Leaders Meet: Innovation

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.

Steve Hellmuth is Executive Vice President of Media Operations & Technology for NBA Entertainment.  He is responsible for overseeing the league’s information technology, broadcast operations and engineering departments.  He also oversees the development and implementation of the NBA broadcast facility standards for the design, construction and operation of NBA arenas. Previously, Steve spent two years as the Senior Vice President & General Manager of Major League Baseball Productions, where he supervised the programming and production for MLB Productions. Prior to joining the NBA, Hellmuth served as General Manager for Potomac Television Communications in Washington, D.C.  He also worked at NBC in New York from 1979 to 1987, serving as Production Manager for the network’s sports division. Steve produced the Emmy-nominated opening telecasts for the 1986 World Series, and coordinated the production of Olympic profiles for the 1980 Moscow games.

Jamie joined BT Sport on 15^th October 2012 as the Chief Operating Officer to build the infrastructure, broadcast chain and operating model for the launch of BT Sport.  In August BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2 and BT Sport ESPN all started broadcasting from the brand new purpose built studio facility on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. From the 1^st August 2015 the BT Sport offering has been expanded to 13 channel outlets to deliver the exclusive Champions League and Europa League coverage, as well as the launch of Europe’s first 4k UHD sports channel.

Jamie started his TV career as a transport coordinator at the BBC. Since then he has had many roles in the BBC including Head of Sourcing Production Resources and culminating as the Head of Production L2012 – responsible for the BBC’s multiplatform coverage of the Olympics, Paralympics and other key national events in 2012.

Danny joined Blippar in August 2016 following a career in both the private and public sectors. Blippar is a global technology company that brings the physical world to life through smart devices using augmented reality and artificial intelligence. Blippar, a pioneer in augmented reality, created one of the first sustainable business models for the technology through branded interactive experiences and has today expanded its reach into the realms of education and enterprise solutions.

Prior to joining Blippar, Danny was the British Consul General to New York and Director General of ‘UK Trade & Investment’ in the USA, a position he held between 2011-16. In this role, Danny was responsible for promoting the UK’s economic profile, foreign policy and national security priorities in New York as well as leading the UK government’s trade and investment offices across the US.

Before his diplomatic posting, Danny worked for the Mayor of London’s economic development arm between 2009-11. During this time, he was responsible for creating ‘London & Partners’, the UK capital’s promotional agency for business, visitors and students and was its inaugural CEO.

From 2006-09, he was Managing Director, Marketing and Communications, at ‘UK Trade & Investment’, where he was responsible for delivering a new marketing strategy to promote and showcase the UK economy internationally.

Previously, Danny worked at Barclays Bank for 10 years, where he held a number of senior international positions, including Director of Business Banking USA in New York, Head of Inward Investment in London and Business Development Director in India.

Geoff has over twenty years of experience in technological innovation from conceptual engineering design and development through to sales and business development for both blue chip and start-up companies alike. A mechanical engineer by training his career spanned most branches of engineering from mechanical, aeronautical, civil, chemical and petroleum engineering before changing focus to telecoms, media and entertainment in the Internet boom and has now returned to McLaren Applied Technologies as Managing Director. His current focus in on realising breakthrough’s in performance in fields as diverse as sports, health and wellness, and operations through the application of McLaren Technology and design.

SAP innovation evangelist Timo Elliott has been working with companies on the leading edge of technology innovation for over twenty-five years. He is an international conference speaker who has presented to business and IT audiences in over fifty countries around the world. He blogs on the latest trends in technology in online publications such as Forbes, ZDNet, Digitalist Magazine and on his site at timoelliott.com.

Rajesh Agrawal is the Deputy Mayor of London for Business. Born in India, Rajesh moved to London in 2001. As an entrepreneur he founded RationalFX in 2005, and Xendpay in 2014, both companies utilising technology to reduce the cost of international money transfer for businesses and individuals.

Rajesh is passionate about promoting entrepreneurship and creating opportunities for young people. He was appointed Chair of Oxfam’s Enterprise Development Programme in 2015 and has been a Patron of the Prince’s Trust for many years.

As Deputy Mayor Rajesh aims to be a strong voice for London’s business community, protecting jobs and growth, and ensuring that the capital remains the most open and attractive place to do business in the world.

Emeka Okafor’s professional career currently sits at 13 years, in which he has represented the Charlotte Bobcats, the New Orleans Hornets and the Washington Wizards. In 2004, Emeka claimed the prestigious title of NBA Rookie of the Year, a sensational start to his NBA career after being drafted from the Connecticut Huskies. Emeka has played just shy of 600 NBA games, in which he has reached the playoffs six times.

Dolly Jones studied the History of Art at Manchester University before Journalism at London¹s University of the Arts, and took up the “Writer” job at VOGUE.COM in January 2000. She was named editor in 2005 and in 2015 returned from her second maternity leave to become Digital Strategy Director of Condé Nast, to align editorial and commercial strategies for greater user and client engagement across the portfolio. During her time at Vogue and since, she has written regularly about ethical fashion and sustainable living.

Matt Locke is a digital storyteller, founder of Storythings and an expert in the role of new tech in media development, having led groundbreaking innovation projects at the BBC and Channel 4. Before starting Storythings, Matt worked in digital media for over 15 years, including 7 years as Head of Innovation at BBC New Media, where he led many ground-breaking open data projects, including Backstage, Innovation Labs, and the BBC/Yahoo Hackday. He then went to Channel 4 in 1997 to lead their Education dept, commissioning crossplatform projects for 14-19 yr olds, including the double-Emmy winning www.battlefront.co.uk. Before leaving Channel 4 to start Storythings, he was Head of Multiplatform, running the team that developed projects including Million Pound Drop, Big Brother, Skins and Misfits.

Richard founded leading European digital consultancy Seven League, winners of Football Business Awards’ Agency of the Year 2016 and International Sports Conference ‘Digital Service of the Year’ in 2016. We make your digital services creatively valuable and commercially viable by transforming the connection between sports, audience and sponsors.

Originally a BBC journalist who turned geek and launched BBC News online, he has spent most of his career in media. His first sports business role was as Manchester City’s first Head of Digital in 2011 – for which he won the Sports Industry Award in 2012.

Seven League’s team of content-led media veterans consult, innovate and implement with specialisms in content, fan engagement, monetisation, marketing, social, strategy, operations and technology. Current clients include UEFA and 48 of the football associations in Europe, the NBA, FC Barcelona, Juventus, Tottenham Hotspur, Leicester City, British Canoeing, the UFC, The FA, Premier League and esports leaders Gfinity.