Creativity+Opportunity will explore how best to cultivate, use and share the opportunities created by change. Our diverse panel of speakers will share how they have embraced the power of opportunity to transform their own lives, their businesses and society.
Key information:
Date: Thursday 3rd October, 2019
Time: 09:00-14:00
Location: Knowledge Centre Theatre, The British Library
Register for your space on Eventbrite.
Confirmed speakers include:
Mark Read, CEO of WPP
Mark Read was appointed CO of WPP in September 2018. He has held multiple leadership positions across the company, including nine years as an Executive Director of WPP plc. For 12 years, as Head of Strategy and then CEO of WPP Digital, he was responsible for the company’s move into technology through the acquisition of 24/7 Real Media, the creation of data-driven creative network POSSIBLE and launch of Stream, WPP’s celebrated “unconference”. Previous to this he was Global CEO of Wunderman, where he transformed the network into one of the world’s leading creative, data and technology agencies. Mark was named in Financial Times & HERoes Champions of Women in Business list in 2018, recognising those who have championed women throughout their careers and supporting women through the talent pipeline.
Priya Matadeen, General Manager, DAZED
Having always been interested and people and behaviour Priya graduated in psychology and chose to go into marketing. She started her career in creative agencies at Agency Republic, Wieden and Kennedy and BBDO running accounts for blue chip clients mentored by the likes of Justin Pahl and Cilla Snowball.
Priya then decided to specialise further in fashion and luxury and moved to Spring Studios to work under Robin Derrick, working with clients like Nicholas Kirkwood, Ferragamo, Peter Pilotto and Lʼoreal amongst others. Priya then moved from Spring Studios to Vice Media where she worked across the Vice and i-D brands. Her proudest achievement as the GM of Virtue (the creative agency by Vice) was partnering with CHANEL to create a platform celebrating female creativity- The Fifth Sense. A yearlong platform containing daily editorial, film, print and events working with talent like Es Devlin and Harley Weir.
Priya then briefly moved to British Vogue before taking the GM role at Dazed working closely with Susanne Waddell and Jefferson Hack to set the strategy for 2019 and beyond which promises to be at the cutting edge of innovation and creativity. In Priyaʼs spare time she mentors young talent in the creative industries and is on the board of Creative Equals, Pitch, Media for All and Gal Dem.
Marco Bertozzi, EMEA VP, Spotify
Marco Bertozzi joined Spotify in January 2017 as VP of Sales, Europe where he oversees all European ad revenue, brand partnerships and reseller markets. Beginning his career as a TV buyer at Zenith Optimedia, Marco quickly rose up the ranks to Head of Digital. Since then he has held various senior leadership roles at Vivaki and Starcom, specialising in programmatic strategy, ‘Audience On Demand’, addressable media and performance marketing.
A regular contributor to industry press and publications, Marco consistently contributes to the media industry through events, conferences, judging and commentary. Co-founder of AdLondoncCalling, supporting WACL, NABS and Creative Equals, as well as being an advisory board member of DIMA and London Adtech, means he can get behind the most important issues in the industry that he deeply about. Marco also enjoys mentoring at UCL University and being part of the Speakers4schools project which entails presenting on the industry to 16-17 year olds in schools all over the UK.
Luke Mackay, Senior Director, International Communications, Activision Blizzard
Alongside Corporate and Internal comms leadership, in his current role Luke oversees consumer communication campaigning for Activision’s beloved video game franchises: Call of Duty, Crash Bandicoot, Skylanders, Guitar Hero.
Currently busy preparing for the global release of Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare on October 25.
Perveen Akhtar, Senior PR Manager Europe, Dolby
Perveen is a comms professional with over 20 years of experience across agency and inhouse. Currently head of comms for Dolby, Europe. Perveen previously ran comms for Intel in the UK and has also had roles at Cisco and BT. Having started her career as a journalist on local papers in Manchester, prior to her current role, Perveen enjoyed a stint as a freelance reporter on the technology desk of the BBC providing her with an interesting insight into the modern day news gathering process and also further strengthening her relationships with a key media outlet.
Daniel Cheetham, CEO of Happy Finish
Daniel Cheetham is Chief Executive Officer at Happy Finish Group. Before taking the Chief Exec position he built the Interactive Division at Happy Finish to become one of the world leaders in the creation of Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed reality (MR) and Virtual Reality (VR) experiences. Daniel has worked in interactive media for 14+ years working with a diverse array of brand clients such as Lexus, VW, Universal Music, Channel 4, Rolex, Asda, Lamborghini to name a few.
Passionate about leveraging technology to tell cutting edge creative stories and bring real value to end users, he leads Happy Finish’ ongoing efforts to be the very best content creators on the newest mediums of communication. As at home talking tech as creative Daniel pushes Happy Finish to never settle for second best.
Ben Ryan, Founder and CEO of Ambionics
Very few of us can imagine our emotions, let alone think about the practical challenges ahead, if our 10-day-old baby had to have an arm amputated. This is the tragedy that happened to Sol Ryan. Yet not even a fortnight into his first-born son’s life, Sol’s father and former psychology teacher, Ben Ryan, determined that no obstacle would stand in the way of his child living a full and active life. More, he had a vision that many other children would benefit from the best innovations that science and technology could achieve.
Ben set out on the road to becoming a self-taught design engineer. He made Job One the development of an idea for replacement limbs, prosthetics, that was inspired by nature. Spiders use fluid pressure to make their limbs move. Ben believed the same principles could be applied to the movement of prosthetics for human beings. And in 2016 he set up a company called Ambionics with a clear goal: to turn his ideas into working reality.
Ambionics has since gone from strength to strength. Using knowledge from his own training as a neuro-psychology lecturer, and collaborating with engineers, bio-technologists and specialist designers, Ben has led Ambionics to develop major advances in prosthetics technology.
Charlie Martin, Professional Racing Car Driver
Charlie Martin represents a paradigm shift in motorsport that has never been seen before, as a transgender woman she is championing positive visibility & awareness for the LGBTQ+ community in a male dominated sport.
Her fearlessness both in and out of the car makes Charlie one of the most eye catching and engaging drivers competing in international motor racing today. Her tenacity & self-belief have helped her to overcome the impossible and push for change when the odds were stacked against her, she is aiming to make history as the first trans driver to compete in the 24hrs of Le Mans, the World’s oldest & greatest endurance race.
Jon Holmes, Home Page Editor, Sky Sports Digital
Jon is Senior Home Page Editor at Sky Sports Digital, and the founder and lead of network and advocacy group Sports Media LGBT+. The group raises awareness on LGBT+ inclusion in both the sports media industry and in sport in general, from grassroots to elite level, and aims to encourage more responsible reporting and coverage for the benefit of all LGBT+ people.
Jon also co-ordinates and contributes content in support of Stonewall’s award-winning Rainbow Laces campaign for Sky Sports, which is a member of the TeamPride coalition of businesses and organisations.
Naomi Polonsky, Art critic and Journalist
Naomi Polonsky is a curator and art writer, with a particular interest in the place of women artists within art history. She has worked at Tate Modern, Kettle’s Yard and New Hall Art Collection, Cambridge. She has written for publications including The Guardian, the Times Literary Supplement and Hyperallergic.
Anastasia Beltyukova, artist
Tribambuka (aka Anastasia Beltyukova) is an illustrator and award-winning animator and director from St. Petersburg, Russia. She lives and works in East London. Her influences include artists of the Soviet avant-garde, early Cubism and the pop culture of the 60’s. She uses hand-drawn elements and textures mixed with printmaking techniques which she then assembles digitally.
Doors of Opportunity Inspiration – “Doris Lessing was a very complex character. She was a fighter, visionary, prophet, feminist icon, freedom-seeker, nomad and Nobel Prize winner. I wanted to show her as a strong, intelligent woman carrying a lot of luggage through her life – history, knowledge, ideas, relationships – almost too much of it. I wanted the viewer to feel the weight of it. She sits in her favourite armchair surrounded by piles of books and her cat who represents her innate ambiguity and the shadow side of her psyche.”
Laxmi Hussain, artist
Laxmi Hussain developed a keen interest in art from the age of five, drawing away on the counter-top of her father’s corner shop. Exploring and celebrating women through figurative works and portraiture, Laxmi is able to share her love of the colour blue.
Doors of Opportunity inspiration – “I read Jane Eyre as a teenager and felt a connection to Jane’s emotions as a young woman; the feelings you cannot explain, the situations which feel beyond your control but also the tenacity to keep pushing forward to achieve what you desire. It was exciting to create a drawing featuring all three Brontë sisters. My work celebrates women and the notion that through sisterhood we can achieve many things. I have captured them as I imagine they would look, taking inspiration from previous portraits, in particular the painting by their brother Branwell, in which they stare at the viewer with real confidence. I hope that my representation of them is empowering and prompts the viewer to want to know more about their work.”
Karimah Hassan, artist
Karimah Hassan is a painter and mural artist based in London. Karimah paints subjects from underground dance, music and spoken word communities; taking their stories from the canvas to the street. Known for an expressive, bold aesthetic, Karimah’s work highlights cultural identity and the role of communities in the city. Karimah has exhibited internationally, in New York, Kyoto, Toronto and Seoul.
Doors of Opportunity Inspiration – “For Doors of Opportunity I have captured Hemingway at his desk writing. Caught in the moment, I imagine the bright lights of Havana engulfing the author as he slips into another world. When I paint I want to appeal to the viewers’ gut instinct before their brain. For me Ernest Hemingway is an author I read to remind myself of life’s simple, beautiful lessons. Hemingway’s stories are loaded with the magic and wisdom from a life well lived. Hence, in this commission, it was important for me to create a feeling of wonder.”
Louise Troen, VP Marketing & Communications, Bumble
Louise Troen is the Vice President of International Marketing and Communications at Bumble – overseeing brand marketing, communications and strategic growth development of the brand outside the US. Louise spearheads International expansion into new markets, whilst overseeing teams in EMEA and APAC regions. Prior to launching Bumble in the UK in 2015, Louise worked in Los Angeles where she led brand development for a number of music artists before moving on to work in brand marketing for an agency representing tech giants Samsung and Google. Following this, she worked at Exposure Communications in London as an Associate Director where she spearheaded strategic comms for fashion brands; including Uniqlo and Converse. Bumble now has a community of 70 million users and offers a meaningful and safe platform to connect within love, friendship and business. It was founded in 2014 and has speculatively been valued at over $1 billion.
Sarah Beattie, VP PR, Comms & New Markets, DAZN
Sarah is the VP Marketing, Expansion at DAZN and is responsible for identifying opportunities to build the company’s brand and reputation with new audiences. Since joining the company in 2016, she has helped drive DAZN’s global teams to deliver a best-in-class market entry programme, built a star-quality ambassador programme and contributed to the fundamental growth of the business working with media, social platforms, commercial partners and rights holders. Since its inception in 2016, DAZN has grown into nine markets in under four years, acquiring the rights to over 25,000 live sports events in the process. Prior to joining DAZN, she held senior leadership roles at Three, Good Energy, Ford Motor Company and Jaguar Land Rover.
Mark Carroll, Senior Creative Strategist, Snapchat
Mark has over a decade of experience working across digital and social strategies for brands, now at Snapchat London on their Creative Strategy team, helping a broad range of clients and agencies unlock the creative power of Snapchat, engaging their unique audience through mobile video and the camera.