World News Media Congress 2025

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.

As Vice President of News Partnerships at Google, Jaffer leads a global team responsible for negotiating and managing critical partnerships across the News ecosystem as well as the Google News Initiative and news regulatory response. Before joining Google in 2008, Jaffer served as a Principal at MarketBridge, a leading Sales & Marketing strategy consulting firm.

Lech Wałęsa is a legendary leader of the “Solidarity” movement, whose historic victory in 1989 ended communist rule in Poland and ignited democratic change across Central and Eastern Europe. A former electrician at the Gdansk Shipyard, he became a global symbol of peaceful resistance, earning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983. As Poland’s first democratically elected president (1990–1995), he played a pivotal role in the country’s integration into NATO and the European Union. Today, through global lectures and the Lech Wałęsa Institute, he continues to champion democracy, civil society, and international cooperation.

Jessica Davis is an innovative journalist who has led and inspired teams to develop sustainable revenue models for news. From launching sites for an infant Patch in her early career to transforming 260 Gannett newsrooms with digital optimisation and the application of automation and artificial intelligence tools as a senior executive, Jessica is driven to apply emerging methods to carry the craft of journalism into the future.

Roman Imielski is the First Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Poland’s leading news brand, Gazeta Wyborcza.

He is a former editorial secretary, foreign and political editor of Gazeta Wyborcza and editor-in-chief of the Wyborcza.pl website. He is the author of numerous articles on Polish politics, Russia, Ukraine, the European Union and transatlantic relations. He is a commentator on international and Polish affairs in electronic media.

Catherine So is the Chief Executive Officer of the South China Morning Post (SCMP), a global news media company that has reported on Hong Kong, China and Asia for more than a century. She is a business leader with over 20 years of experience in the tech, digital and media sectors across Greater China, the Asia-Pacific region and the United States.

Bartosz Wieliński has been deputy editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza since 2019. He has worked at the paper since joining as a 20 year old intern in 1998.He is a former Wyborcza Germany correspondent – a country he enjoys covering, especially its history. He has published two books: “Bad Germans” and “Hitler’s War of the Doctors.”

Ezra Eeman is Strategy and Innovation Director at NPO, the Dutch Public Broadcaster, and the incoming Director of AI in Media of WAN-IFRA. Ezra writes a weekly industry newsletter, Wayfinder, about media innovation and is the author of the annual “Wayfinder Trends Report”. Previously, he served as Change Director at the international media company Mediahuis, where he was responsible for coordinating newsroom transformations and digital acceleration across a wide range of cross-media brands. Before that, Ezra was the Head of Digital at the EBU, the European Broadcasting Union, and has held positions at VRT (the Flemish public broadcaster) and VTM (the Flemish commercial broadcaster) as innovation lab head and editor-in-chief, respectively.

Mariah Craddick is a product strategist with deep experience in the news and media industry. She’s currently leading product strategy at The Atlantic with a focus on driving subscription growth and enabling retention through feature adoption and delightful subscriber experiences.

Previously, she led teams as product manager at The Wall Street Journal, McClatchy, and Crain Communications, playing a key role in building features that drive readership and engage subscribers.

Louis Dreyfus is the CEO and Publisher of the French Groupe Le Monde. He is also President of Huffington Post France and leads the board of directors of weekly magazines Télérama and Courrier International. He is a board member of Agence France-Presse (AFP) and chairman of the supervisory board of news publisher Groupe Nouvel Observateur.

Hannah Sarney is the Editorial Product Director at the Financial Times. She champions newsroom innovation and audience-focused strategies by bridging editorial, data, product, and technology teams. She founded the FT’s Next Generation Board and the programme continues to partner emerging leaders with the FT Group Management Board each year to bring fresh perspectives to business challenges. Hannah also serves as a trustee for the Financial Literacy & Inclusion Campaign (FLIC), advancing her commitment to accessible and engaging financial journalism.

Christian is CEO of Independent Media, including The Independent (globally) + BuzzFeed brands (UK+Ire). Ex-Editor in Chief of The Independent, he moved from MD to launch and scale TV and ECom services and is rapidly expanding the US business.

Dr. Rainer Esser studied law in Munich, Geneva and London. He continued his studies in the United States with a Master of Law at the University of Georgia before receiving his final degree in 1986. After graduating from the German School of Journalism (Deutsche Journalistenschule) in Munich, he worked as a lawyer for various law firms. Since 1989 he also holds a PhD in International Law of the University of Regensburg. From 1989 -92 he served as Editor in Chief at Bertelsmann International in Munich and eventually joined Munich-based Spotlight Publishing House (Spotlight, écoute, ECOS and ADESSO) as Managing Director. After serving as Managing Director of Main-Post Publishing House in Würzburg in the late nineties he started his current position as CEO of DIE ZEIT in 1999. After 27 years as CEO of the ZEIT Publishing Group, Rainer Esser transitioned on February 1, 2026, to the role of Executive Advisor at Holtzbrinck and became a Member of the Supervisory Board of DIE ZEIT. In addition, he has served as Managing Director of DvH Medien GmbH since 2011.

James Jordan is the News Director for Europe and Africa for The Associated Press where he overseas more than over 250 journalists in all formats across two continents. He has overseen the global news agency’s award-winning coverage from Ukraine and interviewed Zelenskyy twice – most recently when he travelled to Kupiansk with the president. In June 2024, he travelled to Russia and met President Putin making him one of the few journalists to have interviewed both leaders.

Monicah Waceke Ndung’u, is currently the Chief Corporate Affairs, Marketing and Partnerships Officer at Nation Media Group (NMG), overseeing Corporate Affairs, Marketing, and Partnerships, including The Nation Media Foundation. Previously, she also handled Strategy, Product Innovation, and the Broadcasting Division within the Group. Before joining NMG, she was the General Manager for Kwese Free TV Kenya Limited and also worked with Kenya Broadcasting Corporation and Uganda Broadcasting Corporation in overall channel management, programming, partnership building, change management, and product development. Monicah is a Pew Research Center Media Advisor, Member of The International Emmy Awards committee, a Non-Executive Director at Care International Kenya, a WAN-IFRA Supervisory Board Member, a Chevening Scholar, a holder of an MA degree in Communication Policy from The University of Westminster (UK), and a Bachelor of Arts in Communication (Electronic Media) Daystar University.

Zach Seward is the editorial director of artificial-intelligence initiatives at The New York Times. He leads a newsroom team responsible for experimenting with uses of generative AI and other machine-learning techniques. Before joining The Times, he was a co-founder of Quartz, the global business news organization that he led in a variety of roles for more than a decade, including as CEO, editor-in-chief, and chief product officer. He has been widely honored for Quartz’s innovative editorial products and creative journalism. He was previously a reporter and editor at The Wall Street Journal and an associate editor of Harvard’s Nieman Journalism Lab.

Kristen Dudish is a VP of Product Design at The New York Times, where she leads teams focused on the subscriber experience, building meaningful pathways that drive understanding, exploration and engagement. She’s played a key role in driving the evolution of The New York Times News apps, homepage, editorial newsletters, personalization, tailoring and onboarding systems.

President of INNOVATION Media Consulting Group, a London-based firm and one of the world’s leading media consulting companies. He has worked with and advised hundreds of media organisations across all continents, leading large-scale transformation projects. He also serves on the advisory boards of several international media groups. He has been a Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford and was named among the “World’s Leading Innovators in Journalism and Media” by Journalism UK. A highly sought-after commentator on the media industry, he regularly participates in international forums and is frequently quoted in leading publications such as The Economist and The Financial Times. He is co-editor of two annual publications – Innovation in News Media and Innovation in Media – produced for WAN-IFRA and FIPP, respectively. In total, he has edited 32 books. Earlier in his career, he worked for seven years as a war and conflict correspondent for PBS NewsHour. He later served as a presenter for EBN–Wall Street Journal TV and CNBC Europe, and as the London correspondent for International Herald Tribune Television, then jointly owned by The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Rupa Jha is a highly driven media executive and editorial leader with over 20 years of experience at the BBC, in India, The UK and Nigeria.  In April 2024, she co-founded Collective Newsroom alongside approximately 200 colleagues from the BBC, demonstrating her commitment to innovation and excellence in the media industry.

Andrew Saunders is the President and CEO of The Globe and Mail, overseeing all aspects of Canada’s national newspaper, its business magazine, digital advertising network, digital platforms and events and conference lines of business. With over 20 years of experience at The Globe, he brings expertise in revenue generation and management, business transformation, change management and digitization, data analytics & consumer insights, technology implementation, branding and performance marketing, pricing optimization and more.

Carly Steven began her SEO career at the Daily Mail over 15 years ago, collaborating with editors to integrate SEO best practices into newsroom workflows. She spent three years in Canada, working across the Postmedia brands, before venturing into the agency world at the digital marketing company Reshift Media in Toronto. On returning to the UK, she led audience development at City AM before joining The Sun’s London team, where she also oversaw the expansion of the-sun.com’s SEO department in New York.

Dmitry Shishkin is an independent media advisor who works with senior leadership teams building audience-centered organisations without losing editorial ambition or commercial discipline.

Since 2020, he has advised global media organisations including Condé Nast, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Yahoo, Globo, Ringier and others. He works with CEOs, editors-in-chief, product leaders, and boards at inflexion points: strategic reset, growth pressure, organisational misalignment, or uncertainty about how editorial, product, data, and AI should work together. His advisory focuses on newsroom transformation and multimodal content strategy.

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.

Aleksander Kutela joined Ringier Axel Springer Polska in August 2015. In February 2016, he became COO of Ringier Axel Springer Media AG. In September 2018, after the companies belonging to the Onet-RAS Polska Group were merged into one legal entity, he took up the position of vice-president of the management board of Ringier Axel Springer Polska. In September 2022, he became CEO of Ringier Axel Springer Polska. He is also the President of the YPO Gold Chapter. In 2000-2015, Aleksander Kutela was the president of HBO Poland and vice-president of HBO Europe (2007-2015).

Nikita Roy is a data scientist, journalist, and Harvard-recognized AI futurist. 

She is the founder of Newsroom Robots Labs, an AI training and advisory firm for media organizations incubating at Harvard Innovation Labs. Nikita also hosts the globally acclaimed Newsroom Robots Podcast, which has been ranked among the top technology podcasts in over 30 countries on Apple Podcasts.

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.

Xenia Daum has been Managing Director of Kleine Zeitung since 2023, with a strong focus on digital transformation, audience growth, and innovation. Kleine Zeitung is Austria’s largest regional media company, serving more than 180,000 print subscribers and 76,000 digital subscribers. With 17 locations across Styria, Carinthia, and Vienna and approximately 450 employees, it is one of the country’s leading news organizations and a key driver of regional journalism and digital media development.

Barry Adams is a 25-year veteran of the digital industry. As a specialised SEO consultant for news publishers, he focuses on delivering technical and editorial SEO services to news publishers around the globe. Barry counts some of the biggest media brands among his clients including The New York Times, Daily Mail, The Guardian, Condé Nast, The Globe and Mail, Mediahuis, Euronews, and The Independent. He is a regular speaker at conferences and events across the world, delivers annual guest lectures for local universities, co-founded the News and Editorial SEO Summit, and writes an irregular newsletter on SEOforGoogleNews.com.

Cécile Sourd has been part of Mediapart since 2018, where she currently serves as Chief Executive Officer. Prior to her appointment as CEO in March 2023, she held the role of Chief Financial and Administrative Officer for nearly five years, contributing significantly to the organisation’s strategic and financial development.

Before joining Mediapart, she built her career in local government, holding senior roles in cities such as Vaulx-en-Velin, Saint-Fons, and Lognes, where she focused on social development, communication, and community engagement. She also began her career as a gender equality advisor for the Essonne Departmental Council and as a lecturer and researcher in political science at Sciences Po Lyon.

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. She has been working at Wyborcza for 18 years, as an editor of the economic desk at the beginning, and then as its head.

Manfred Kluge has been one of the leading figures in the German media agency landscape for over 35 years. Active within the Omnicom network since 1995, he has played a decisive role in the development and expansion of Omnicom Media Group Germany which he managed as CEO from 2006 for nearly 10 years.

Editor-in-Chief of Altinget Norway, a Nordic Media house that covers national and European politics. She previously served as the Managing News Editor at the Norwegian newspaper Vårt Land and headed the Media Network in Norway, a network that has been established to strengthen diversity and leadership in the Norwegian media business. Throughout her career, she has held several leadership positions within Aftenposten, Schibsted. Notably, she led the Policy and Finance Department and the Culture Department for several years. She also spearheaded the newspaper’s efforts to explore new business opportunities through editorial conferences.

Nic is Executive Director at THE CITY, a news outlet serving the people of New York through independent journalism that holds the powerful to account, deepens democratic participation, and helps make sense of the greatest city in the world. He has led news and human rights organizations on three continents, and was previously Deputy Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, Chief Content Officer of Hindustan Times in Delhi, and Editor-in-Chief of South Africa’s Mail & Guardian newspaper.

Joshi Herrmann is the founder and editor of Mill Media, an innovative local news company which publishes long form local stories via newsletter in six UK cities and has received investment from CNN chief executive Mark Thompson. Mill Media has more than 10,000 paying members, is read by more than 170,000 email subscribers and has been described by the FT’s John Burn-Murdoch as “one of the most interesting and impressive media startups of the last decade”. Joshi has also reported for The Guardian, The Telegraph and The Times and has been Highly Commended three times at the British Press Awards.

Bartlomiej Chmiel has been with the Agora Group since 2008. He is the CEO of Gazeta.pl, publisher of one of the largest web portals in Poland and its popular thematic websites. He is also a co-founder of Yieldbird, an advertising technology company that is a European leader in technological and consulting competencies for online publishers. He specialises in advertising technology, sales and operations management. He has significant experience in managing strategic digital transformation projects. In addition, he actively seeks business development opportunities both domestically and abroad through strategic investments and partnerships. He graduated from the Faculty of Economic Sciences at the University of Warsaw.

Lisa Irenius has revitalized journalism through innovative digital approaches, including the use of AI. As editor-in-chief and CEO of Svenska Dagbladet, she has renewed the newsroom’s organization and working methods.

The ambition is to create better conditions for delivering a digital news experience tailored to the needs of readers and listeners and to make Svenska Dagbladet the natural choice for curious Swedes who want to understand a little more—about the world and life.

Juan Carlos López Calvet is Director of Data & AI at Schibsted, where he drives the practical use of machine learning and data platforms to strengthen public-interest journalism. He leads projects on newsroom automation, verification, and responsible deployment of generative models, prioritising editorial integrity, explainability and privacy. Juan Carlos combines platform engineering and product leadership with a research-informed approach to build transparent AI tools that amplify reporting and protect trust. He has advised news organisations across Europe and beyond on AI governance, product strategy and newsroom integration. He is a frequent speaker and workshop leader on AI in media, guiding organisations toward pragmatic, accountable AI adoption.

Dominika Wielowieyska is a journalist with many years of experience. She has been working at ‘Gazeta Wyborcza’ since 1991. She has worked in the culture, national and economic sections. Today she covers politics and current-affairs. She also runs the Monday morning show of nationwide news&talk radio station – TOK FM and the programme ‘Wybory w toku’ on Saturdays at 9 am.

Twice nominated for the prestigious Grand Press journalist award. Co-author of the book “Dekady 1985-1994”, from the series devoted to the history of Poland after World War II.

Styli Charalambous co-founded the Daily Maverick, in 2009, while navigating industry disruption and the country’s turbulent politics. As founding CEO and publisher, Styli helped grow Daily Maverick from a 5 person start-up to now more than 100 full-time staff, reaching 9m monthly unique visitors with 32k voluntary paying members. He is passionate about leadership and innovation focusing on new revenue models, product, technology and membership in news. In 2021, he was awarded South Africa’s top journalism award for courage and integrity for his shaping role in Daily Maverick’s success.

Vibeke Fürst Haugen became the first female Director General of Norway’s public broadcaster, NRK, in April 2022.

Her career at NRK began in 1995 as a program creator and producer, with a decade spent in the youth and children’s department, culminating as Head of Department. She later focused on organizational development and innovative content creation before becoming Senior Vice President of the Content Division in 2013, overseeing diverse programming at NRK’s Oslo headquarters.

Ryan Y. Kellett is a journalist and media executive studying creators as the 2025 Nieman-Berkman Klein fellow for Journalism Innovation at Harvard University. Most recently, Ryan was VP of Audience at Axios Media where he helped scale Axios Local to 30 cities across the U.S. including launching an in-house creator team. He previously was Senior Director of Audience at The Washington Post, where he spent 11 years building international digital readership and the subscription businesses.

Jane Barrett is the Head of Reuters AI strategy, leading the integration of AI into the newsroom and across the business to ensure a sustainable and innovative future for the news agency in an AI-enhanced age. She manages cross-functional teams to design, develop and deploy AI tools for the newsroom and in client-facing products. She also directs a change programme to build AI literacy, adoption and empowerment and sits on the AI governance committees of both Reuters and Thomson Reuters.

For the past 10 years, Bartosz Hojka has served as the President of the Management Board of Agora Group. During his tenure, the company became the fourth-largest media group in Poland. Under his leadership, Agora solidified its position as the market leader in cinema (Helios) and outdoor advertising (AMS), and successfully expanded into film production and distribution through Next Film. He also oversaw the merger of Agora Radio Group and Eurozet, facilitating significant growth in the radio segment.

Arun is responsible for leading Google’s key industry research partnerships with the news ecosystem and strategy & work with emerging news voices. Over the last 10 years, he’s overseen the Google News Initiative’s work in Latin America, launched the Global Digital Growth Program and led strategy for the Google News Lab. He began his career at Google on the Chief Marketing Officer’s strategy team. Prior to Google, Arun launched digital media startups and spent time in management consulting. He is a native of Texas.

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. 

Lucio Mesquita has over 30 years of media experience, having worked in print, radio, television and digital content production and senior management. He started his career as journalist in his native Brazil before joining the BBC in the UK, where he worked with radio, tv and digital output both in editorial and executive roles. At the BBC, he ran the BBC World Service’s Americas and Europe operations, the BBC’s regional operations in Bristol and BBC Monitoring, the BBC’s ‘media watch’ unit with over 10 newsrooms worldwide, which included a number of digital and transformation projects. Before joining Innovation as a senior consultant, Lucio also ran Guardian Media Limited, a commercial multimedia business in the Caribbean, with print, digital, radio and television output. For Innovation, Lucio has been involved with projects involving major media businesses in Asia, Europe, the Americas, Africa and the Middle East, developing with them and supporting them with their transformation plans.

Meera Selva is Chief Executive Officer of Internews Europe. She was previously the Deputy Director of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and is a co-founder of the Oxford Climate Journalism Network. She is an experienced journalist who has reported from the field across Europe, Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa, including several years at the Associated Press.

David Caswell is a consultant and researcher focused on the transformational potential of AI in journalism. He was previously the Executive Product Manager of BBC News Labs and has held senior roles leading AI publishing initiatives at Yahoo!, Tribune Publishing and The Los Angeles Times. Caswell also publishes peer-reviewed research on computational and automated forms of journalism, including as a Fellow at the Missouri School of Journalism. He is a frequent speaker and writer about the opportunities and challenges facing journalism in the emerging AI-mediated digital media ecosystem

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 a position of Managing Director at Ringier Axel Springer Poland. Prior to that she was an Expert-in-Residence at the Media Development Investment Fund and served as the Head of Digital User Market Senate at Ringier AG in Zurich.

Lucky Gunasekara is the Co-Founder and CEO of Miso.ai, where he collaborates with category leaders to create high-performance search and discovery experiences. He started their career as an Intellectual Property Analyst at Dube Technologies in 2000, where he worked on R&D and patent analysis. In 2009, Lucky co-founded and served as the Managing Director of Medic Mobile, a technology startup focused on healthcare. From 2010 to 2012, they worked as the CIO at Metabiota, where they led the initial research and development for an epidemic surveillance system. Lucky then joined the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as an Advisor from 2012 to 2014. In 2014, they joined Cornell Tech as a Technologist in Residence, working on small data projects. Lucky also worked at Tapstack as a Senior UX Researcher and Designer from 2015 to 2016. Lucky served as a Senior Advisor, Product at Peterson Center on Healthcare from 2015 to 2017, where they contributed to developing an evidence-based model for primary care transformation.

Since its inception in 2016, Eirliani was a founding member of Twitter’s Trust and Safety Council as an expert on child online safety. In December 2022, Eirliani made global headlines following her resignation from the council, speaking out against the meteoric rise in hate speech after Elon Musk’s purchase of the platform. A Senior Fellow at Georgetown University, Eirliani holds a doctorate in public health from Harvard University. She is concurrently a Research Affiliate at the University of Cambridge’s Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy. A Fellow of the Royal Society for Arts, Eirliani is a member of Chatham House and a former New America Open Technology Institute Fellow. She was a Prajna Leadership and Julio Frenk DrPH Fellow at Harvard. Her work has been profiled by inter alia, the BBC, CBC, NPR, Slate, Harvard Public Health, the Sunday Times, and Business Insider. Her opinion pieces have been published by inter alia New America, Newsweek, Harvard Public Health, Chatham House and the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP).

Fergus Bell is a media innovator with a focus on driving sustainable change and innovation in the news industry. He is the co-founder of Fathm, a news lab, consultancy, and agency established in 2019 to support newsrooms, the creator economy, and content professionals as they navigate digital disruption.

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.

Tomáš Bella is CEO of EUobserver and the co-founder and Chief Digital Officer at Denník N, an independent daily newspaper published in Slovak, Czech, and Hungarian. Denník N specialises in high-quality, long-form journalism and develops the open-source subscription software for publishers REMP. Previously, Bella was the editor-in-chief of Slovakia’s most popular news website and CEO of the subscription software provider Piano.

Mariam Mammen Mathew is the Chief Executive Officer of Manorama Online, the digital media operations of the Malayala Manorama company.

Established in 1888, Malayala Manorama has a daily circulation of 2.31 million and publishes over 40 publications. The group also runs Manorama News, a 24-hour news channel, Manorama Max, an entertainment channel, and Radio Mango, FM stations in Kerala.

Ladina Heimgartner 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.

Joel Simon is the founding director of the Journalism Protection Initiative. Simon began his career as a journalist in Latin America, before joining the Committee to Protect Journalists in 1998. He served as CPJ executive director from 2006 to 2021. In 2022 Simon was a Fellow at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University, and also Senior Research Fellow at Knight First Amendment Institute, also at Columbia. He is the author of four books, most recently The Infodemic: How Censorship and Lies Made the World Sicker and Less Free, co-authored with Robert Mahoney. He writes regularly on press freedom issues for The New Yorker and Columbia Journalism Review and many other publications.

Before the full-scale invasion into Ukraine, Oksana was engaged in the professional development of regional media, creating an environment and platforms for the formation of a democratic press in the country representing Association of Independent Press Publishers of Ukraine. Since February 24, 2022, has organized systematic support for more than 100 independent local media in Ukraine.

Marcin is responsible for digital strategy, product development, technology and monetisation, including the subscription model of TOK FM PREMIUM news radio. He is leading the digital transformation of Eurozet Group after its acquisition, setting new business models. He has been involved in the media and digital sector for 25 years, combining experience in journalism, marketing and e-commerce. Expert in subscription strategies, corporate transformation and the use of AI and data for audience acquisition, engagement and monetisation.

Currently, he is the founder and leader of Project Kontinuum, a global initiative established in 2024. Branko Brkic founded Daily Maverick, South Africa’s leading digital news publication, in 2009. By June 2024, the publication had reached 14.5 million monthly unique readers, at which point he stepped down from his role as Editor-in-Chief.

He also launched and edited the magazines Timbila, Brainstorm, Maverick, and Empire, as well as 168, South Africa’s last weekend newspaper. In June 2018, he was awarded the Nat Nakasa Award for Media Integrity, widely regarded as South Africa’s most prestigious journalism honor. Brkic began his career as a book editor in 1984 in the former Yugoslavia.

Among the most notable works he has published are The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, The Complete Greek Tragedies, and The Miroslav Gospel, whose reissue contributed to its inclusion in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register as documentary heritage of global significance.

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.

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.

Roman Kulchynsky is the Editor-in-Chief of Texty.org.ua, a Ukrainian media outlet specialising in data journalism, which he co-founded 15 years ago. His expertise lies in data-driven storytelling and analytical journalism. Texty.org.ua focuses on topics such as Russian propaganda, the war in Ukraine, open data, the environment, education, healthcare, and urbanism, using data visualisation to make complex subjects accessible to a broad audience.

iesbeth Nizet is Head of Future Audiences Monetisation at Mediahuis Group, where she leads the strategy and execution of sustainable growth with next generation audiences. Her work focuses on Gen Z, off platform distribution, new monetisation models, and preparing Mediahuis’ portfolio for structural shifts in media consumption towards 2030.

Christine Buhagiar is AFP’s director for development and diversifications since summer 2025.
As such she oversees AFP’s diversification of commercial revenues and also innovation projects. She supervises AFP’s involvement in a number of EU and institutions’ funded programs focusing on AI and the fight against disinformation.

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.

Ignacio Martínez de Albornoz is the Business Development Director of Henneo, one of Spain’s main Media and Technology groups, with responsibility over strategic projects all across the company’s divisions (News Media, Technology, Audiovisual and Printing&Distribution). He joined Henneo in 2017. Previously he has worked as a strategic consulting manager in Accenture and as the Director of the foreign trade and investment agency of the regional government of Aragón.

Flavia is an experienced marketing strategist specialising in customer retention, paid acquisition, and digital growth. As the Head of Marketing Retention at Le Monde, she leads initiatives to enhance subscriber engagement and long-term loyalty. With over five years of experience in media and publishing, she previously managed paid acquisition at Le Monde and drove digital growth strategies at Condé Nast France.

Christiane Düsterfeld is the Head of EU Affairs & Bid Management at dpa, Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH, Germany’s leading news agency. With over 20 years of experiences in international sales & business development, Christiane is responsible for the implementation and coordination of dpa’s European media projects and the strategic expansion of dpa’s partner network.

Julia Angwin is an award-winning investigative journalist, a bestselling author, a New York Times contributing Opinion writer and a Walter Shorenstein Media and Democracy Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy.

She is the founder of Proof News, a nonprofit journalism studio that launched in 2024. In 2018, she founded The Markup, a nonprofit newsroom that  investigates the impacts of technology on society. From 2014 to 2018, Julia was a senior reporter at the independent news organization ProPublica, where she led an investigative team that was a Finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Reporting in 2017 and won a Gerald Loeb Award in 2018.

Christophe advises media organisations on team acculturation and the deployment of ethical AI strategies, using a holistic approach at the crossroads of editorial, technology and people. As co-designer and lead mentor for the global Newsroom AI Catalyst programme (piloted by Fathm for WAN-IFRA, in collaboration with OpenAI), he has supported international newsrooms in experimenting with generative AI and has led the European “Advanced” cohort. His strategic vision is further informed by a Fathm collaboration with DeepMind, focusing on the structural impacts of advanced models on journalism.

Laura Badura is a Product Manager at DER SPIEGEL, one of Germany’s largest quality media outlets. She specializes in interdisciplinary product development for web and app platforms and played a key role in the relaunch of “SPIEGEL Debatte,” a redesigned onsite community aimed at fostering interactive and respectful reader engagement.

Pawel is an attorney-at-law, Legal and Public Policy Director at Agora S.A., Vice-President of the Repropol Association of Journalists and Publishers and the Association of Private Media Employers in Poland. He is also an expert in the fields of media law, press law and copyright law, professionally associated with the mass media for over 10 years. He represented and defended journalists and publishers in numerous Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) proceedings.

Fabian Heckenberger is the Managing Editor and Senior Editor for AI at Süddeutsche Zeitung, where he leads the newsroom’s strategy team with a growing emphasis on the journalistic applications of Generative AI (GenAI). His team is responsible for coordinating editorial initiatives and projects designed to enhance SZ’s success in acquiring and retaining digital subscribers.

Carlos Kubick is General Manager and Co-founder of El Líbero, an independent media outlet based in Chile focused on defending freedom, pluralism, and democratic values. Under his leadership, El Líbero has developed a sustainable model combining journalism, memberships, events, and civic engagement projects. He holds an MBA from the University of Cambridge and a Master’s in Applied Philosophy.

Magda Bandera has been awarded with recognised journalism prizes on different occasions for her work and compromise against gender violence. Cofounder of La Marea in 2012, and editor in chief and director since 2015. Before participating in the cooperative’s foundation, she has been working as freelancer for several media such as El Periódico de Catalunya, La Vanguardia, Marie Claire, etc.

Vincent Peyrègne is Chief Executive Officer of WAN-IFRA from 2012 to 2026. He managed the association’s activities and its various divisions in Paris, Frankfurt, and regional branches in Singapore, Chennai and Latin America, developing its member services (publications, research, training, consulting) and professional events, which are attended each year by 10,000 media professionals from more than 120 countries. During his tenure, the association significantly consolidated its membership base, culminating in the integration of FIPP, the International Federation of the Periodical Press, in 2025. Before joining WAN-IFRA, he was head of development at Edipresse in French-speaking Switzerland (now Tamedia), where he was Head of Development, responsible for editorial marketing and product development, before joining the French Ministry of Culture and Communication, where he coordinated the États généraux de la presse écrite (National Conference on the Print Media) until 2012 as Senior Counsellor in the Minister’s office. Familiar with the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, he founded the South-West Europe branch of Ifra in 1997, then in charge of French- and Spanish-speaking regions, which he headed for seven years. He began his career in the national and regional press in the 1990s in various commercial and advisory roles at Libération, Sud-Ouest and La Tribune. Vincent Peyrègne is a Commander of the French Order of Arts and Literature.

Dominika Michalak is the Head of Institutional Fundraising at OKO.press and previously worked as a grants professional for Krytyka Polityczna. A Project Manager with over 15 years of experience, including 8 years in the publishing industry as an editor-in-chief and commissioning editor, she facilitated the literary translation debuts of 18 young translators.

Gregor Waller provides consulting services to international media businesses for developing their digital strategy and transforming their business models for the digital era.

Jakub Wiech is a lawyer, journalist, analyst, editor-in-chief of Energetyka24, and author of the Elektryfikacja podcast. The James S. Denton’s Transatlantic Fellowship recipient. Lecturer at the University of Warsaw and author of the books Mere Energy, Global Warming: A Handbook for the Green Right, and Energiewende: The New German Empire. Jakub is known for his analyses on energy, climate, and international economics, as well as for his efforts to combat disinformation.

Annelies Jansen is a global digital strategist and leader of high-profile B2B and B2C businesses and has developed and implemented successful growth strategies for leading consumer and media companies. Amongst her various roles, she led the Times and the Daily Telegraph initiatives to expand from print-only newspaper circulation to digital. Previous to her current role at Prorata.ai, she was in several senior roles at META. Earlier, she held a series of senior leadership roles in the technology, digital media, and media sectors.

Alona Yatsyna is a media manager, military journalist, and founder of the Sumy regional media outlet Kordon.Media. She is also the regional coordinator of the Institute of Mass Information. With seven years of experience in media, Alona has worked in television news and led her own investigative journalism project, (Not) Involved. She has participated in projects such as Exposure Lab by Bigus.info, Schemes in the Regions, and Schemes by RFE/RL.

Kaveh Waddell is a co-founder of Verso, a San Francisco-based AI consulting lab for newsrooms and nonprofits. Kaveh was a 2023–24 John S. Knight journalism and Human-Centered AI fellow at Stanford University; he was previously an investigative data journalist at Consumer Reports’ Digital Lab, a staff writer at Axios and The Atlantic, and a freelance reporter in Beirut, Lebanon.

Samira Lazarovic has been working in media since 2004, bringing two decades of experience across journalism, television, and digital formats. Today, she serves as the cross-functional lead at RTL / NTV, where she bridges the gap between editorial and tech – translating newsroom needs into product requirements, and ensuring technology delivers real value to journalists.

Bolesław Breczko is a journalist specialising in technology and economic topics. Since June 2022, he has been working in the economic section of “Gazeta Wyborcza”, covering issues related to technology, business, and society. He is the creator and host of the podcast “Cybe(r)ewolucja” (Cyber Revolution), dedicated to artificial intelligence. His work focuses on connecting technology with its impact on society and the economy.

Anne Koch is the Ukraine Archive Project Lead at the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and based in London. Previously she was the Program Director for the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN); before that, she had an award-winning career in broadcast journalism at the BBC, including Deputy Director of the English World Service, Executive Editor of the BBC’s flagship radio news and current affairs programs, Editor of the World Tonight and producer of more than a hundred radio documentaries. She has also worked as Director for Europe and Central Asia at Transparency International (TI).

Rosa Curling is a co-founder and co-director of Foxglove, that exists to make tech fair for everyone, using litigation, campaigning and communication. Rosa is a UK-qualified lawyer and has litigated in the British, European and international courts. Her prior legal wins have blocked the export of weapons to Saudi Arabia, kept NHS hospital services open, curbed the reach of the harmful bedroom tax, protected journalists and lawyers from surveillance of their clients and sources and forced the UK to admit more unaccompanied child refugees.

David Buttle is the founder of DJB Strategies, a boutique consultancy created to help media businesses succeed and grow. Its focus is primarily strategy and technology. Much of David’s work at the moment is on artificial intelligence and the changing platform environment. Prior to founding his business, David was Director of Public Affairs and Platform Strategy for the Financial Times. He was responsible for the FT’s interfaces with big tech, relationships with governments and legislators and led the business’s response to artificial intelligence, including licensing negotiations. David holds a MBA from Warwick Business School, is columnist for Press Gazette on media and technology and serves on the board of the Independent Publishers Alliance.

Clémence Lemaistre is Deputy Editor-in-chief of Les Echos’ newsrooms since september 2024. She started at les Echos in 2015 as Digital Editor in charge of digital news and transformation. Before that, she was the Editor-in-chief at BFMTV.com, the website of the TV channel, for three years. She had previously been on the editorial team which launched the daily 20 minutes in France in March 2002, and the website 20minutes.fr in 2007.

Jeremy has more than 30 years in the media publishing industry, leading digital change in newsrooms across the UK and managing the complex transition from print to digital reader-revenue access models, and now in how to integrate Generative AI into newsrooms.

He is a certified executive-level coach and is a founding director of his leadership development and training advisory business, Chrysalis Transformations – for established and emerging leaders.

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.

Amrit Mann is Publisher Services Manager at Ozone, specialising in publisher business development. With over four years of experience in the programmatic advertising space, Amrit is responsible for signing publishers to Ozone’s products and managing global business development opportunities.
Ozone, launched in the summer of 2018, is a technology and data-led digital advertising platform built for brands by four of the world’s leading publisher groups. In a radical and unprecedented move, Ozone was conceived through a strategic collaboration between News UK, Guardian Media Group, Telegraph Media Group, and Reach plc.

Clara Soteras is an SEO and digital strategy consultant for news organisations, working with newsrooms across Spain, Europe, LATAM and the US. She trains journalists and editorial teams worldwide and regularly speaks on journalism, SEO, audience growth and media innovation.

Marcin Hajduk is the Chief Product Officer at Yieldbird, a programmatic ad tech house that provides publishers with automated solutions for programmatic inventory management and revenue maximisation. With 6 years of experience in ad tech, he has led the development of pricing automation, demand source management, and inventory optimization technologies. Previously, he worked as a strategy consultant at a leading global consulting firm, delivering strategic development projects for industry leaders in Poland and across Europe.

Remco Steen is a digital advertising professional with over 17 years of deep expertise in Adtech business and product development across both the sell-side and the buy-side of the digital ecosystem.

Paula Fray, who sits on the South African Competition Commission’s Media and Digital Platforms Market Inquiry, is the founder of fraycollege, a pan-African accredited media training organisation which focuses on providing practical workplace skills for journalists, communicators and business leaders.

The first female editor of the Saturday Star newspaper in South Africa, Fray was the Regional Director: Africa for Inter Press Service overseeing a regional news agency publishing in English, French, Portuguese, Swahili and Arabic.

Nayla Tueni is a Lebanese journalist and the editor-in-chief of An-Nahar, one of Lebanon’s leading newspapers. Coming from a family with a deep legacy in journalism, she has played a significant role in maintaining the publication’s prominence in the region. Tueni is known for her commitment to press freedom and investigative journalism, often addressing issues related to governance, civil rights, and regional affairs.

Dean is Director of Insights and Editor-in-Chief of WAN-IFRA, he is responsible for coordinating all activities related to the organisation’s array of multimedia publications. He has more than 25 years’ experience working in the news publishing industry, much of that time spent researching, analysing, identifying and ultimately reporting about global media developments.

Charlotte Tobitt is UK editor at Press Gazette, having joined the site in February 2018 after spending four years at the Surrey Advertiser.

Inês Bravo is the Digital Product & Experience Lead at Impresa, leading the digital transformation of its media brands – Expresso, SIC, SIC Notícias, and Opto SIC (its OTT streaming service). She champions a user-centric approach, driving innovation across Impresa’s digital platforms by leading cross-functional teams to design, develop, and deploy advanced content management systems and integrate AI tools into newsroom workflows and products.

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.

Elena Perotti is Executive Director of Media Policy and Public Affairs at WAN-IFRA, the World Association of News Publishers. She is responsible for identifying and studying major public affairs issues within the news industry, and is leader and/or author of all research output of the department. Elena is also in charge of the News Literacy initiatives, and of interaction and liaison with WAN-IFRA’s governing boards, as well as with national and regional member associations, and international bodies. She holds a Masters of Law in International Law and is experienced in media policy, senior management, global event organisation, and public relations.

Michael is a Marketing and Customer Strategist, NED and Board Advisor. He was previously Managing Director of Times Newspapers Ltd, responsible for the financial performance of The Times and The Sunday Times, and for defining and implementing brand strategies for long-term multi-platform growth.

Prior to running The Times and The Sunday Times, Michael was publisher and chief operating officer of The Economist. He joined the Economist Group in 2006 and has held a number of senior positions, including marketing director and managing director of circulation.

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.

Tim has more than 35 years’ experience in the UK regional media, as a journalist, editor and senior executive. He currently heads National World’s daily press division and is responsible for the group’s central print functions. Tim  has also worked as a consultant and trainer for the Thomson Foundation in different parts of the world and as a newsroom coach for WAN-IFRA’s AI Catalyst program.

Evan Gillis is a Boston-based Customer Success Manager at Chartbeat Inc. Since joining the company in 2023, he has supported both Chartbeat and Tubular clients across the media and agency industries, helping them leverage data-driven insights to optimize audience engagement. Prior to Chartbeat, Evan worked at Nielsen, advising clients on strategic cross-platform media planning, and served as a Research Director for a local news company. With six years of experience in media research, he brings a deep understanding of evolving trends in audience content consumption and behaviors across platforms.

Tarjei Gilbrant is the CEO and co-founder of Kilkaya. His professional journey is marked by collaborations with major publishers across Scandinavia and Europe.

Martin works with the newsrooms across Reach PLC to make sure content reaches and is engaged with by the maximum audience. This includes oversight of SEO, social, direct, digital marketing, online safety and communities across Reach PLC’s regional and national brands in the UK, Ireland and US.

With a background in journalism, digital content leadership and newsroom transformation, Martin focuses on turning casual readers into registered users through data-driven insights.

Dana works as Director Product at Hamburger Morgenpost (MOPO), a leading media house in northern Germany.

With a strong focus on Digital Analytics and Paid Content, she drives innovative product strategies that enhance user engagement and revenue growth. Leveraging her expertise in data-driven decision-making, she has successfully led the development and optimisation of the digital offering at MOPO.

Prior to her current role, she worked as an analyst at Statista Q, where she specialised in market analysis, providing valuable insights into industry trends and supporting data-informed product and business strategies.

• Founder & MD at Smartico
• Aviation Engineer by Training and Local Advertising Sales Enthusiast by Heart
• Serial Entrepreneur in media & tech since 1999
• Former Founder & CEO at aerosecure and Co-Founder at Payleven and other

• 35 years in media and media technology
• 10+ years at New York Times
• NY Times E-edition (2002) – first e-edition/first digital subscription model
• former Chief Digital Officer at Calkins Media
• former General Manager at GateHouse Media

Joshua L. Freeman is Vice President of Business Development at Prorata.ai, where he works with content owners and creators to ensure they receive fair credit and sustainable compensation for their content in the era of generative AI. His career has spanned major roles at Samsung Next, where his team supported a portfolio of 250 companies grow in the areas of sales, business development, marketing & communications, and people operations, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, where he led the creation of Trellis, a digital platform for scientific collaboration, and was Chief Digital Officer of Science Magazine. With experience at Discovery Communications and AOL, he brings deep expertise in digital media and product development. Joshua holds Masters degrees from Harvard Business School and the Kennedy School of Government, and studied Russian Studies at Amherst College. He lives in Washington, D.C. and is fluent in Russian while learning Ukrainian.

Amanda Edmonds is a Senior Director of Business Development at Microsoft, where she leads global publisher partnerships across news and media. Her work focuses on designing product partnerships that enable high-quality content to power AI experiences across Microsoft’s ecosystem, including Bing and M365.

Psychologist, entrepreneur, originator of the questvertising approach. Creator of QuestPass advertising system, the company listed on Deloitte Technology Fast 50 and recognized as Rocketship by Google Cloud.

In the media since 2005. Knowledge of print & online media, digital business transformation, growth strategy, paid content incl. audio, social media, SEO, data analysis, data & multimedia journalism. Positions: Journalist, editor, reporter, publisher, deputy editor-in-chief, operations director, publishing director.

Camillo has been working for the media industry since 1996. A software engineer at heart, he has enjoyed different roles in the software development business, ranging from Product Development management to Operations Director to Product Management. He believes marketing needs to have a thorough understanding of its company, products and the customers it serves. As such he also leads product management for Desk, the Atex multi-channel editorial solution for news publishers.

Jennifer launched a pro-bono data journalism program, Bright Journalism, that now supports newsrooms and journalists around the world. After decades in the industry, Jennifer now leads communications and public relations at Bright Data, an AI company. Here, she discovered an opportunity to support her former colleagues and peers by offering tools to extract and analyze data for free to newsroom.

Maia Mazurkiewicz is an expert in countering disinformation and communication. She has 15 years of experience in political management, foreign affairs and communication in government, business and civil society organizations. Maia is a lawyer educated in Poland and the United States. She is the president of the PZU Foundation, co-founder of Alliance4Europe and host of the television program “Anatomy of Disinformation” on TVP World. Maia has founded and collaborated with numerous foundations and non-governmental organizations. She has worked on projects related to combating disinformation, strategic communication and democratization.

Parliamentary journalist. Co-creator of the Orientuj.się, the largest political channel for Gen Z. Winner of the Mariusz Walter Award in the “New Voice in the Media” category. Commentator of “Szkło Kontaktowe” on TVN24.

With 11 years of experience in the publishing and broadcast industry, Christoph Jäntsch has witnessed and discussed the transformation of news media for just about a decade across the globe. Together with our customers, he has observed the shifting dynamics of audience preferences, the rise of digital platforms, and the impact of social media on news consumption. Christoph has seen firsthand how innovative technologies and changing market demands have reshaped the way news is produced and delivered. His insights into these trends have helped our customers navigate the evolving media landscape, ensuring they stay ahead in a competitive environment.

Karen Franken is the Director of Strategy at Piano, where she drives strategic initiatives to help publishers increase revenue and improve customer engagement worldwide. Since joining Piano in 2021, she has held various roles focused on client strategy and digital optimization. Before Piano, Karen worked across North America, South America, and Europe in digital marketing and business development, leading campaigns for major brands such as Disney, Amazon, and AB InBev. She has a strong background in audience strategy, monetization, and data-driven storytelling. Karen holds a degree in Media and Entertainment Management from Inholland University of Applied Sciences. 

Wojciech Ehrenfeld – Head of IT Services, Ring Publishing – responsible for business development of SaaS & Cloud platform for media industry. Wojciech Ehrenfeld, a graduate of the University of Technology in Cracow, has built a  25-year career at Onet, part of Ringier Axel Springer.

Elsa Court is the audience development manager at the Kyiv Independent, Ukraine’s fastest-growing English-language media outlet. Previously, she worked as a journalist on the Kyiv Independent’s news desk. Originally from the U.K., she lived and studied in the Hague in the Netherlands and is now based in Kyiv.