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Stig Ørskov was named WAN-IFRA CEO in late 2025, succeeding long-time CEO Vincent Peyrègne. He began his tenure at the beginning of January, and brings a wealth of experience and a proven track record in the media industry, most recently as CEO of JP/Politiken Media Group, the leading media company in Denmark. Ørskov has also been serving WAN-IFRA as Vice-President for the last six years. Before becoming CEO of JP/Politiken Media Group, Stig was COO of the group. Previously, Stig has held different positions at Politiken throughout the years such as editor in chief, business editor, and editor of analysis.
As Deputy Head Team GenAI, Sina Söhren is responsible for driving the strategic and operational implementation of GenAI at Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, with a particular focus on governance, training and cultural change. Prior to this, she gained broad experience across the digital and software industry, including founding and leading her own company.
Niloufar Behradi-Ohnacker, Senior Manager at the Axel Springer Academy of Journalism and Technology, develops innovative training programs for the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI).
As Group Head of AI at the Rheinische Post Media Group, Margret is responsible for the company-wide AI strategy and its implementation across all business units. With a clear focus on driving business value through AI, I actively help shape the digital transformation in the media sector—from identifying strategic use cases to implementing scalable solutions.
The group is one of Germany’s largest regional newspaper companies publishing four local news brands. Of these, RP Online (Rheinische Post Brand) is one of the widest reaching German daily newspaper online portals, which counts some 12 million unique users each month.
As co-designer and lead mentor for the global Newsroom AI Catalyst programme (WAN-IFRA / OpenAI), Christophe has supported international newsrooms in experimenting with generative AI and has led the European “Advanced” cohort. His strategic vision is further informed by a collaboration with DeepMind, focusing on the structural impacts of advanced models on journalism. Utilising a holistic approach at the crossroads of technology and people, he advises media organisations on team acculturation and the deployment of ethical AI strategies.
Pauliina Toivanen is Development Manager at Sanoma Media Finland. She works at Newsroom Processes team, which focuses on implementing and embedding journalistic transformation and development initiatives within editorial environments. She works at the intersection of journalism, product development and organizational change, contributing to the development and adoption of practical AI solutions that support newsroom workflows.
Diego leads the strategic initiatives focused on the conceptualization, development, and deployment of innovative digital products
and services. His focus is on leveraging artificial intelligence, voice interfaces, and emerging platforms to improve content distribution and audience engagement. Diego plays a key role in driving innovation within the organization and maintaining strong relationships with partners and external entities. He leads the entire design and development process for AI-powered products, ensuring they align with the company’s strategic objectives and audience needs.
Markus is the Chief Technology Officer at Ippen Digital and leads the company’s Incubator Lab — a forward-looking innovation hub focused on reimagining publishing, digital platforms, and AI-driven design. With over 16 years of experience, Franz brings deep expertise in digital transformation, adaptive work environments, and the integration of human and artificial intelligence. A committed advocate of systems thinking, he approaches challenges holistically, drawing on cognitive and neuroscience insights to design technology solutions that align with how people think, learn, and collaborate. His work emphasises the synergy between technological advancement and human-centred design to drive sustainable innovation.
Lena Leibetseder (*1999) is Head of Digital Publishing at Russmedia. Previously, she worked for several years as an online journalist and Deputy Head of Online at the Austrian news magazine profil. She studied Journalism and Media Management in Vienna and Vancouver. In 2023, Leibetseder was named one of Austria’s “30 under 30” journalists and, in 2025, one of the “25 Young Leaders under 35” in the DACH region. In her work, she focuses on digital journalism, editorial processes, and the use of AI in media organizations.
Juliana Murphy is a Group Data Scientist at The Irish Times, working at the intersection of data, AI, and editorial. Her work focuses on building AI-driven products for content intelligence, personalisation, and subscriber analytics.
She specialises in retention strategies, combining subscriber engagement prediction and personalisation to improve user experience. She developed the recommendation engine behind For Me, a personalised content experience built to surface the right stories for each reader.
Her work also includes AI-assisted tagging and classification using large language models, as well as embedding-based search and machine learning pipelines for engagement and churn prediction.
As Head of Generative AI, Maximilian Bruhn has been responsible for the strategic implementation and technical development of GenAI solutions at the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung since 2025. Prior to this, he held various positions within the digital ecosystem, including at technology companies, strategy consultancies and venture capital funds.
Nicola Voltolin is Chief Digital Officer at Athesis Group, one of Italy’s most established media groups, where he oversees digital strategy, product development, data, AI initiatives, and audience growth across newspapers, radio, and TV brands. With over 15 years of experience in digital communication and marketing, he leads large-scale transformation projects focused on sustainability, membership models, and the evolution of local journalism.
Yannick Franke leads the newly established AI team at the German Press Agency (Deutsche Presse-Agentur). His role is to drive the development and deployment of AI products for internal editorial teams and dpa clients.
Alban Mazrekaj is Head of Content Technology and Format Development at NZZ, one of Switzerland’s leading news organisations. He leads cross-functional teams focused on building user-centric content experiences and rethinking editorial workflows.
Previously, he served as Lead Product Manager for New Audience Development at NZZ, driving initiatives across newsletters, podcasts, and third-party platforms. Before joining NZZ, Alban co-founded the SaaS start-up Mailian and worked as a Senior Customer Journey Specialist at Tamedia. Earlier in his career, he held roles at Lufthansa in digital advertising and data monetisation, and at Swiss International Air Lines in e-commerce and product development.
Alban is a guest lecturer at ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences and a Sulzberger Fellow at Columbia University.
Janina Reimann is Director of Digital Products at Handelsblatt Media Group. In this role, she is responsible for the strategic development of digital products and drives innovation at the intersection of journalism, technology, and business models.Previously, she spent many years at Süddeutsche Zeitung, where she played a key role in building the paid content business. She has also held various positions in the digital sector.
Chris Clemo is Director of Innovation at DMG Media, responsible for creating a new innovation business unit that crosses editorial, product, and tech, which experiments with emerging technologies and builds future newsroom products that can engage our external audiences and create more efficient workflows for internal teams. He was previously Head of Editorial Insights at the Mail Online for two years and has worked in digital journalism for 10 years in different audience and data strategy roles.
