Shaping the Future of News Media in the AI Era

Adam Holm is an anchor at Danish Broadcasting Corporation (both radio and television since 2005) and a regular columnist for the Danish daily Berlingske. Mr. Holm holds a Ph.D. in Modern History from Copenhagen University (1998), and he has been Editor of Opinion at Politiken (2000-2005).

Aimee Rinehart is the Senior Product Manager AI Strategy for The Associated Press. Before joining AP, she was the Deputy Director of First Draft’s New York bureau helping journalists and newsrooms to identify, verify and report on mis- and disinformation through the 2018 and 2020 U.S.

Alexandra Folwarski, the leader of the Media Innovation Lab at Wiener Zeitung, is committed to bolstering media startups and fostering interdisciplinary collaborations to devise solutions for the media sector. Besides her lecturing and advisory roles, she is also the  publisher of the local journalism platform, Wiener Flaneur.

Aleksandra Sobczak is deputy editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza and Head of strategy and development in Wyborcza.pl. Her career in journalism started in Polish public television TVP, as a reporter at the economic desk.

Alex Hardiman is the Chief Product Officer at The New York Times where she oversees the company’s News, Cooking, Games and Audio products that power The Times’s subscription and digital advertising businesses. She also leads The Times’s enterprise-wide approach to Generative AI.

Alexandra Borchardt is a highly experienced senior journalist, book author, lecturer, and independent media advisor. She is a member of the WAN-IFRA’s Expert Panel, a distinguished network of experts who offer impartial advice on a range of strategic digital business and organisational issues. Alexandra’s expertise areas include: Managing digital change: strategy and culture, Leadership development, Climate journalism strategy.

Amalie Kestler is managing editor in chief at the Danish daily Politiken (2022-). Earlier in her carrier at the newspaper she was National Editor (2018-2022) and Head of the Editorial Board. In addition to leading Politikens newsroom transformation she is heading the papers ongoing work to evolve journalism about climate and sustainability issues.

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.

Anders has headed Bonnier News since 2016. He was previously Responsible for Bonnier’s business area Business to Business and has worked at Bonnier since 2009. He has previously been the business area head and member of the executive management team of Melbourne IT Ltd, European head at Razorfish Inc, and a management consultant at SIAR-Bossard.

Anders has been part of JP/Politiken Media Group since 2010, where he is currently responsible for the group’s BtB activities. This includes the niche media house Watch Medier, which he founded in 2011 and which he is still heading as CEO. He has a background in business journalism as a reporter for the Danish dailies Børsen and Berlingske.

Anders Opdahl took over as CEO in August 2020. He started as CEO of Amedia in January 2017. He then came from the position of regional director at NRK. He has been editor-in-chief of Nordlys for five years and has also been a journalist and news editor in the newspaper.

Andrew Morse is the president and publisher of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Prior to joining the AJC, he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Digital Officer for CNN Worldwide, and as the Head of CNN+. In that capacity, he oversaw a global portfolio of businesses that included CNN.com, CNN Business, CNN Audio, CNN Underscored (the network’s e-commerce product), as well as CNN’s direct-to-consumer efforts.

Anna Bateson is chief executive of Guardian Media Group, rejoining the Guardian in 2022 from her previous role as CEO of Josh Wood Colour. Prior to becoming CEO, Anna spent four years as the Guardian’s chief customer officer (CCO), and in 2019 as interim CEO.

Anya Schiffrin is the director of the technology and media specialization at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a senior lecturer who teaches on global media, innovation and human rights. She writes on a number of topics related to journalism sustainability, impact and online disinformation.

Aslak Gottlieb is a Journalistic Lecturer at Southern University of Denmark, where he academically anchors GenZ user perspectives in the NewsArcade project at the Media Research and Innovation Centre.

Barry Adams is a specialised SEO consultant for news publishers, focusing on technical SEO and editorial SEO. Barry counts some of the world’s biggest media brands among his clients including The New York Times, News UK, The Guardian, FOX, Condé Nast, Euronews, Hearst, and The Independent.

Daily Maverick, the online South African daily, was launched by Branko Brkic in 2009 and had a readership of 12 million monthly unique visitors as of 20 March 2023. The #GuptaLeaks, Daily Maverick’s most.

Cătălina Dumbrăveanu manages the Stars4Media program, an EU-funded cross-border collaboration scheme focused on media innovation, business, and newsroom transformation for the European media sector. She is also a PhD candidate at imec-SMIT, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), researching democratic participation through online tools.

Catherine So is a business leader with more than 20 years of experience in media, tech and digital sectors across Asia Pacific, Greater China and the United States, at both large corporations and growth companies. She became CEO of the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong in 2022.

Cecilia Campbell is a Swedish media journalist with over 20 years experience reporting on the news publishing industry internationally. She is the co-founder and program editor for Innovate Local and has worked with WAN-IFRA for the past 25 years, including as the co-leader of its reader revenue executive programme as well as running international study tours and workshops. In 2018 she authored the report Engaged Readers Don’t Churn – Retention Lessons for Digital Subscriptions.

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.

Editor in Chief Christian Jensen (born 3 June 1972) has been Executive Editor-in-Chief of the Danish daily Politiken since 2016. Former Editor-in-Chief of the Danish daily Berlingske (2007-2010) and Executive Editor-in-Chief of the Danish daily Information (2010-2016). He is chairman of the governing body at the Center for Journalism, University of Southern Denmark.

Christina Blaagaard is CEO and editor in chief of Tech Media Denmark, a media portfolio company with a range of 15 titles and events covering areas of tech, digitization, cybersecurity, AI, green transition, climate change and science. She is also the chairman of the Danish Media Association. With a background of 25 years in journalism and tech she has previously worked amongst others for Scandinavian media groups Bonnier and Berlingske.

Christophe Leclercq is a French media entrepreneur, first founding of EURACTIV Media Network, now chairing the think-do-tank Europe MédiaLab. MédiaLab initiated several Stars4media programmes, on innovation with VUB, WAN-IFRA, EJC and EFJ, and on fact-checking with Comenius University and Euractiv affiliates in the East. Altogether: 32 media are helped, from 16 countries.

Dan is a multi-award winning journalist who specialises in written and multimedia content distribution. He started his career 15 years ago in regional newspapers and has progressed through the industry to lead on digital distribution strategy at the UK’s biggest news provider – Reach PLC.

Former Euractiv CEO, a pan-European media specialising in EU affairs, David steered the organisation to profitability, leading to its acquisition by Mediahuis Group in 2023.

Dmitry Shishkin is the CEO of Ringier Media International. He joined the Swiss based group in 2024. Before joining Ringier, he became well known as an expert in digital transformation, content strategy, and innovation in publishing. One of his focus areas is the concept of user needs.

Elena Popovic, MDIF Secretary and General Counsel: is an attorney admitted to the New York State bar, with extensive experience of commercial law in multiple legal systems. Since joining MDIF in 1997, Elena has played a critical role in structuring, documenting and enforcing cross-border debt and equity investments for independent media in numerous emerging and frontier markets.

Emily Bell is Founding Director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia Journalism School, Leonard Tow professor of Journalism, and a leading thinker, commentator and strategist on digital journalism. The majority of Emily’s career was spent at Guardian News and Media in London working as an award winning writer and editor both in print and online.

Emily Withrow is the Vice President of Product and Head of Subscriber Experiences at The New York Times, leading a cross-functional team of product managers, engineers, designers, program managers, analysts and researchers committed to making The Times a joy to experience online.

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

Fabrice Fries has been Chairman and CEO of AFP since April 2018, and is also currently the president of the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA). He was previously CEO of Publicis Consultants, a Paris-based corporate communications agency of Publicis Group, and also held various management positions at Havas (publishing), Atos (tech) and Vivendi (media). He started his career in the French ministry of Finance and at the European Commission (as a member of Jacques Delors’ staff). He graduated from Ecole Normale Supérieure and ENA.

Fergus Bell is the founder & CEO at Fathm, a multi-award winning independent news lab, agency and consultancy. Fathm has a mission of working with people who are trying to spark creative change and drive sustainability in media by improving newsroom processes and efficiency, making use of emerging technologies, and tackling the ever increasing problems of mis and disinformation.

Fernando de Yarza is the President of Henneo, a news media group that includes 20 minutes and Heraldo de Aragon (Zaragoza, Spain). He is Vice-President at the Spanish Association of Information Media (AMI). Fernando de Yarza López-Madrazo was elected President of WAN-IFRA in June 2019.

As General Manager for Daily Maverick’s membership community, Maverick Insider, Fran has grown the membership community to 30,000 members from a starting base of 200.
Under her stewardship, the organisation’s event and live journalism division has successfully taken Daily Maverick’s journalism from screen to stage, sparking vital conversations among audiences and within the industry.

Francesco Marconi is a computational journalist and the co-founder of real-time information company Applied XL. He was previously R&D Chief at The Wall Street Journal leading a team of data scientists and computational journalists developing data tools for the newsroom.

A journalist for more than 25 years, François Cardinal has worked for the major Quebec dailies as a reporter, columnist and editor-in-chief, and is the author of several essays. 

Gabriel Kahn is a professor at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Journalism, where he directs the Media, Economics and Entrepreneurship program. Before joining USC, Kahn was an editor and foreign correspondent with The Wall Street Journal, with postings in Hong Kong, Rome and Los Angeles. Recently, Kahn launched Crosstown, a novel product that uses data to produce local and hyperlocal news at scale.

Gert Ysebaert became CEO of Mediahuis nv in 2013 and has led the successful expansion of the group since then. Mediahuis today holds news media outlets in five European countries: Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxemburg and Ireland.

Graham is the FT’s Consumer Marketing Director, responsible for acquiring new individual subscribers. Graham was instrumental in developing the FT’s data-driven marketing culture from 2008 onwards and subsequently led the turnaround in digital audience growth at the British Library. Now back at home with the FT, Graham is focused on getting our pitch right for different groups of FT readers.

Haaris Maaten is an Assistant Professor of Finance at the C.T. Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston. He works in the fields of climate economics, asset pricing, public finance, political economy. He completed his PhD in economics at Columbia University in 2023.  He also holds a bachelor’s in engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad.

Ingrid Tinmannsvik is the project manager for constructive journalism at the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK). She has been a visual news journalist and video specialist at NRK for the past six years.

Jennifer Wilton is the editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper Die Welt since 2022. She earned a Magistra Artium degree in Hispanic Studies, History, Cultural Studies, and Media Studies from Berlin, Münster, and Madrid. While studying, she contributed as a freelance journalist to various German newspapers and magazines, including Tagesspiegel, Spiegel, Die Zeit, and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, as well as serving as a guest editor for the Spanish daily, El País.

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.

Jerusha Raath leverages a decade’s experience as a journalist and editor in her role as Head of Studio24, Media24’s commercial content studio.

Jesper Søgaard co-founded Better Collective in 2004 and has been the driving force of the company ever since. As the CEO, he has been steering the Group, growing Better Collective from being a startup to a publicly traded company dual listed on Nasdaq Stockholm and Nasdaq Copenhagen, with more than 1,800 employees spread across offices across the world.

Jeremy is a certified executive-level coach and founder of Chrysalis Transformations – a training, coaching and leadership consultancy for leaders and managers.

Jochen Wegner is the editor-in-chief of ZEIT ONLINE and a member of the editorial board of ZEIT. He is a co-host of ‘Alles gesagt?’, which is among the most listened-to German podcasts.

Johanna Lahti is the senior editor-in-chief for Ilta-Sanomat, the biggest news media in Finland. Previously she was the head of Sanoma Media Finland’s magazine division and the editor-in-chief for women’s weekly Me Naiset. She  started her jounalistic career as a foreign news reporter for Ilta-Sanomat.

John Ridding is the Chief Executive Officer of the FT Group, one of the world’s leading news organisations recognised internationally for its authority, integrity and accuracy and for its global perspective. Under his stewardship, the FT has expanded its global operations and transformed itself into a digital multi-media business, pioneering the reader-revenue subscription model now widely adopted across the sector.

Josefine is the General Manager for Amazon Ads business in the Nordics. She has been in the Media industry for 16 years, starting as a Schibsted trainee in 2008 and is passionate about building and developing teams and delivering outstanding advertising solutions to customers. In 2021 she, together with the team, launched the Amazon Ads business in the region and is excited about the unique opportunities that Amazon Ads can bring to clients in the region.

As a Partner at Innovation, Juan Senor has directed projects all over the world helping news operations to re-invent their products and stay relevant with shifting audiences. He has worked and advised hundreds.

Julie is responsible for the Guardian’s corporate environmental commitments and targets, which include reducing carbon emissions by 67% by 2030 and addressing the company’s impact on nature.

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.

As the Editor-in-Chief of „WZ” (Wiener Zeitung), Katharina Schmidt is at the forefront of a truly groundbreaking transformation, guiding the worlds oldest daily print newspaper into a vibrant online platform. Her visionary leadership is not merely about transitioning to a digital format; it’s about reimagining the newspaper’s role in a digital-first era.

Kathy English is the Chair of the Canadian Journalism Foundation. She is a former VP, Content Integrity & Editorial Standards for Dotdash Meredith, America’s largest digital and print publisher.
Previously, she served for 13 years as public editor of the Toronto Star responsible for adjudicating reader complaints and upholding transparency and accountability standards across Torstar Corp’s 80-plus Canadian daily and community news organizations.

Katia Debusschere has over 15 years of experience in the media industry. She began her career in the advertising industry and gained valuable experience in the field of data and insights. In the next phase of her career, Katia became an expert in the domain of converting prospects into subscribers.

Khalil works to bring more value to more people in more places with The Conversation’s unique evidence-based journalism. He oversees audience growth, engagement retention and monetisation, working with a global team spanning six continents.

Kjersti Løken Stavrum has a background as a journalist and editor. She is the general manager of Stiftelsen Tinius – the controlling owner of Schibsted ASA, chairman of Norsk PEN and chairman of the Freedom of Expression Commission. Løken Stavrum has previously been secretary general of the Norwegian Press Association, is trained in political science and has a master’s in management.

Kristian is a 60-year-old journalist at NRK (Norwegian State Broadcasting) and a fellow of the Constructive Institute’s Climate Explorer Programme. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political studies, history and area studies and has worked at NRK for over 23 years.

Kristin Heitmann is senior vice president and chief revenue officer for The Associated Press, responsible for all of AP’s revenue functions globally. Heitmann joined AP in January 2022 and leads a division. Prior to joining AP, she served as chief commercial officer for media and marketing solutions at Dow Jones, responsible for driving a turnaround in the company’s advertising business.

Kristin Skogen Lund is CEO of Schibsted. She was previously Director General of the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise, EVP at Telenor, CEO of several Schibsted brands, and held positions at the Coca-Cola Company, Unilever and the Norwegian Embassy in Madrid.

Gupta leads the FT’s vertical growth strategy, overseeing the expansion of content franchises in core editorial verticals, including ESG, Climate, Private Equity, Markets, Work & Careers. In this role, she collaborates with senior stakeholders across editorial, product, and commercial teams to develop and scale vertical-led initiatives, supporting the FT’s primary revenue streams.

Ladina Heimgartner (*1980) has been a member of the Group Executive Board of Ringier AG since February 2020 and, as Head Global Media, is responsible for Ringier’s media business at Group level. She has been CEO of Ringier Media Switzerland since September 2023.

President of the Sustainable Journalism Partnership, a newly founded NGO with 400+ members from 70 countries: media researchers, media leaders, reporters and media organisations that wish to develop ways to make journalism better contribute to sustainable societies and make media itself more environmentally, socially and economically sustainable. Lars is also senior advisor at Fojo/Linnaeus University and Sweden’s representative to the UNESCO/IPDC Intergovernmental Council.

Lea Korsgaard is Editor In Chief at Zetland. Zetland is a Danish journalistic startup that was established in 2012 by some experienced journalists from the traditional Danish news media companies to give their version of what the future news media could look like. Zetland is a membership based brand. It was relaunched in 2016 as Denmark’s slowest news media that cuts through the news noise with few, in depth stories about the most important events. As they say: All you need to know. No more than you can make.She has worked for major Danish newspapers like Politiken and Berlingske.

Liam Mannix, a fellow of the Constructive Institute’s Climate Explorer Programme, is a science journalist based in Melbourne, Australia. The 33-year-old writes for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald as their national science reporter. 

Liesbeth has over 12 years of experience in the media industry. After an initial experience in e-commerce, she started in the newsroom of Mediahuis as deputy-chief of online news. She later evolved into a business leader in (digital) subscription marketing and revenue strategies building multidisciplinary teams to reach subscription goals. 

Prof. Dr. Luciano Morganti is a project coordinator and senior researcher at the Studies in Media, Innovation and Technology (SMIT) department of Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and has been publishing and working on European and national projects for more than 25 years.

Professor Lucy Kueng is an expert on strategy, innovation and leadership and advises leading companies worldwide industry on digital transformation strategy and implementation. She keynotes frequently at international conferences and is the author of numerous books including Hearts and Minds: Harnessing Leadership, Culture and Talent to Really Go Digital, Going Digital, Innovators in Digital News, Strategic Management in the Media, and Inside the BBC and CNN. 

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.

Mactilda Mbenywe is a fellow of the Constructive Institute’s Climate Explorer Programme. The 30-year-old is a passionate multimedia science journalist with the Standard Group, a mainstream media house in Kenya. 

Mahima Jain, is a fellow of the Constructive Institute’s Climate Explorer Programme. She is an independent multimedia journalist writing on the socio-economics of gender, health, and the environment through the lens of inequity and injustice. 

Manjiri Carey is News Editor of the BBC’s innovation incubator News Labs. Together with a team of engineers and experienced journalists, she identifies and prototypes technical solutions to workflow problems for newsrooms and develops audience enhancements. She’s also involved in the BBC’s generative AI discovery programme and has a particular interest in how the technology can help the industry better serve marginalised communities.

Maria Ressa co-founded Rappler, the top digital only news site that is leading the fight for press freedom in the Philippines. As Rappler’s CEO, Maria has endured constant political harassment and arrests by the Duterte government, forced to post bail ten times to stay free. Rappler’s battle for truth and democracy is the subject of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival documentary, A Thousand Cuts.

Markus Ahlberg is currently serving as the Chief Sustainability Officer at Schibsted. With a background in sustainability management consulting, Markus is dedicated to incorporating sustainability strategies that contribute to meaningful impact, innovation, and long-term organizational resilience. Alongside his work at Schibsted, Markus lends his expertise as an advisor to governmental initiatives, industry projects, and NGOs.

Markus Rask Jensen is the director of News at Norwegian publisher Amedia, in charge of editorial and product development at the company. He’s the former editor in chief of local newspapers Avisa Nordland and Bodø Nu, located in Northern Norway, and has spent most of his career in local news media.

Martha Ramos Sosa is chief editorial officer of the Organización Editorial Mexicana (OEM), the largest Mexican print media company and the largest newspaper company in Latin America. The company owns a large newswire service, it includes 45 Mexican daily newspapers and 44 websites.

Martin Schori is the Deputy Managing editor and Associate Publisher of Aftonbladet. Currently, he is also the Program Lead for Aftonbladet’s newly established Artificial Intelligence Hub, a cross-functional group of seven employees working full-time to develop, explore, and implement AI solutions at Aftonbladet, as well as to educate the editorial staff in relevant AI tools.

Martin (Marty) Baron retired at the end of February 2021, after eight-plus years as executive editor of The Washington Post. News staffs under his leadership have won 18 Pulitzer Prizes. The Post won 11 Pulitzers for coverage during his tenure that included the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 and investigations of the National Security Agency and the presidential campaign of Donald Trump.

Mathias has over 15 years of experience in product management, primarily in the digital news and online services sector. Currently Product Director at The Telegraph in London, UK, he leads a talented team responsible for designing and developing The Telegraph’s digital products, including the website, app, newsletters and puzzles.

Melissa Fleming is Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications at the United Nations, having taken up her post in September 2019. Ms. Fleming leads the UN’s Department of Global Communications, which is responsible for informing global audiences about the state of the world and engaging them to build support for the Organization’s work and goals. In this role, Ms. Fleming oversees the UN’s strategic communications operations, including its multilingual news and digital media services, public outreach programmes, and global campaigns.

Mitali Mukherjee is a political economy journalist with more than two decades of experience in TV, print and digital journalism. She was a Chevening fellow for the South Asia Journalism Fellowship 2020, a Raisina Asian Forum for Global Governance Young Fellow 2019 and a 2017 fellow of the Australia India Youth Dialogue. In 2020, she was nominated for the prestigious Red Ink Awards in India for two of her business stories.

Naja Nielsen is the BBC News Board executive responsible for digital transformation across BBC News. Overseeing a multidisciplinary cohort of editors, journalists, and digital specialists in the UK and internationally, Naja leads BBC News’ relationships with the BBC’s commercial arm, BBC Studios; big tech corporations and third-party platforms.

Natalie Turvey is President and Executive Director of The Canadian Journalism Foundation (CJF), a not-for-profit organization that supports excellence in journalism through education, research, and one of the industry’s most prestigious annual awards and fellowships program.

Nicolas Sterckx is a graduate of HEC business school and began his career in consultancy, spending around ten years in publishing, engineering and information and services before returning to the media world with the Webedia group as Managing Director France and Director of Worldwide Operations until March 2022. He joined Groupe Sud Ouest at the end of 2022 to mark the acceleration of the Group’s transformation.

Niddal Salah-Eldin is the head of the Talent & Culture division and member of the Executive Board at Axel Springer Verlag in Germany. She is also Managing Director and head of the Managing Board at FreeTech Axel Springer Academy of Journalism and Technology. Before joining Axel Springer Verlag again, Salah-Eldin was  Deputy Editor-in-Chief at Deutsche Presse Agentur dpa  and head of Social Media/Director Digital Innovation at “Welt”.

Niklas is a media entrepreneur with over 35 years of experience in digital tech and business development for publishing. He is a partner at News AIgency, a service company bringing Nordic media tech to the global publishing market. Niklas is the former Managing Director at Citygate, a service company jointly owned by Swedish news publishers.

Ninoslav Pavić, a.k.a. Nino Pavić, founder and previous owner of Europapress Holding, now Hanza Media, the largest media company in Southeast Europe. He was the first media mogul of Croatia.

Oksana is CEO of the Association of Independent Regional Press Publishers of Ukraine. She has over 20 years experience as managing director, commercial director and financial director at media organisations. Her work focuses on the development of the independent Ukrainian media, to protect press freedom in Ukraine. She continues her untiring efforts on supporting projects for the regional media.

In January 2024, Olga Korolec was appointed General Manager of the Onet brand, the most trusted news portal and the leading source of information for millions of Poles.

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.

Patrícia Campos Mello is a reporter at large and columnist at Folha de São Paulo newspaper. For over 25 years, she has been covering international relations, economics and human rights, and has reported from over 50 countries.

Patty Michalski joined Hearst in April 2022 as SVP of Content and Innovation with the Newspaper group, focused on driving growth, engagement and innovation for our premium newsrooms. She oversees the new DevHub central content team, a group of journalists that builds templates, innovative experiences, visual projects and helps support newsrooms with training and strategy on platforms and digital tools.

Phil leads the global AFP newsroom of 1,700 journalists based in some 150 countries. Responsible for implementing the agency’s visual-first multimedia strategy and driving the digital transformation of the company. Built AFP’s leading position in the battle against misinformation. On advisory boards of First Draft News, Reporters Without Borders, World Editors Forum and the NewsXchange.

Deputy Director of Product, UX and Audience at Le Monde, Quentin has previously managed product teams for start-ups and large companies in various fields such as online music, e-commerce and transport.

Rachel is a commercial strategist and has led multi-disciplinary teams in B2C and B2B media,  as well as brand content teams (retail, professional bodies, sports). She delivered an award-winning data transformation project whilst CCO at PA Media. Her speciality is developing product strategies that deliver greater customer engagement as well as solid business revenues. She now runs The Positive Consultancy and sits on WAN-ifra’s expert panel.

Rianne is a passionate entrepreneur that started her career in tech-startups (Rocket Internet) and private equity (Anthem Asia) in an unusual location: Myanmar. Spending most of her career as the link between fast, efficient international organizations and the ever-changing local challenges of emerging markets, she is always looking for laser sharp focus and quick, efficient execution.

Formerly Director platform operations for Schibsted Sales & Inventory, Robert Johansson co-founded Amaker in 2019. Amaker is a digital agency based in Stockholm. It offers consultancy services in marketing, strategy and digital transformation. Amaker is part of Execute Media which, together with Adssets and Quad, has a common mission: to make media buying easier, more transparent and more efficient for advertisers and the media.

Dr. Ruth Palmeris Associate Professor of Communication and Digital Media at IE University in Madrid and Segovia, Spain. Her research explores how non-journalists think about and relate to the news media.

Sacha Morard initially embarked on a career as a professional musician. After six years of financial struggles, he decided to change his career path, taking on various jobs before making his mark as a web designer at a web hosting company.

Sam Gregory is an internationally recognized human rights advocate and technologist, who helps ensure we are better prepared globally for deepfakes and deceptive generative AI. He is an expert on innovations in preserving trust, authenticity and evidence in an era of increasingly complex audiovisual communication and deception, who has testified to both the US House and Senate on AI and synthetic media and is a TED speaker on how to prepare better for the threat of deepfakes.

Sarah Marshall leads Audience Strategy at Condé Nast. This ranges from SEO to podcasts; from newsletters to TikTok. Her team supports Condé Nast’s brands, which include Vogue, GQ, The New Yorker, Architectural Digest, Vanity Fair, WIRED, Condé Nast Traveler, Bon Appetit, Epicurious, La Cucina Italiana, Glamour, Allure, Teen Vogue, SELF, Pitchfork, Ars Technica, Tatler, House & Garden and World of Interiors.

Shazia is an op-ed columnist at Norway’s largest newspaper and news site, focusing on healthcare, education, and women’s rights. Mom of two young men. Winner of SKUP Award for 2019 for excellence in investigative reporting; Norwegian Booksellers Award for best non-fiction 2019 for “Ut av skyggene” (“Stepping Out of the Shadows”); shortlisted for The Brage Award and The Norwegian Literary Critics Award. Fellowship at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford.

With 30 years of journalism experience, Shuruq As’ad is a pioneering journalist and media trainer based between Jerusalem and Ramallah.She made history as one of the first female journalists and TV anchors on Palestine TV (PBC) after its establishment in 1994 following the Oslo Accords.

Sofie is a Futurist, Senior Advisor and Head of Media at the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies. She is strongly engaged in the intersection between media and technology, and how the future media landscape is going to unfold.

Sophie van Oostvoorn is the editor-in-chief of a new project called C.Tru, powered by Mediahuis. Their objective is to figure out how to reach and engage social natives with journalism and to find a sustainable revenue model. She is the author of the bi-weekly newsletter The Audience Dispatch and previously she worked at the Dutch newspaper NRC as an engagement editor.

Stephanie Burnett is the digital verification editor and leader of the Reuters Fact Check team, which examines online misinformation. Before joining Reuters, she was a senior editor with Deutsche Welle (DW), Germany’s international public broadcaster.

Stig Ørskov is the CEO of JP/Politiken Media Group and Vice President of WAN-IFRA. JP/Politiken Media Group is one of the leading media organizations in the Nordics. The organisation manages a portfolio of several national news brands, local and global niche media, book publishing and streaming activities, and Denmark’s largest last mile distribution enterprise.

Tais Gadea Lara is a fellow of the Constructive Institute’s Climate Explorer Programme. She is the author of a newsletter on climate change, Planeta and collaborates on various national and international projects, such as National Geographic, Climática La Marea and Climate Tracker.

Thomas Leysen is Chairman of Mediahuis. From 2000 until 2008 he was CEO of Umicore, which was transformed under his leadership from a metals producer to a materials technology group focusing on clean technologies and leading global positions in rechargeable battery materials, automotive catalysts and precious metals recycling.

Thomas Lue Lytzen is Director, Ad Sales & Tech, at Ekstra Bladet, Denmark’s leading online news outlet. He runs a team of 30 FTEs handling sales, operations, ad tech, research, first-party data and branded content.

Tomas Bella is web director and executive board member at Denník N, an independent Slovak daily paper that also develops open-source software for publishers Remp2020.com. Previously he was editor-in-chief of the most popular Slovak news site and CEO of Piano Media.

Tom Trewinnard has ten years’ experience working at the intersection of technology and journalism, leading high-impact international media projects and driving product strategy for collaborative technologies. Formerly Director of Programs at Meedan, Tom led Check Global, a programme dedicated to developing innovative open source tools and training programs for journalists, fact checkers and human rights researchers around the world. 

Ulrik Haagerup is the founder and CEO of Constructive Institute. He is a member of the Committee for Media Responsibility, and was for 10 years the Executive Director of News at the Danish Broadcasting. He was previously Editor-in-Chief at NORDJYSKE Media from 2002 to 2007, Editor-in-Chief at the national daily Jyllands-Posten from 1994 to 2002 and an investigative reporter the same place from 1986 to 1991.

Yvette is a digital strategy professional with over 7+ years in media. She brings user research experience and a commitment to experimentation to achieve commercial outcomes.

Zaffar Abbas is the editor of Dawn, Pakistan’s leading English language newspaper. He has an extensive career in journalism, starting in 1981, when he worked as a junior reporter for one of the sister publications of Dawn. In 1988, he moved to the Herald, a prestigious Pakistani monthly magazine, as its leading investigative reporter. Four years later, he joined the BBC World as one of its Pakistan correspondents in Islamabad. He has also written for a number of international publications.

Zoltan Varga is the CEO and Chairman at  Central Médiacsoport, one of the biggest independent media companies in Hungary. Zoltan Varga graduated from the Faculty of Business and Economics of the University of Pécs. He joined the Budapest Stock Exchange in 1990 before joining the team of Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) in 1991, where he was working in their London and New York offices, and then he served as the head of sales and trading department until 2001.