Congratulations to the Winners!
Alan is the co-founder of HBM Advisory, which partners with news providers to help them maximise the value of their digital content. He advises publishers and other subscription businesses on aligning their content and product strategies for growth, paywall modelling, customer journeys, data insights and revenue development.
Clients have included The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, the Indian Express, The Scotsman and the Royal Opera House.
Alessandro Alviani is the Lead for Generative AI at Süddeutsche Zeitung Digitale Medien, the digital publishing division of Germany’s Süddeutsche Zeitung. With a background in journalism and product development, his work focuses on building and evaluating AI-driven products, tools, and experiences for readers, editors, and other business stakeholders. He previously served as Product Lead for AI at Ippen Digital and, before that, was the Editorial Director for Microsoft News in Berlin. Prior to these roles, Alessandro wrote as Germany correspondent for the Italian newspaper La Stampa. He has been closely following the intersection of AI and media since 2020. As a 2022 JournalismAI fellow, he helped develop a tool and methodology to support journalists in identifying and tracking manipulated narratives from state-controlled media. He is based in Munich.
Ana is Chief Digital Officer (CDO) at Prisa Radio, the world’s biggest Spanish-language audio production company. In Prisa Radio she leads the Audio first product strategy for 30 brands in 4 different countries (Spain, Colombia, Chile and Mexico) with brands such as Cadena SER, los40, Caracol Radio, WRadio.
Aurélien is a journalist and new media enthusiast with a strong interest in management, audience development strategy, writing, and creating innovative forms of storytelling (including photo, video, and audio). He began his career as a TV reporter for France’s leading broadcaster, culminating in a role as a special correspondent in Tokyo. Subsequently, he moved to one of France’s major newsmagazines, l’Obs, where he served as digital editor-in-chief and later as deputy director. Currently, Aurélien works as an independent journalist and consultant, specializing in editorial strategy, video processes, and artificial intelligence.
Carsten Groß, born in 1978, has been the Managing Director of Medienholding Süd GmbH since 2023 and is responsible for the digital development of regional newspapers, editorial transformation, and B2C markets. He holds a Master of Arts and a Master of Science. After completing his studies, Carsten Groß took on leadership roles at Funke Mediengruppe and was part of the management team at DuMont Rheinland. He also served as Publishing Director for the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, Kölnische Rundschau, and EXPRESS.
Chris Janz has worked in the industry for 30 years, with roles spanning mature and growth businesses and advertising and subscription-funded products. He currently leads Capital Brief, a disruptive news startup founded on quality journalism.
Chris Roper is deputy CEO for the continent’s largest federation of civic technology and data journalism labs, Code for Africa (CfA).
Using over two decades of insights from building Africa’s largest online news and content portals, Chris shapes CfA’s civic engagement and scaling strategies. He also serves as director for CfA’s forensic data initiative, the African Network of Centres for Investigative Reporting (ANCIR). From 2015 – 2019, Chris’ role at CfA was underwritten by a Knight International Fellowship, with the International Centre for Journalists (ICFJ).
Clara Soteras is an SEO for News Publishers and Digital Strategy Consultant. She is currently Head of Innovation and Digital Strategy at AMIC, a local media association with more than 600 members, focused on new projects that incorporate artificial intelligence. Her areas of expertise include attracting new audiences, Google Discover, content planning, SEO functions in a newsroom, and business-focused editorial products.
Clíona Mooney is Group Data Analytics & Insights Director at The Irish Times Group, using data and research to maximise existing audiences, to target new audiences and in driving subscriptions. Key to the role is delivering actionable insights to enable informed decision-making within the organisation. Clíona has been with The Irish Times since 2010 and previous roles included CRM Specialist, Business Analytics Manager responsible for building and developing the analytics function, and Subscriptions & Reader Insights Director with responsibility for driving the acquisition and retention of digital subscribers at The Irish Times.
Gregor Waller provides consulting services to international media businesses for developing their digital strategy and transforming their business models for the digital era.
Joanna Krawczyk is the Director of CORRECTIV.Europe, the network and development program for over 300 local newsrooms across 34 European countries. CORRECTIV.Europe is part of CORRECTIV, a leading German media house dedicated to strengthening democracy through investigative journalism, media education, and technology. Previously, she served as the Head of News Partnerships at Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland’s largest legacy newspaper, where she founded and presided over the Gazeta Wyborcza Foundation.
Jyrki Utriainen is Editor in Chief at Etelä-Saimaa in Finland. Before that he was Managing Editor at Karjalainen Oy in North Karelia in Finland. He restructured the newsroom of the regional publisher based on the Table Stakes methodology.
Kasper Lindskow is Head of AI at JP/Politikens Media Group and a research fellow focusing on effective and responsible AI at the Copenhagen Business School. He has been working on developing and implementing effective AI systems for news since 2020, while also organising major events such as “AI in Media” (in Denmark) and the “Nordic AI in Media Summit” in collaboration with the Nordic AI Journalism Network.
Kerstin Hasse is a swiss journalist, podcast host and moderator. She was a member of the editorial team at Tamedia in Zurich for over three years. Before that, she was deputy editor-in-chief at annabelle, Switzerland’s largest women’s magazine. Kerstin Hasse is a passionate leader for digital storytelling and has also been campaigning for more equality in the industry for years.
Laura Crimmons heads the departments of Growth Management (Media) & Audience Development (Media) at Ringier in Switzerland. She has been in charge since December 2023. Before that, Laura worked in several positions at Ringier like Deputy Group CMO & Head of Audience Development, Acting Group Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Digital Manager.
Lyndsey Jones is a publishing consultant, digital transformation expert, strategic advisor and coach, working with media groups in Africa and Europe either independently or via WAN-IFRA, Women in News, FT Strategies and other consultancy agencies.
Martin Fröhlich leads the Digital Revenue Network at WAN-IFRA. He joined WAN-IFRA in the summer of 2022 after 25 years in the news media industry. His team organizes events like Digital Media Europe, the Newsroom Summit, Digital Media Africa, supports the Paris Forum and hosts the Table Stakes Europe program. They also coordinate initiatives like AI Unlocked and Innovate Local.
Nick is responsible for the paywall and on-site digital subscription sales at the leading Austrian daily news title KURIER, working closely with the newsroom, product and marketing teams. He comes from Germany’s leading financial title Handelsblatt, where he launched their unique multi-disciplinary “funnel teams” for paywall and retention – all part of their “Subscriber-First” strategy. Besides that, he brings almost a decade of experience as a coach and advisor on paid content topics at WAN-IFRA, working with news publishers across the globe and especially Europe. A Table Stakes evangelist, he’s very happy to talk for hours about an audiences-first approach to conversion and engagement and is particularly excited about VR and the future of digital journalism.
Ola’s career at Svenska Dagbladet (a major Swedish news brand within the Schibsted Media Group) started in the newsroom. During his 20 years at the newspaper he managed many projects during the newspaper’s journey towards a digital, audience focused operation. Ola has also been involved in business development at a Schibsted group level, aiming at growing the subscription business for the Consumer Business department in the group. He now works as an independent media consultant, serving different media organisations in their path towards sustainable reader revenues.
Pablo Altieri is a former IBM and Grupo Clarin executive, where he led the Digital Business Strategy for several Media Group’s brands during a decade. Founder of Diagonal Minds in 2016, a research and advisory firm focused on identifying innovation, new tech and use cases that should be replicated around the globe, collaborating with the Digital Directors of +150 EU/US/LAT publishers, eCom, agencies and brands.
Paul McNally is the Founder of Develop AI, an innovative company that reports on AI, builds AI focused projects and provides training on how to use AI responsibly. He is also the Founder of Develop Audio that produces investigative podcasts and guides journalists to produce audio projects of their own. In 2019 he created the voice note disinformation podcast What’s Crap on WhatsApp? And in 2017 he created the award-winning investigative podcast Alibi. In 2015 he started Citizen Justice Network, a project based at Wits University that trains community paralegals in South Africa and Kenya to be radio journalists. He has 16 awards, was a Visiting Nieman fellow at Harvard in 2016 and is the author of the non-fiction book “The Street” that exposed the corrupt relationship between the police and drug syndicates in Johannesburg.
Stéphanie Barsch is a journalist and consultant with over 20 years of experience in newsrooms. Her work with major European publishers like Funke, Ringier, Axel Springer, and DMG, along with her strategic role at Meta, underscores her expertise in product development and digital transformation. She is one of the coaches of the Newsroom AI Catalyst programme, leading the remote module on Measuring Success & ROI for AI Initiatives.
Teemu Henriksson is a Research Editor at WAN-IFRA where he covers news media leadership, business trends, change management and newsroom transformation. He contributes to the World Press Trends research project and has also worked on the association’s research and innovation initiatives. He has also worked as a project manager for a data journalism platform at the Global Editors Network.
Torry Pedersen was CEO/Editor in Chief of Verdens Gang AS, Norway’s most read news-site/newspaper. He has been chairman or member of the board at several leading publishers in Scandinavia. He is at present a special adviser to the Schibsted group. He has more than 35 years of experience in journalism and publishing.
Since joining WAN-IFRA in 1997, Valérie has accrued more than 20 years of experience as a media journalist. Currently, she is a team member of WAN-IFRA’s Global Advisory division where she works with the Advisory Team in leading global consulting projects. She is also the Programme Lead for WAN-IFRA’s top global conferences including: World News Media Congress and our Digital Media Event Series. She has contributed to numerous research reports, including Alternative Revenue Streams for Publishers. As part of her research, Valérie interviewed numerous publishers who had found success discovering new business models – whether its through events, e-commerce, video or marketing services – Valérie has experience taking the pulse on what generates revenue for publishers.
Xenia Daum has been managing director of the Kleine Zeitung since 2023. Her focus is on digital agendas. Previously, she was managing director of the COPE Content Performance Group (COPE), Austria’s No.1 content marketing agency with almost 100 experts at locations in Vienna and Graz. COPE develops clear content strategies for companies, produces impressive content and ensures advertising that works: on social media, in magazines, on websites and in Austria’s widest-reaching digital media network, the COPE network, consisting of more than 100 online media.