost 25 years at The Wall Street Journal in various editing and reporting roles in the U.S., London (during which she and her family became naturalized UK citizens) and Asia. Prior to joining the Journal, she worked for the Omaha, (Neb.) World-Herald. Born in New Jersey, with Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Yale University, Gabby is married, with two adult children (and a cat named Oscar.)
Jamin Spitzer
Jamin Spitzer
Senior Director of Comms Insights, Microsoft
At Microsoft, Jamin Spitzer oversees the insights and analytics team for the communications organization.  Previously, Jamin was a “PR guy with math skills” though now he finds his statistical understanding as valuable as his communications domain knowledge as a bridge between what analytics can unlock and what communicators need to know. A 15-year Microsoft veteran, Jamin previously held roles overseeing Microsoft’s industry analyst relations program and in developer evangelism, where he pioneered new ways of using social media to engage influential developers.  Prior to joining Microsoft, Jamin worked for PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards but started his career working on political campaigns and as a press secretary to a U.S. member of Congress.
Jim Macnamara, Distinguished Professor of Public Communication, School of Communication, University of Technology Sydney (UTS)
Jim Macnamara
Distinguished Professor of Public Communication
Jim Macnamara PhD is Distinguished Professor of Public Communication in the School of Communication at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). He is also a Visiting Professor at London School of Economics and Political Science, Media and Communications Department, and a Visiting Professor at the London College of Communication in the University of the Arts London (UAL). He is internationally recognised for his research into evaluation of public communication and for his work on organisational listening. Jim was the recipient of the Don Bartholomew Award from the International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC) in 2017 for his contribution to the industry, and also the 2017 Pathfinder Award from the Institute for Public Relations (IPR) in the US, it’s “highest academic honour” for research in the field. Jim is the author of 16 books including Organizational Listening: The Missing Essential in Public Communication published by Peter Lang, New York in 2016 and Evaluating Public Communication: Exploring New Models, Standards, and Best Practice published by Routledge UK in 2018. His latest book, Beyond Post-Communication: Challenging Disinformation, Deception, and Manipulation, will be released in July by Peter Lang, New York. Before becoming an academic researcher, Jim was the founder and CEO of the Asia Pacific office of the global media analysis firm, CARMA International, for more than a decade and, prior to that, had a 20-year career in communication practice spanning journalism and public relations.
John Meakin, Global Head of Strategic Services, Grayling
John Meakin
Global Head of Strategic Services, Grayling
Jon has more than 25 years’ public relations experience, encompassing consumer, corporate, and business-to-business communications, and crisis and issues management. His career to date has seen Jon work for a number of small, independent agencies as well as international networks. Most recently, Jon ran Grayling’s West Coast team in the United States, where he oversaw strategy and execution for domestic and international clients, from startups to blue chip multinationals. He was concurrently responsible for the agency’s global Strategic Services team, whose remits encompassed research, insights and strategy; measurement and evaluation; creative and content solutions; and Grayling’s proprietary online reputation management tool, GCore. Jon is a regular judge of PR and creative industry awards, a speaker at international conferences, and has run crisis simulation exercises for clients and conference delegates the world over. Jon has been a Board member of the International Association for the Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC) since 2018, and is the founding Chair of that body’s Agency Group, where his focus is on embedding measurement and evaluation best practice throughout the PR agency world. British born, Jon is currently resident in San Francisco.
Dr. Jonathan Reichental
Jonathan Reichental
CEO, Human Future
Dr. Jonathan Reichental is the CEO of Human Future, a global business and technology education, advisory, and investment firm. He is the former Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the City of Palo Alto, and a multiple award-winning technology leader whose 30-year career has spanned both the private and public sectors. In 2017, he was named one of the top 100 CIOs in the world and in 2016 he was named a top influential CIO in the United States. Dr. Reichental is also recognized as a global thought leader on a number of emerging trends including urban innovation and blockchain technology. In 2013 he was recognized as one of the 25 doers, dreamers, and drivers in government in America. He also won a best CIO in Silicon Valley award and a national IT leadership prize. His innovative work in government has also been recognized by the White House. Dr. Reichental is an adjunct professor at several universities including UC Berkeley and the University of San Francisco. He is a popular writer and online host, producing several highly successful online courses with LinkedIn Learning. He co-authored The Apps Challenge Playbook and he is a frequent public speaker on a wide range of technology and business-related topics. He co-hosts the popular podcast, Drinking Wine Talking Tech. He is currently working on his latest book about Smart Cities for Wiley & Co. (release date: Summer 2020)
José de Buerba
José de Buerba
Head of Business Intelligence and Digital Governance, Communications, World Bank.
José de Buerba is Head of Business Intelligence and Digital Governance at the World Bank’s Communications department. His team brings together research insights and recommendations to increase the impact of World Bank´s communication approaches. He is a member of the Board of the International Association for the Measurement and Evaluation of Communications (AMEC) and co-chairs AMEC's non-profit group. Before working on communications M&E, José was Marketing Manager for World Bank Publishing.
Judy Stenmark BSc MPH, Director General, Global Self-Care Federation
Judy Stenmark
BSc MPH, Director General, Global Self-Care Federation
Judy has been leading the Global Self-Care Federation since September 2020. During that time, she has overseen a restructure and re branding of the organization and implemented a new direction – the Future of Self-Care Strategy. She has a background in health with a degree in physiotherapy and a masters’ in Public Health. A long-standing career leading global and national NGOs in the musculoskeletal arena, with a recently eight-year tenure as head of the International Osteoporosis Foundation in Nyon, Switzerland and nine years leading Osteoporosis Australia before that.  An Australian national, Judy has spent the last ten years living and working in Switzerland. In this time, she established a strong network within global healthcare institutions, including the World Health Organization, international scientific academia and among many global pharmaceutical and consumer health companies.  
Katie Creaser, Senior Vice President, Technology PR, ICR
Katie Creaser
Senior Vice President, Technology PR, ICR
Katie Creaser is Senior Vice President, Technology PR at ICR where she specializes in emerging tech, cybersecurity and IT solutions/services. Katie is passionate about helping brands tell their story through a thoughtful, holistic and measurable corporate communications strategy.   During her 15-year PR career, Katie has managed communications campaigns that have earned accolades from PRSA, Hermes, PR News and BtoB Magazine/Ad Age, among others. She regularly speaks at industry conferences and events and her commentary has appeared in publications including Entrepreneur, Forbes, Huffington Post, Inc., PR News and PR Daily. In 2016, Katie was recognized by the New York Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA-NY) as one of its 15 Under 35, an award highlighting the most promising young leaders working in communications in the New York metro area. She recently served on the PR Council's PRC Next Board, comprised of 12 rising leaders tasked with bringing the perspective of the next generation to current industry challenges. Prior to joining ICR, Katie was senior vice president at Affect, a NYC-based PR agency specializing in technology.   Katie holds a BA in Public Relations from Marist College. She lives on Long Island with her husband and spends her free time trying to keep up with their two young sons.
Maria Bach
Maria Bach
Senior Advisor, Infomedia Denmark
Maria Bach is working as Senior Advisor at Infomedia Denmark. Maria is helping clients to understand, find direction and measure the global goals agenda for a more sustainable and focused effort towards the company strategy.
Mark Figliulo
Mark Figliulo
Founder, FIG
Mark has advised some of the world’s most successful brands for over 25 years. His vision for a new type of agency coupled with experience gained leading agencies like TBWA, Y&R and Leo Burnett has led to the resounding success that is FIG, The Brand Agency for the Information Age. Mark has been named in Ad Age’s Top Ten and has been nominated for an Emmy four times. Mark has won over 30 Lions and every other award, in every color and in every category. Mark focuses on the vision behind FIG, striving every day to reinvent what an agency can be.
Mathias Kortegaard
Mathias Kortegaard
Program Manager, Infomedia Group
Mathias Kortegaard is working as a Program Manager in Infomedia Group. He is responsible for Infomedias work with sustainability internally and is working to transform sustainability data into products and concepts that help corporations and organisations act on the global goals for sustainable development.
May Lee
May Lee
Host of the May Lee Show
May Lee has been a broadcast journalist/host for 30 years as both a US based and international anchor, host, correspondent and producer. Most recently, May partnered with NextShark, the leading Asian online news source, to launch “The May Lee Show”, a podcast/video program focused on Asian American issues and stories. Prior to the new project, May was the LA-based correspondent for international network CGTNAmerica. She covered a vast range of stories throughout Southern California and beyond including the historic wildfires, the Oscars and Golden Globes, the presidential election, the "Me Too” movement and the U.S.-China trade war. May is also the founder and CEO of Lotus Media House, a media company that she started in Singapore and produced original programs including “The May Lee Show”, the first pan-Asia talk show for women, as well as providing media consulting and training. Since 2018, May has been an Adjunct Professor at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. May’s international experience as a broadcast journalist and entrepreneur is extensive. In 2004 she joined CNBC Asia based in Singapore as the primary anchor. May also was the primary anchor for CNN International out of Hong Kong from 1997 to 2000. She anchored two nightly, programs as well as the weekend magazine show, "Inside Asia". Before transferring to Hong Kong, May was the correspondent for CNN in Tokyo. Following May’s adventures in Japan and Hong Kong, she returned to the U.S. and joined the dynamic new women’s network, Oxygen Media, founded by Oprah Winfrey. She was the co-host of the flagship show “Pure Oxygen” and the host and executive producer of the adventure travel show, “Trippin’ Out with May Lee”. May is a graduate of Mills College in Oakland, CA where she attained her BA in communications. May is the author of “MAY LEE, LIVE AND IN PERSON. It all begins with Passion”, published by John Wiley & Sons and Random House Korea.
Megan Tweed
Megan Tweed
US Head of Data and Intelligence Strategy, Edelman
In her 20+ years of working in advertising, marketing, media, and communications, Megan has been on the forefront of leading brands and agencies through transformative times to unlock growth and opportunity. She is considered a trusted and visionary leader with a passion for building audience-centric marketing and communications eco-systems for major brands, effectively ushering them into the era of “the living brand” where impact, relevancy, and acting with certainty are critical to success. In leading the Data and Intelligence Strategy initiative for Edelman, Megan is at the forefront of strategically advising brands and Edelman teams as they bring technology and earned audience data into their communications work. Prior to joining Edelman, Megan led the West Coast Paid Media and US Brand Publishing practice for Razorfish where she led paid partnerships and strategy, while also building a brand publishing and audience monetization offering. During her time at Razorfish, Megan led some of the marketing industry’s first implementations of cloud-enabled marketing and advertising technology initiatives for brands like Best Buy and Microsoft, thereby increasing the impact of their digital marketing 10-40x.
Megan Harris
Megan Harris
Executive Director of Distribution, FIG
Megan is a results-oriented marketing and technology leader with a passion for innovating with global brands and their consumers, helping them win in today’s digital and technology revolution. As the Executive Director of Distribution at FIG, Megan is responsible for helping brands utilize media and content as a consumer experience across paid, owned and earned channels. Prior to joining FIG, Megan served as Head of Media at Sapient-Razorfish and Managing Director at performance media agency, SYZYGY.
Michael Kaye
Michael Kaye
Global Communications Manager, OkCupid
Michael is the Global Communications Manager at OkCupid. He has 6 years’ experience in brand marketing and corporate reputation with a focus on earned media relations and influencer marketing. Michael is an adjunct instructor and guest speaker. He is also on the Steering Committee for the Human Rights Campaign Greater NY and on the Board of Directors for PRSA Tri-State. Michael graduate from the University at Albany with a bachelor’s degree in communication and sociology, and has a master’s degree in strategic communication from American University. He is also earning his certificate in corporate communications from Cornell University.
Richard Bagnall
Richard Bagnall
AMEC Chairman and Co-Managing Partner, CARMA
Richard has played a significant role in global communications evaluation trade association AMEC for many years having served on its board on multiple occasions. He chaired AMEC’s work-groups that created two of AMEC’s best known educational initiatives, the Social Media Measurement frameworks and more recently the new Integrated Evaluation Framework which has been translated into more than 20 languages.  Richard was elected Chairman of AMEC in the summer of 2016 and continues in that role to this day. Richard’s career began in PR over 25 years ago where he worked in-house for a leading medical charity and at Saatchi and Saatchi’s global PR agency The Rowland Company. He ran PR measurement specialist Metrica driving the company’s growth from start up to world leader over the next 15 years.  In 2009 he led Metrica’s sale to Exponent Private Equity, creating the Gorkana Group from the merger of Metrica, Durrants and Gorkana.  In 2014 he joined international communications measurement consultancy specialists PRIME Research as CEO of UK and SVP of Europe. Richard worked closely with the owner of PRIME Research as a consultant on global strategy which culminated in the sale of PRIME Research to Cision in December 2017.  In 2018 Richard was appointed CEO of CARMA Europe and the Americas as well as co-managing partner of CARMA International. Richard has co-authored best-selling books on PR and social media, writing the measurement and evaluation sections in both ‘Share This’ and ‘Share This Too’. He also was invited to contribute a chapter to Platinum, A celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the CIPR. He is a member of the UK Government Communications Service’s Cabinet Office Evaluation Council which works to guide Government departments and Arm’s Length Bodies on how best to measure their communications. In addition to this work, Richard was one of three external specialist reviewers for a Government wide review of its digital communication capabilities.  The review looked at how digital communication is planned, executed and measured throughout Government and made a number of recommendations on how to improve the process.  The report was published and accepted for implementation by the UK Government in November 2013. Richard is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, a member of the PRCA PR & Communications Council, an Honorary Lifetime Fellow of AMEC and was inducted into PR News’ Measurement Hall of Fame in 2017. Richard is a frequent speaker at communications events and conferences where he focuses on common sense messaging to help educate delegates to navigate the mine-field of the changing media landscape and how this affects PR and the credible measurement of its effectiveness.
Sandra Macleod
Sandra Macleod
Group CEO, Echo Research
An Expert Witness in Reputation and cited as 'among the 100 most influential people in PR’, Sandra is Group CEO of Echo Research which provides brand and reputation research for clients globally. From an early career at PA Management Consultants, Sandra set up the first international franchise for media analysis in 1989 before launching Echo.  Ambassador to the International Integrated Reporting Council <IR>, Sandra is also Trustee and Board Member of the Institute of Public Relations, a Companion of the Chartered Institute of Management, member of the McKinsey Women as Leaders’ Forum and Visiting Professor on Reputation at NYU.  Founder of the International Association of Measurement & Evaluation Companies (amec) and Fellow of the CIPR, Sandra judges the CIPR and Management Consultancy Awards, and is recipient of the Page Distinguished Service Award for 2018 and AMEC’s Don Bartholomew Award in 2020.
Sophie Coley
Sophie Coley
Co-Founder and Strategy & Content Director, SearchListening.com
Sophie Coley is the world’s leading expert in Search Listening. A strategic and creative digital marketer; fascinated by people, driven by strong insight and rooted in customer-centricity - she helps brands and agencies uncover unbiased, powerful insights from their audience, based on what they truly think and actually do. Sophie is also author of 'Consumer Insight in the age of Google: What marketers can learn from how consumers search - and how AnswerThePublic can speed up discoveries', a main-stage speaker at BrightonSEO (September 2017), one of the Drum's 50 Under 30 (2015) and European Young Search Professional of the Year (2013).