INTELLIGENCE THAT TRANSFORMS YOUR BUSINESS

David is a digital media expert and entrepreneur, based in Luxembourg, where he moved in 2003 as AOL Europe’s Vice President of Content & Programming. In that role, he created and led a multinational team working across the company’s UK, France and Germany divisions. He later co-founded with filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, and led as CEO, a venture-backed film startup before consulting internationally for clients including Time, Inc, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), Forbes, RTL Group, Fremantle Media, Bank of America and Ford Motor Co, among others.

In 2000, David founded and led an international digital content consultancy in Palo Alto, California, advising companies making the transition from traditional to digital media. Prior to entering digital media, David was a Pulitzer and George Polk prizewinning journalist and foreign correspondent in the U.S., Latin America, Europe and the Middle East, lastly as Newsweek South America Bureau Chief based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. A graduate of Georgetown University, he was a John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford University.

Gerry is a business leader and entrepreneur with 20 years experience creating and driving innovative enterprises to profitability from inception through maturation. Currently, he is an active angel investor, advisor and coach to more than 15 startups, and a frequent speaker on innovation and entrepreneurship at universities and industry events.

Before leading Collecta, a startup that developed unique, real-time search technology, he was President/Global Head of Search and Content Technologies at Reuters, responsible for the company’s search, news and historical content. He came to Reuters from AOL, where he was Senior Vice President leading the company’s $500-million-a-year search and directional media division, after earlier positions at AltaVista/Shopping.com, Compaq and CompuServe.

Gerry earned his Bachelor’s and MBA degrees at Ohio State University.

Pierre-Yves has been implementing innovative marketing technologies and programs for new media companies since 1996, when he began his career at France Television before turning to radio, managing the survey department of RTL France and later creating marketing programs for the sales divisions of RTL, RTL2 and Fun Radio in Paris. He then moved into strategic development for new media integration, leading digital radio strategy for RTL Group at its European headquarters in Luxembourg. In 2008, he joined Luxembourg-based startup Jamendo, where he headed marketing and communications, and created a new business model based on the world’s largest Creative Commons music catalogue.

Pierre-Yves holds a Master’s in Business Administration from the Paris Business Institute and a Master’s in Media Management from the Sorbonne.

Simon is a journalist, editor and writer specializing in the financial sector for more than two decades. He has been an editor of daily news and special reports for Global Fund Media publications and web sites covering alternative funds, institutional asset management and wealth management. He was co-founder and partner of The Write Words, a provider of corporate communication and marketing services.

Simon has reported extensively on the fund industry, the broader financial services sector and international economic and business issues from London and Luxembourg. He was editor of publications including Luxembourg Business and International Money Marketing and has worked regularly for news organisations including Reuters and the Financial Times.

He was born in New Zealand and is a graduate of Selwyn College, Cambridge.

Andrew is a journalist and editor specialised in science and technology reporting.

He has been a writer, editor and project manager for major European newspapers and wire services, including El País and Agence France-Press, and has worked extensively with consultancies in the R&D sector covering public and privately-funded innovation initiatives globally.

Born in the UK and educated in Spain, Andrew has led multi-disciplinary teams in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, and is additionally gifted in organisational and technical areas, which has led to his current role at VitalBriefing.

Anna is a finance administrator with an editorial background. She has worked in both the finance industry and the communications sector. Anna joined Bain Capital Luxembourg in 2010, dealing extensively in the fields of private equity and entity administration, and where she advanced to navigate the Luxembourg finance landscape.

Prior to moving to Luxembourg, Anna held a variety of editorial and communication roles. From a small independent publishing house in France, via the internal communications department of the French multinational Groupe SEB, to a corporate writer for a Publicis agency, Anna coordinated teams of freelancers and worked with internal and external content providers.

Anna holds a Bachelors Degree in Psychology and French from the University of Sunderland.

Jean-Claude is one of Luxembourg’s most notable entrepreneurial success stories over a 35-year career spanning finance, media and telecommunications. The two mobile operators he created as startups – Tango and VOXmobile – have grown into major players in the local market.

After exiting VOXmobile, Jean-Claude set up Lakehouse S.A., a marketing and strategy consultancy that acquired Moskito Productions S.A., a Luxembourg leader in audiovisual communications. Jean-Claude lives in Luxembourg, where he has become a partner and director of MULLER & ASSOCIÉS S.A., a company specialized in management and business consulting.

David is a pioneer and internationally recognized innovator in the Customer Experience Movement, with a rich background in market research, experience design and customer culture development across retail, corporate and private banking. Currently, he is the founder and CEO of The Sufferfest, an Australia-based producer of cycling and other sports workout videos and clothing. Founded in 2009, The Sufferfest has become a beloved global online cycling brand with its eclectic mix of sports science, entertainment and a community of passionate Sufferlandrians.

He is the former Senior Vice President and Head of Customer Experience at OCBC Bank in Singapore. Previously, he was the Director of Customer Experience for Credit Suisse in Zurich, Switzerland, which he joined after acting as Customer Experience Officer for E-Invest, an online brokerage, and a Senior Consultant with Accenture’s Strategic Services division in London, New York and Atlanta.

Cecilia is a Colombian-Luxembourgish journalist whose career has crossed virtually very media platform: digital, print, television and radio. She has worked as a senior editor, journalist, blogger and columnist for newspapers and magazines in multiple languages and formats.

Cecilia has led various publications in her native Colombia, as well as in Argentina and California, where she was the editor of Stanford University’s magazine. Currently, she is a blogger at Forbes.com and an op-ed columnist in El Tiempo, Colombia’s main newspaper.

Previously, she was a columnist in Newsweek Magazine, and her work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Times Magazine, Chicago Tribune, Toronto Globe & Mail and Mother Jones magazine. In Colombia, where she won that country’s equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize, she was a commentator on national TV and a professor at Javeriana University.

She holds a B.A. in Journalism from Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano in Bogotá.

David has long been a distinguished journalist and business leader, with a focus on media. He is the founder and Managing Director of Tripod Advisors, a Hong Kong-based consultancy that advises on political risk analysis, strategy and on running complex, dispersed global organizations with an emphasis on China and the media sector. He is the Chairman of Poseidon Research, a leading provider of reputational due diligence investigations.

He was formerly Chairman of Thomson Reuters China, responsible for government relations and businesses in financial markets, legal and regulatory databases, scientific information and journalism. He was appointed to that role after serving as the global Editor-in-Chief of Reuters News, running all aspects of the 3,000-journalist strong international news service.

A graduate of Oberlin College and Harvard University, Schlesinger joined Reuters Hong Kong bureau in 1987 as a correspondent. From 1989 to 1995, he ran editorial operations in Taiwan, China and the Greater China region. He then transferred to New York to serve in turn as Financial Editor, Managing Editor for the Americas and Executive Vice President and Editor of the Americas before taking on global roles based in London starting from 2004.

Michael has founded or co-founded 10 companies, including DigitalCity.com, since he created one of the world’s first electronic ads at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 1985. He has held senior management roles at AMR Information Services, AOL, Ancestry.com and Examiner.com, where he was founding President & CEO.

He is a board member and former Publisher of TexasTribune.org, a non-partisan, non-profit media site, Chairman of the Board of web startup Umbel.com, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Kinsey Institute, and board member and advisor to the Craigslist Foundation.

Currently, he is the William M. Dickey Enterpreneur in Residence at Texas Christian University. He is an author and frequent speaker on digital, cultural and media issues. He holds a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame, an M.A. in Journalism from the University of Missouri and an MBA from Texas Christian University.

A former editor and foreign correspondent, Mark has served for two decades as founder and chief executive officer of Uhlig LLC, an advanced-technology company that is a leader in multichannel, reader-specific publishing. A native of Wichita, Kansas, Mark graduated from Princeton University, where he received undergraduate and graduate degrees from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and received a law degree with honors from Harvard Law School. Prior to Uhlig LLC, Mark served as an editor of Foreign Affairs magazine, then went to The New York Times, where he covered New York city and state politics, and served as chief of the Times’ bureaus in Mexico City and Managua, Nicaragua.

Richard is a lawyer in Palo Alto, California, where through counseling, litigation, arbitration and mediation, he has specialized in business disputes focused on technology and intellectual property, and as such has acted as lead counsel in numerous jury and bench trials, arbitrations and appeals, most recently as a partner at DLA Piper, a global law firm.

He has been named a Northern California Super Lawyer for a joint research project by San Francisco and Law & Politics magazines. He also serves as a Judge Pro Tempore in the Santa Clara County Superior Court, a panelist of the Practicing Law Institute, and has been named to various boards of directors of arts, children’s and family planning organizations. He is a graduate of Stanford University and Duke University Law School.