Join us on the evening of Wednesday March 1st for an exclusive Future of News Seminar in New York City.
Featuring speakers from ABC News, New York Times, News Corp and Axios, this invite-only seminar brings together top industry leaders to discuss How to engage readers across generations in an intimate setting and an unconference style event.
What you can expect on the Agenda?
- 4:30 – Doors Open
- 4:45 – Future of News Seminar
- Welcome Note & Context
- Learn from Peers | Inspiration from Cases brought by
- Alexandra Svokos from ABC News
- Dalit Shalom from The New York Times
- Eric Ulken from Gannett
- Panel Discussion & Q&A: “How to engage readers across generations”
- Featuring Esfand Pourmand from News Corp, Anita Zielina from News Product Alliance and Zack McGhee from Atlanta Journal-Constitution
- Moderated by Dianna Colasurdo from Axios
- Hands-On Working Session & Deep Dives: Content Creation, Audience Development, Product Development strategies across generations
- 6:30 – Networking session with a Belgian twist
- Introduction to Belgian Beer: What makes it special?
- Guided beer tasting & networking featuring Anne Becerra
Speakers
Future of News Seminar
Esfand Pourmand
SVP, Global Head of Product at News Corp
A data driven product/technology leader at the center of transformation and innovation with the goal of delivering the maximum value not only to the businesses but also to readers/customers. Previously served as the Chief Product Officer at the Boston Globe and SVP of Revenue at Hearst while leading the expansion and evolution of digital subscription focused products. Notably served as the Executive Director at The New York Times, leading the program development across all Digital & Print subscription platforms and played a leadership role in the formation and execution of New Products and Continuous Delivery initiatives at NYT.
Anita Zielina
Board Chair at News Product Alliance
Anita serves as the inaugural Board Chair of News Product Alliance (NPA) and is a member of the board at the Online News Association (ONA) and the Austrian Public Broadcaster ORF. She holds a Masters degree in Law and an Executive MBA, and am an alumna of the Stanford Knight Fellowship and the Oxford Reuters Institute Fellowship. For the past 15 years, she has held senior executive positions focused on product, strategy and innovation in various media and education organisations. She also worked with around 500 managers, leaders and entrepreneurs as a consultant, advisor and educator.
Danny Lein
Founder and CEO at Twipe
Danny has a background in technology and management and he is passionate about Twipe’s mission of helping publishers engage more readers and monetise their premium content. Danny has led Twipe through the collaboration and partnering with leading news publishers throughout Europe and the US.
Dianna Colasurdo
Managing Director at Axios, Head of U.S. East and Europe
Dianna Colasurdo is a leader in politics and technology. She advises top public and private sector organisations about the ever-changing technology and media space. Dianna has been featured on CBS This Morning, as a speaker at the White House, and highlighted as a “Woman in Tech” where she was celebrated for being a prominent female leader in the technology space.
Zack McGhee
Senior Director, Digital Audience Experience at Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Zack has a history of leadership having worked as part of Cox Media group for 11 years. In his current role at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Zack uses his product and technology background to lead the audience retention and acquisition components of Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s digital platform.
Alexandra Svokos
Senior Editor of Digital at ABC News
Alexandra Svokos is a versatile manager with experience in editing, data analysis, and strategy. She is currently the senior editor at ABC News digital, running daily coverage for the network’s website, and an MBA candidate at NYU Stern. Previously, she served as a news editor at Bustle and the senior news editor at Elite Daily, managing a team of editors and writers on national and trending news. For Elite Daily, she traveled on the campaign trail throughout the 2016 election, from Des Moines to the Javits Center. She also covers women’s issues and comprehensively followed the Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt Supreme Court case on abortion.
Eric Ulken
Product Director at Gannett
Eric believes in the power of journalism to celebrate humanity, strengthen communities, promote justice and help people lead fuller lives. He has spent most of his career in local newsrooms, helping high-quality journalism find audiences on digital platforms. Today he works in the product organization at Gannett, the largest local news publisher in the U.S., helping to improve the ways thousands of journalists create value for audiences every day.
Dalit Shalom
Lead Product Designer at The New York Times
Dalit is an industry leader in product design, serving on the board for the Society for News Design and leading the product design space at the New York Times. She has lead projects at The New York Times focusing on the use of Natural Language Processing and its impact within service journalism.
Jack Cook
R&D Engineer at The New York Times
Jack is a machine learning practitioner with experience applying models toward problems in journalism, security, and healthcare. He currently leads natural language processing initiatives at The New York Times R&D, where he focuses on extracting insights from reader questions and comments. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science from MIT, and will be studying at the University of Oxford starting in 2023.
Amelia Pisapia
Manager, Emerging Technology Projects
Amelia Pisapia is the manager for emerging technology projects at The New York Times. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from The University of Wisconsin-Madison and an advanced certificate in entrepreneurial journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.
Special Networking Session: Guided Belgian Beer Tasting
Anne Becerra
Certified Beer Cicerone and Beer Director at Treadwell Park
Anne was the first female Certified Cicerone in NYC; In 2019, she was named one of FSR Magazine’s “32 Restaurant Stars on the Rise,” and is not only passionate about great beer, but the people and community that surrounds it. With a strong focus on education and storytelling, she believes the best part about beer is sharing it.
Venue: 38th Floor, New York Times Building
With a beautiful view over the New York skyline, the event will take place in the New York Times Building at the Flanders Investment and Trade Offices 620 Eighth Avenue, 38th floor, New York, NY 10018.
Guests are welcome as of 4:30 pm EST. We expect the event to conclude around 7:30 pm EST.
Looking forward to meet you Wednesday, March 1st. In case of any questions don’t hesitate to reach out.
The seminar is organised with the kind support of Flanders Investment & Trade