Leaders Meet: Innovation

Adam Silver was unanimously elected NBA Commissioner on Feb. 1, 2014, by the NBA Board of Governors.

Silver presides over a league that is a global leader in social responsibility, a model for international sports marketing and one of the largest providers of sports programming in the world. He is dedicated to increasing transparency, leading with integrity, and inspiring youth to live healthy lifestyles through basketball.

In 2015, Silver was named to TIME’s list of the 100 Most Influential People. He also earned Sports Executive of the Year honors at the 2015 Sports Business Awards and was named to Fortune’s 2015 list of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders. In 2014, SportsBusiness Journal ranked Silver No. 1 on its list of the 50 Most Influential People in Sports Business and Sports Illustrated named him Executive of the Year.

Quentin Clark is the Chief Business Officer at SAP and member of the Global Managing Board of SAP SE. He is responsible for defining the direction for SAP and for advancing the company’s business strategy. In this role, he heads corporate strategy, corporate development, partner strategy and development, and portfolio strategy activities.

Chris Duncan was appointed Chief Marketing Officer for News UK in September 2014. Working across all three titles, he is responsible for circulation revenue and subscription sales of print and digital products, as well as brand management and customer experience. During his career with the company he has played a leading role in building direct sales channels for all titles, growing revenue from subscriptions both in print and in digital channels. He has led cross-functional teams to build the customer management, data and ecommerce capabilities that support the paid content strategy. Prior to joining News UK Chris was Managing Director of Infoloop and Alchemetrics.

Tom is Group Product Manager for the suite of Guardian mobile and tablet applications. He leads the team responsible for products including the award-winning Guardian app for iOS, Android, and Windows 10; the Guardian and Observer Daily editions; and innovation projects including Apple News, Guardian Glassware, and apps on wearables and TV. With over a decade of experience in creative technical development specialising in mobile, he has worked clients including IWM, London 2012, The Education Department, The Wellcome Trust, and of course Guardian News and Media.

Wil Harris, Head of Digital of Condé Nast Britain, is responsible for all aspects of digital development. Harris was previously Co-Founder and Managing Director of ChannelFlip. Harris sold the company, one of Europe¹s largest online multi-channel networks, to the Shine Group in 2012, leaving the company in 2014, just before joining Condé Nast.

Mal Fletcher is a respected social futurist, media commentator and a global keynote speaker on leadership, technology and innovation. He is also chairman of 2020Plus, a London-based international think tank.

James Hamlin is the European Marketplace Director for TaskRabbit, the online and mobile marketplace that provides individuals and businesses with an easy, trusted, and secure way to get things done. James has spent the last 15 years building community & marketplace businesses across Europe with senior Marketing roles at Seatwave & Match.com

Irfan Khan is CTO for SAP Global Customer Operations (GCO), a fifteen thousand person strong field organization. In close partnership with the development organization, Irfan has responsibility for SAP’s vision, strategy and technology leadership across the company for all SAP solutions. His focus is to ensure SAP’s technology direction is in line with the needs of our customers and supports SAP’s leadership and long-term vision for growth. In addition Irfan is also the General Manager for SAP’s global Developer Relations organization. In this role, Irfan is focused on renewing and expanding the SAP developer ecosystem through community evangelism and enablement and driving the adoption of SAP’s platform.

Robert Klein joined the Bundesliga in April 2017 and his role focuses on the international expansion of the league and in particular their efforts in China. The German league is seen as one of the most innovative and forward thinking rightsholders. In the Chinese digital media, for the second time in succession the Bundesliga is Number 1 among Europe’s football leagues. It is the only European football league that has a Chinese-language website and is present among its fans in the Weibo and WeChat social networks.

Robert was previously the Head of Sports Rights for Red Bull Media House, a multi-platform media company that creates authentic entertainment inspiring a way of life. Robert was responsible for growing the company’s global sport portfolio. His main responsibilities included: assessing and implementing global business partnerships within sport, acquiring live sports and cultural content for Red Bull Media House and global commercial distribution of Red Bull-owned properties. Before Red Bull Media House he worked as Executive Director for International Sports Multimedia (ISM), UEFA New Media and NBA Europe Events. He holds a Masters’ Degree in Leisure Policy and Planning from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh.

With a digital and distribution career spanning 15 years, Alexander brings a wealth of experience to Maker Studios, the world’s leading producer of short form programming. As VP International Distribution & Programming, Alexander oversees all international distribution as well as programming for TV & digital platforms. Prior to Maker, Alexander spent 5 years at VICE, managing the company’s European distribution for TV & Online and overseeing its evolution into a major internationally recognized digital content brand. Earlier positions include distribution roles at Baby TV as well as digital distribution outlet Indivisual TV.

The first and only Miami Heat player to have his jersey retired, Alonzo Mourning played in the NBA for fifteen phenomenal seasons as one of the best defensive players in NBA history. During his illustrious career Mourning was a seven-time All-Star, two-time Defensive Player of the Year, and NBA Champion. He spent the majority of his career with the Miami Heat, where he is currently Vice President of Player Programs, responsible to ensure the personal and professional development of HEAT players, while providing direct support and one-on-one mentoring.

Chintan is a Chief Technologist at Cisco. He leads a team of specialists that help clients transform their businesses using the power of technology. Chintan has spent over 10 years at Cisco in various corporate, regional and country roles. He is passionate about driving business transformation using innovative technology. Having been on both sides of the selling and buying technology he enjoys bringing the business and technology worlds together. A self-confessed geek who likes his gadgets but only when they make a difference to the world around us in a meaningful way.

Ivan is the CO-Founder, CTO & CPO of eMoov, the UK’s leading disruptor in the online estate agency sector. He leads the company’s technology and product organisations. Ivan is also a seed round investor in eMoov having invested in the company in 2013. Prior to eMoov, Ivan was the Director of Global Product at Groupon where he was responsible for the design, architecture and global roll out of their supply chain product, which today processes over $3.5 billion in transactions globally. Ivan’s passion for streamlining business processes by weaving existing and custom technologies make him perfectly placed to drive eMoov’s disruptive and ambitious technology vision.

Cate Sevilla is an online editor and journalist, and is BuzzFeed’s Managing Editor in the UK. She is responsible for managing the organisation and structure of the editorial staff, and overseeing the planning and operations of the team. Before joining the team at BuzzFeed, she worked at Microsoft as a global editor for MSN News, and founded the online women’s magazine BitchBuzz.com. She has written about pop culture and feminism for many online publications including Stylist Magazine and the Guardian.

David Tomchak has been the Head of Digital for 10 Downing Street and the Cabinet Office since May 2015. He also chairs the Government Communication Service’s Digital Centre of Expertise, bringing together digital experts from across Whitehall. Before David started his current role he was a journalist at the BBC with a very varied career that culminated in leading a number of digital innovation projects aimed at putting digital at the heart of BBC News. In a previous life he worked in the technology division of a major investment bank.

In his 35 year career, Pierre Woreczek has worked in McDonalds, in FMCG (Cadbury and Jacobs Suchard) and advertising agencies. He has a wealth of experience in many areas including digital transformation and big data, brand and corporate strategy and user experience. In his current position, Pierre has implemented a customer-centric organisation, led the digital transformation, developed a new store service platform and was in charge of the re-imaging of 6000 restaurants in Europe. He initiated the move from the red to the green McDonald’s logo. He also created the first Food Studio in McDonald’s. Pierre created the strategy “from fast food to good food fast”.