Twipe Digital Growth Summit 2022

Nick Hugh

CEO at The Telegraph

Nick has almost 25 years of digital experience with companies that range from global media players to innovative start ups.  Before joining The Telegraph he was Yahoo’s Vice President for EMEA.   

Nick Hugh was appointed Chief Executive Officer of The Telegraph in June 2017 and is charged with continuing to grow the penetration of The Telegraph’s quality journalism and diversifying revenue across the group, whilst ensuring the company maintains its rightful place as one of the UK’s leading media brands.

He has been recognised in the Campaign ‘A’ List 2018-2020, Who’s Who in 2020, The Drum Digerati 2017 and shortlisted for Ad Tech personality of the year in 2017. As an NED, Nick participated in the sale of Esure (to Bain Capital) and GoCo (to Future), and is currently a Board Member of Childline, part of the NSPCC. He has an MBA from INSEAD and a BA Hons degree from Manchester, England.

Claudius Senst

CEO BILD group & WELT group

Claudius Senst, born in 1986, studied business administration at the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland), as well as at WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management (Germany). In 2008, he started his career as a management consultant at The Boston Consulting Group.

Claudius Senst joined Axel Springer in 2013. Initially as Junior Executive and Chief of Staff to the board division of BILD and WELT. This was followed by several positions at Insider Inc. in New York, where he served most recently as COO. Today, he is a member of the Board of Directors at Insider Inc. as well as Morning Brew.

In July 2021 he became CEO BILD Group and WELT Group. In this role he is responsible for Axel Springer‘s news brands in Germany.

Sander Duivestein

Co-author of Real Fake – Playing with Reality in the Age of AI, Deepfakes and the Metaverse

Sander’s recent book looks at the importance of and the changing reality introduced by the virtual world of fake reality.

In Sander’s eyes, technology is changing the world at lightning speed. “Accelerated change is the one constant in the digital age” . It is Sander’s mission to indicate the impact of technology on people, companies and society. Companies should not resist new technology, but rather use it to change. It’s Digital Darwinism. It’s adopt or die!

Sander’s presentations are characterised by their high visual character. Sander immerses the viewer into the future, inspiring, challenging, and making the viewer think.

William Ban

VP Operations Web3, TIME

William Ban is the VP of Operations for TIME web3 where he oversees TIME’s growth within the web3 ecosystem including NFTs, Metaverse, and IP Licensing business units. An industry leader, TIME’s NFT and web3 community, TIMEPieces, has grown to include well over 55,000 artists, collectors, and enthusiasts. He also drove TIME’s web3 strategy, generating eight figures of revenue as the brand expanded from NFTs to community building to partnering with several NFT creators to develop their unique IP into animated series for TV with TIME Studios.

Sofie Hvitved

Futurist and Head of Media at Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies

Sofie Hvitved is a Futurist and Head of Media at the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies, where she is currently working on the future of the Metaverse. She is strongly engaged in the intersection between media, technology and entertainment and has a solid strategic background in the media industry, among others by her work in DR (Danish Broadcasting Corporation). She is also a member of the Danish Media Board under the Minister of Culture. Sofie has lived and worked in various cities around the world in Europe and South America, and is currently living in Copenhagen. She has an MA in Media Studies from Aarhus University, Denmark.

Ezra Eeman

Change Director at Mediahuis

Ezra Eeman is Change Director at the international media company Mediahuis, where he is responsible for coordinating newsroom transformation and digital acceleration across a wide range of cross-media brands. Ezra has almost 20 years of experience in media, innovation and journalism. Previously he was the Head of Digital, Transformation and Platforms at the EBU, The European Broadcasting Union. Before that he worked as head of an innovation lab at VRT, the Flemish public broadcaster and was a journalist and editor in chief at the Flemish commercial broadcaster VTM.

Kara Chiles

Senior Vice President of Consumer Products at Gannett

Kara is a sharp, savvy leader and strategist experienced in developing award-winning consumer media products and platform solutions for brands including USA TODAY, Whole Foods Market and WebMD. In her role as Sr. Vice President of Consumer Products at Gannett, Kara leads the consumer product management team and is responsible for full product lifecycle, strategic development and optimization of experiences for web, video, native apps, newsletters and messaging. Her team oversees the largest network of news outlets in the United States with more than 230 properties.

Nic Newman

Senior Research Associate at Reuters

Nic Newman is a journalist and digital strategist who played a key role in shaping the BBC’s internet services over more than a decade.

He was a founding member of the BBC News Website, leading international coverage as World Editor (1997-2001). As Head of Product Development for BBC News he helped introduce innovations such as blogs, podcasting and on-demand video. Most recently he led digital teams, developing websites, mobile and interactive TV applications for News, Sport, Weather and Local.

He has played an important part in the development of social media strategies and guidelines for the wider BBC. Nic was a Visiting Fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. He is married with three children and lives in London.

Debbie McMahon

Product Director at Financial Times

Outcome focused senior leader and product director at FT. Debbie is passionate about delivering products at scale, she believes in putting the user at the heart of the design process and thrives in environments that care about transformation of services.

Edward Roussel

Head of Digital at The Times and The Sunday Times

Edward Roussel is head of digital for The Times & The Sunday Times, Britain’s leading news brand, a post he took on just over a year ago. Previously, Edward was chief Innovation officer for The Wall Street Journal, based in New York, where he worked for eight years. At WSJ, Edward oversaw the launch of new businesses as well as relations with the Silicon Valley tech platforms, including Apple, Google and Facebook. 

Jack Davies

Senior Researcher in the R&D team at nChain

Jack is a Senior Researcher in the Research & Development team at nChain, a global leader in enterprise blockchain solutions. His current research focuses on the network theory underpinning blockchain systems like Bitcoin, as well as the practical applications of blockchain-based cryptographic techniques to real-world problems in data management, supply chain, and identity verification.

Han-Menno Depeweg

Chief Digital Officer at NRC Media

Han-Menno Depeweg is Chief Digital Officer at NRC Media, part of Mediahuis, where he is responsible for all digital customer-facing products. Han-Menno has been working at NRC for the last 25 years and has been a driving force behind the digital transformation of NRC. He is also a board mebmebr of VINEX ( Verenigde Internet Exploitanten (VINEX) is the United Internet Operators association, a Media Owned Committee).

Mathieu Halkes

Head of Product at Schibsted

Mathieu leads product managers in 6 different teams that are part of Schibsted Media’s shared products & platform offerings. Their solutions are used by millions of Scandinavians, and drive business value for brands like Aftonbladet, Svenska Dagbladet, VG, Aftenposten and many more.

Mathieu is also responsible for developing overall product strategy for Schibsted, leading the other domains within the product & tech organisation.

Howard Elston

Principal Creative Technologist at The Telegraph

Working in publishing & media for over 20 years, focusing on technology, supporting the digital transformation of journalism and the newsroom, providing strategic & innovative approach to business challenges and needs.

Adonis Zachariades

Co-Founder of Renovi and Renovi Studios

Adonis has a Masters in Investment Analysis from Stirling University with majors in Economics and Finance. 
He has researched extensively through his thesis the efficiency of cryptocurrency markets and worked as an alternative investments manager before co-founding Renovi and Renovi Studios, in which he currently leads the idea creation and Metaverse departments. 
He is a futurist and a Metaverse/NFT advocate and enjoys sharing views and ideas about how the future will change our current status quo.  

Agnes Stenbom

Head of Lab at Schibsted

Agnes Stenbom leads a new experimental effort by Schibsted and the Tinius Trust exploring how emerging technologies can make journalism more inclusive. She is a PhD candidate in industrial economics at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, where her research centers around hybrid processes combining artificial intelligence (AI) and human competences for newswork. 

Agnes is recognised as a spokesperson for responsible use of AI within and beyond the media industries. She is the co-founder of Nordic AI Journalism (an industry network bringing together 170+ professionals from 30+ media organisations), a columnist for Dagens Media, and a future analyst for the Think Tank Global Utmaning. In 2021, she was named one of the 30 most promising talents under 30 across the globe by the International News Media Association (INMA). 

Laurent Bainier

Editor in Chief at 20 Minutes

Laurent Bainier is editor-in-chief of 20 Minutes where he created the 2.0 section in 2007. In 2022, he created 20 Mint, a magazine entirely dedicated to Web 3, financed by the sale of 999 nfts. The buyers of these nfts could participate on discord in the construction of the free newspaper, with a circulation of 800,000 copies. He also hosts a show on Twitch about the Web3.