Digital Media Europe 2023

Anja joined Ippen Digital GmbH & Co KG in July 2022. As  Director of Platform & Data, Anja Bonelli is part of the Ippen Digital management team. In this capacity, she is responsible for the management and transformation of Germany’s leading digital publishing product platform, currently used by more than 80 publishers in Germany – from tz, Münchner Merkur, HNA and Frankfurter Rundschau to verticals such as BuzzFeed, Einfach Tasty, Serienjunkies and ingame.de.

The editorial network, known under the brand IPPEN.MEDIA, generates an audience of over 300 million visits per month and reaches half of Germany’s online users. It is also one of the largest regional publisher networks in Europe and currently has nine own and twelve partner sites.

Jessica Bulthé is currently working as business partner in the data team of Mediahuis Group. Mediahuis is an international media company with several news brands in Belgium (i.e. De Standaard, Nieuwsblad), The Netherlands (i.e. NRC, Telegraaf), Ireland (i.e. The Independent, BelfastTelegraph), Luxemburg (i.e. The Worth) and soon in Germany as well. In her current role, Jessica has a main focus on the data strategy of the B2C side of these news titles and how data science can support how a subscriber is converted and retained. In a more distant past, she received a PhD in computational neuroscience and was working as data scientist at Volvo Group and at Mediahuis.

Simon is the Managing Editor of LADbible Group. He is responsible for ensuring editorial excellence across LADbible Group’s core web brands, with a particular focus on LADbible, UNILAD and Tyla. Simon drives original journalism and branded content strands across those hero brands whilst managing LADbible Group’s editorial leads, and being a key strategic stakeholder for the Web vertical both internally and externally. He oversees and maintains improvements in quality and tone of on-site content across LBG editorial to ensure each brand is delivering distinct best in class output, and develops the forward planning process for key opportunities, including major events, breaking news and emerging stories.

Prior to LADbible Group, Simon has worked as an Editor, Broadcast Journalist and Content Producer for various companies including CBBC, BBC News and the Manchester Evening News. At the MEN, Simon was responsible for heading up all content relating to what’s on/entertainment in Greater Manchester, growing the monthly online audience to 4.5 million unique users and 7.5 million page views – the largest regional digital footprint in the UK.

Helge is Vice President Sports at Amedia, Norway’s largest publisher of editorial media reaching every day more than 2 million readers through over 100 local, regional and national titles. Helge has over 20 years experience in the media industry in the areas of business and product development as well as in marketing with a strong cutting edge tech knowledge, sports rights, content and distribution.

Danuta is a brand strategist and subscription expert with experience in leading news and lifestyle media in Europe and global industry organizations. Currently, Danuta holds the position of Expert-in-Residence at the Media Development Investment Fund and serves as the Head of Digital User Market Senate at Ringier AG in Zurich.

Mergim Cahani is the Founder and CEO of Gjirafa Inc – Gjirafa is one of the fastest-growing tech companies in Central Europe (Deloitte Fast 50 2021 in CE position #11), with a mission to build the Internet economy in the Balkan region. Gjirafa’s ecosystem of services encompasses e-commerce, video streaming, online marketing, cloud computing, and entertainment production, and it is one of the most well-funded tech startups in Europe. Previously, in New York, Mergim worked for Broadridge Financial Solutions (NYSE:BR), an Adjunct Assistant Professor at St. John’s University, and an executive management consulting program at Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS). Regionally, Mergim was teaching at various universities, was the President of the Board of Governors at the American Chamber of Commerce in Kosovo, a board member of ATOM Institute and GAP Institute, an advisory board member of several startups, accelerators, and funds. His education includes a BS and MS degree in Computer Science, and an MBA in Management, from St. John’s University and New York University.

Alexian is the Chief Marketing Officer and Sales VP at Marfeel. He has over 8 years of experience at the senior executive level, and in his current roles in both marketing and sales, he focuses on creating a sales integrated marketing strategy to make their B2B targeting as successful as possible. Alexian has been a member of the Forbes Communications Council since 2018 and before joining Marfeel was a Professor of Marketing at Geneva Business School.

Daniel has been the CEO of RP Digital in Düsseldorf from 2019 to 2022. He has also served as the Chief Digital Officer for Rheinische Post Mediagroup and CEO at ProServ Verwaltungs GmbH since 2018. Previously, Daniel was a Management Consultant for Digital Transformation/Digital Paid in Paris after working as Publishing Director at PRISMA MEDIA TV-ENTERTAINMENT from 2011-2018. Daniel received his PhD (Dr. rer. pol.), Productivity in Marketing from WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, as well as a certificate in Mastering Design Thinking from MIT Management Education.

Ezra Eeman is Director of Strategy & Innovation at NPO, the Dutch Public Broadcaster. Ezra has almost 20 years of experience in media, innovation and journalism. Previously he was Change Director at

Wojciech Ehrenfeld is Head of IT Services at Ring Publishing. He has been building large-scale cloud solutions to fit the needs of a changing market and an expert in adapting business models for IT solutions for media. Now he is responsible for implementing and delivering Ring Publishing platform and IT services on the publishing market. Whenever he is not working, he is somewhere where  snow or wind can be found.

Juraj leads digital media investment initiatives within Czech Media Invest in Europe with the main on new media ventures. Within Czech Video Center leads the team focused on building internet televisions for brands, creators, and communities both on proprietory technologies as well as on social media platforms. Previously Juraj held an executive Co-CEO position within Czech News Centre and led the digital transformation focused on building digitally first media house.

Germán leads Product Strategy, Audience Development, and New Communities at RELEVO, the sports news platform in development by Vocento, launched on social platforms in May 2022. He formerly worked as Product & Audience Development Director at Unidad Editorial (publisher of El Mundo, Marca, and Expansión, among others titles) where he developed the existing user-centered digital product management and development workflow.

Germán has helped companies to assemble, train, and manage digital product and audience development teams to define and deliver products that customers love AND work for the business. For more than a decade, he pioneered the introduction of product thinking and strategy in some of the most important media brands in the Spanish-speaking world, helping them translate their leadership from their legacy businesses into the digital universe.

Sophie Gourmelen is Managing Director and Publishing Director of newsbrand Le Parisien – Aujourd’hui en France (Today in France), a division of LVMH Group.

She is a former Head of Sales and Circulation, Digital Marketing and Communication at Groupe Les Echos (business news), where she contributed to the digital transformation of the business and developed its digital subscriptions.

Prior to Groupe Les Echos, she was Marketing Director at Prisma Media (the magazine’s subsidiary of Grüner and Jahr in France), contributing to the active development of digital sales and the implementation of their CRM strategy. She also previously worked for IMP direct marketing for 15 years as the senior manager for the south of Europe.

Dagens Naeringsliv is Norway’s largest business newspaper, with a history that goes back to 1890. Marit has been with DN for the past ten years where she started off as a journalist in the newsroom and has since held different editorial positions. Today she is Head of Target Group, a role where she uses insights to identify and act on growth opportunities. Marit is highly passionate about editorial innovation.

Sophie Heinzen joins Digital Media Europe in her current role as product manager paid content in the sales team of Rheinische Post. Rheinische Post is a large regional media group in the west of Germany. In her position as an intersection of business, sales, technology and user experience, Sophie has a holistic view on the product working closely with Julia Morein (RP Digital) on the further development. By focusing on data and key figure analysis, her goal from a product perspective is to positively impact the increase of conversions through innovative ideas, offer portfolios and pricing as well as implement prevention measures for a long-term reduction of churn.

Tobias Henning has been General Manager at TikTok Germany since October 2020. In this role, he is responsible for the further development of the strategy, the product and operations in Germany. Since May 2021 he also oversees TikTok Operations for Central Eastern Europe.

In his previous role as General Manager Premium at Axel Springer SE, Tobias Henning was responsible for and managed the digital premium content business of BILD and WELT, Germany’s highest-reach news media brands. Before joining Axel Springer SE, the qualified lawyer worked for the international law firm Hengeler Mueller, among others. He also completed an MBA at the ESCP Business School in Paris.

Joshi is a UK-based journalist who has reported for The Times, The Telegraph and The Guardian, and has twice been Highly Commended at the British Press Awards. He is the founder of The Mill, an innovative local news company which publishes long form stories in Manchester. The model, which is based on paid subscriptions and delivered via email newsletters, has now spread to two more cities in England – Sheffield and Liverpool.

As the Head of Editorial Analytics at Axel Springer Germany, Janis and his team play an important role in establishing a data inspired newsroom at their two biggest news brands, BILD and WELT. Targeting different audiences, through different channels, with different goals and different work cultures, those two brands need a very distinctive approach. Therefore, empathy and creativity are just as important as data and tech itself.

Janis has studied Journalism and worked as an editor for various newsrooms, the Financial Times Deutschland among others, before continuing his career in the field of marketing, mainly for video game publishers. Today, he uses his experiences from both worlds to create a strategy that includes product, data science, as well as marketing and psychology concepts.

Verena Krawarik is responsible for innovation management at the Austria Press Agency Group and head of the internal innovation hub APA-medialab. Together with her team she published a study on the status of AI in the Austrian Media Landscape and coordinates a variety of research and development projects in the field of AI, Data and Verification.

As the Director of Customer Engagement & Lifecycle at RP Digital, Julia and her team are in charge of the progression and product strategy and UX of the website, the paid architecture and the conversion process. She joined Rheinische Post in 2010 and has a lot of insights in different parts of the company. One of her early projects was the development of a new business model for RP ONLINE in 2014, where the idea of RP+ digital subscriptions was born. Her focus is the user and performance based change.

Jens Pettersson is responsible for developing journalism and product for the local media conglomerate NTM. He has over 20 years of experience in newsrooms, mostly in different roles at one of Sweden’s largest regional newspapers Upsala Nya Tidning where he among other things was managing editor for five years and responsible for their digital transition.

Clemens Pig is chairman of the board of directors and CEO of APA – Austria Press Agency Group in Vienna as well as president of the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA). He is also vice president of the board of directors of the Swiss news agency group KEYSTONE-SDA and since May 2022 president of the Austrian Association of Cooperatives (ÖGV).

While studying political science, the Innsbruck native founded the company “MediaWatch – Institut für Medienanalysen GmbH” with colleagues at university and, following a successful sale, merged it into APA-Group. In 2008 Pig joined the management in Vienna and was initially employed as the manager of marketing and sales as well as the managing director of the APA subsidiary APA-DeFacto Datenbank & Contentmanagement GmbH.

In 2014 Pig was appointed managing director of APA-Group and took over as chairman of the board of directors in 2016. In his academic work, Pig discusses political communication in the process of digital transformation in the media in a series of publications and essays in books.  In 2013 Pig was awarded the Austrian Research Award of the Austrian Public Relations Association (PRVA). Pig was named “Media Manager of the Year” by the industry magazine “Der österreichische Journalist” in 2018 and “Communicator of the Year” by industry magazine “Extradienst” in 2021.

Patrick Rademacher has been working at Ringier AG since the beginning of 2017. He supports the Group CEO as Head of Special Projects in the digital transformation of Ringier and leads strategic projects, including the Swiss Digital Alliance, a federation of the largest Swiss media companies.

As Chief Data Officer, Jonas Rashedi is responsible for creating solutions for all transformation-relevant issues in the area of data, implementation and management of comprehensive data governance for the group, developing and implementation of overarching data strategies to position the (new) products and the company as a media group, establishing a group-wide data analytics for the rapid development of new business models, as well as advising the management on all overarching data issues.

Jonas Rashedi brings a wealth of experience of over 15 years in building and operating data organizations. He has developed methods to increase profitability. He is also founder and partner of an internet agency, podcast host of the data podcast “My data is better than yours”, book author and worked for many years as a consultant and interim manager in many corporations.

Ana Rocha de Paiva is a Senior Programme Manager for News and Media at Google, spearheading a multitude of initiatives that drive innovation and support the success of news organizations’ digital transition journeys across Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Ana has been at Google for 10 years and developed her expertise in the news industry by leading Google’s relationship with some of the largest publishers in the world, including The New York Times.

Ana is Portuguese and recently moved from New York to Lisbon, where she currently resides with her husband and two children.

Christian Röpke is CDO of DIE ZEIT. His main responsibility in this role is that of Managing Director of ZEIT ONLINE and academics.

These are the respective companies, in which the business models of paid content, digital ad sales and digital classifieds of DIE ZEIT are managed and the leading website www.zeit.de is published. Especially the strong growth of digital subscriptions has fueled the transformation of the business model of ZEIT ONLINE in recent years.

Before joining ZEIT ONLINE as Managing Director in 2009, Christian has worked in various management roles in digital media, e.g. at Financial Times Deutschland and Gruner + Jahr.

As Creative Director, Tim oversees all editorial design aspects of print and digital products for The Times.

Birger has 16 years of experience in the media publishing and tech industry and gained extensive experience in the fields of data management, digital subscription strategies and media partnerships. He has worked closely with leading news brands to ensure that their investment in technology lives up to their expectations and delivers ROI. Birger leads the sales team at Norkon, the company behind the live reporting platform Live Center and the award-winning stock market game Fantasy Funds.

Ole Werring (MBA and MA) is Head of Product at Amedia in Norway. He has previously worked as a management consultant with expertise in strategy analysis and implementation, innovation processes and leadership. Werring has background from several Norwegian media companies, among others as Director of Strategy and Innovation at Tun Media AS, Head of Digital at Nationen AS, Project Manager at Dagbladet AS, and Head of Innovation at the Norwegian Film Institute. Werring is participating in WAN-IFRA’s Media Professionals Programme (MPP) as mentor for media companies and professionals in Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar. Werring holds an MBA in Global Leadership and a Masters Degree in Media Science

Marion is Editor-in-Chief of The Audiencers, a B2B media focused on digital reader revenue and digital strategy. She is also CMO at Poool, The Membership & Subscription Suite, and lecturer at various journalism schools in France and Switzerland. Digital publishing professional since 2006, Marion started by working for pure-player medias before larger national titles in France including ELLE Magazine, L’OBS and Challenges where she was Chief Digital Officer until 2017. Following this, Marion founded Underlines, a consultancy agency for digital publishers, later working more closely with Poool who acquired the company in 2021.

Anita is CEO and founder of Better Leaders Lab, a Do and Think Tank for Good Leadership and Strategic Management in Media and Beyond, and a boutique strategic advisory firm. BLL specialises in organisational change, strategy and scenario planning, leadership development and executive recruiting research. Her goal is to empower managers, leaders and organisations in the broader media space to build successful, sustainable, modern and healthy businesses.

For the past 15 years, Anita held senior executive positions focused on product, strategy and innovation in various media and education organisations as Chief Product Officer, Managing Editor Digital, Editor-in-Chief and Director Strategic Initiatives. She has worked with around 500 managers, leaders and entrepreneurs as a consultant, coach and educator.

Anita is also an Executive in Residence at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, where she spent the last few year leading all continuing and executive education initiatives. She also serves as the inaugural Board Chair of News Product Alliance (NPA) and is a member of the board at the Online News Association (ONA) and the Austrian Public Broadcaster ORF.

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.