We are delighted that the following speakers will be sharing their insight & expertise at the upcoming Think!Sponsorship conference 'Measuring Up' on the 9th May 2013:

Marc Audrit
Vice President,
Global Brand (Western Union)
Brand choreographer, meaning maker and fulltime doer with a truly global perspective. Strong strategic and marketing acumen but not the ego or need to prove it. Highly creative and imaginative while grounded in business realities. Capable of breaking down complex problems in a simplified and innovative way. Great ability to drive consensus in cross regional and cross-functional teams. Exceptional experience in managing a breadth of marketing agency partners. Comfortable in uncomfortable (fast-paced, ever-changing high-energy, layered) environments.

Alyssa Bonic
Head of Arts Sponsorship
BSKYB
Alyssa Bonic is currently Arts Manager at Sky as part of The Bigger Picture team (sky.com/thebiggerpicture) responsible for developing and managing Sky’s arts investment strategy on the ground including Sky Arts Ignition and Sky Arts Futures Fund as well as partnerships with several leading literature festivals such as the Hay Festival and the Cheltenham Literature Festival. Prior to this she managed the marketing and press for Sky Arts’ two television channels Sky Arts 1 and Sky Arts 2 seeing it through several re-launches to reach growing audiences of millions of viewers a month. She was an assistant producer in children’s film and television before completing a Masters in audiovisual management at the Media Business School offered by the Media Plus Programme of the European Union which then led her to take up her role at Sky.


Kishi Dickinson,
Client Marketing and Sponsorship Specialist,
Accenture UK
I have worked in the Marketing and Communications industry for over 13 years both in-house and agency side. In my current role I work on Accenture’s sponsorship portfolio of cultural and sporting relationships. This includes the management of our partnership with the Science Museum, London and Northern Ballet and collaboration on our Technology partnership with the RBS 6 Nations.
My key areas of expertise are relationship management and exploitation of corporate sponsorships to build and enhance brand profile, strengthen client relationships and raise employee engagement.

Jeremy Edwards,
Founder & Content Director
Activative Ltd
Jeremy is a founder of sponsorship activation intelligence provider Activative. The company helps its clients stay at the forefront of this evolving landscape with consultancy, monitoring and publishing services that offer insights into emerging strategies and tactics, contemporary trends and innovations, creative inspiration and idea generation and competitor/sector/platform analysis. Activative works with rights owners, brands, agencies and professional service providers across the sponsorship/partnership/brand alliance community - from sports, music, arts and culture, to education, ecology and CSR. Jeremy focuses on the consultancy and content side of the business and on steering strategic development. Before founding Activative, Jeremy was the director of consultancy at media intelligence provider Xtreme Information (now Ebiquity) and he has also worked for media consultancy Human Capital. Previously he worked as a journalist in the media, financial, legal and political arenas. He holds Masters degrees in Journalism (from Northwestern University, Chicago) and in Philosophy (from Emmanuel College, Cambridge University).


Lindsey Ford,
Brand Communications,
AlixPartners
Lindsey Ford is a marketing, communications, social media and thought leadership specialist. In her current role at AlixPartners she delivers hands-on marketing – creative events programmes, writing intellectual capital, PR, social media and liaising with external communications agencies.
Lindsey also drives AlixPartners innovative programme to support creative businesses working with Central Saint Martins and the V&A Museum amongst others. Prior to joining AlixPartners Lindsey was a Marketing Manager for PwC. Here she led marketing and communications for the Beyond Sport awards programme, PwC’s Centre for Social Impact and developed the Forward Thinking thought leadership programme on challenges facing the public sector and social enterprise.


Mark Gannon
Executive Director
Business Development
British Gymnastics
Mark Gannon is responsible for commercial activity and income generation for British Gymnastics plus the development of gymnastics in England and the Home Countries.
Mark was Head of Communications and Marketing for sports coach UK and has also worked for the Youth Sport Trust. Previous to this he was an Education Advisor and a Physical Education and Mathematics teacher, after initially starting his career in Finance and Commerce.
Mark has gained extensive experience in physical education and sports and prides himself on being able to enthuse and motivate young people through sport. He has coached in many sports but mainly rugby and gymnastics.


Richard Gillis
Unofficial Partner
@RichardGillis1
Richard Gillis is an award-winning journalist and commentator on the business of sport. His work appears in several prestigious international publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The Independent, The Irish Times and many leading consumer and business magazines. His series ‘21st Century Sport’ in The Observer was nominated for a Foreign Press Association Award and was highly commended at the Sports Journalist of the Year Awards.
Formerly editor of SportBusiness International magazine, the market leading trade journal, Richard now writes the Unofficial Partner blog, a must read for sports executives and the marketing industry.
He is a popular figure on the international sports business and technology conference circuit and is regularly invited to comment on sports marketing and media issues. He serves on the advisory board for the Future Sponsorship, Think Sponsorship and International Event Management conferences and is a judge of the prestigious Sport Industry Awards, the ‘Oscars of the sports world’.
Richard combines journalism with media, content and communications strategic consultancy.

Dom Hodge
Director of Planning
FRUKT
Dom joined FRUKT in 2005 as a strategist, coming from Sony Electronics where he helped build download stores and launch a variety of entertainment products and services. As Managing Partner of the London office Dom oversees the planning and creative disciplines in the agency. His team produce Smart Ideas and detailed entertainment strategies for some of the world's bravest brands. From market analysis and consumer insight through to proposition development and platform creation, they make sure that all FRUKT's work helps solve a business challenge and excites consumers.

Patrick Hourihan
Head of Research,
Yahoo!
Patrick has been working in digital media and consumer research for more than 12 years. He joined Yahoo! in October 2009, where he is currently Head of Research, Northern Europe, and is responsible for Yahoo!s Thought Leadership research programme (including the award winning Shortcast, and Subconscious Storytelling research). He is a regular speaker at international conferences on the digital consumer’s mindset and its impact on media behaviours. Prior to working at Yahoo!, Patrick worked for BBC Future Media and Technology, where he led the research programme for BBC Online and their audience syndication strategy. He joined the BBC from Essential Research, where he worked with the likes of Sky, Microsoft and Ofcom; during his time here, the agency won Best New Agency at the MRS Awards. Prior to this Patrick worked for 4 years in a variety of TV, radio and digital research teams at the BBC.


Mark Hunter MBE,
Double Olympic Medallist & GB Athlete,
London 2012 Games
Mark Hunter is a double Olympic medallist, winning a gold medal in Beijing and a silver in London.
Mark’s rowing career started at the age of 14 at the Poplar Blackwall & District Rowing Club where, having been introduced to the sport by his father, his dream of representing his country was born and his desire to achieve Olympic glory stirred.
He quickly progressed through the GB rowing ranks, representing his country in the World Junior Championships in 1995 and 1996 before going on to achieve success at the U23 World Rowing Championships from 1997 to 2000.
In 2001 Mark made the important decision to change class and race as a lightweight, and he has never looked back.
Success in the men’s four in 2004 during the World Cup series was followed by being appointed captain of the prestigious Leander Club in 2005 and a win in the double scull in 2006 World Cup. Then, in 2008, a year in which he and Zac Purchase were the only unbeaten crew in world rowing, he confirmed his status as one of the leading rowers in his class by winning an Olympic gold medal in emphatic style.
Following his triumph in China, Mark took a year away from competitive rowing and spent time coaching at UCLA. Watching his athletes compete reminded Mark why he loved training and competing so much, and he returned to the UK with his eyes firmly on winning back his place in the boat.
In 2010 and 2011, confirming that they were back at the top of their game, Mark and Zac won consecutive World Championships in impressive style.
Mark and Zac's final race in London 2012 was one of the most gripping of the Olympic regatta and, whilst the Gold medal eluded them by a heartbreakingly close margin, their post-race interview captured the hearts of the nation and they have been held up as examples of the Olympic spirit.
An East London local and lifelong West Ham fan, Mark is a Freeman of the River Thames and has a regular column in London’s Evening Standard. He was supported by British Airways, BMW, Capita Symonds and Anglian Windows on his journey to London 2012.


Donna Krawczyk,
Senior Experiential Marketing & Partnerships Manager,
Barclaycard
Donna moved across into the Sponsorship team within Barclaycard from her previous role in Insights. Her knowledge in that area enabled her to play a lead role in determining Barclaycard’s global sponsorship strategy and she has not looked back since. Donna has managed the implementation and launch of Barclaycard Unwind, the customer benefit programme delivering value, access and experiences to all customers. Unwind houses assets from all of Barclaycard’s partnerships and through embedding The Ticket Factory into the site and Barclaycard’s payment technology into the journey has enabled them to recently launch their Fee Free Friday proposition where all admin charges on ticket purchases are waived for customers.
Donna has also been instrumental in embedding Barclaycard in the Festival space and changing the way we pay at outdoor events. Barclaycard’s previous sponsorship of the Wireless Festival enabled the delivery of the first fully contactless festival in the UK and helped shape the award winning Barclaycard Payband where access and payments can be managed through a wristband on-site, cutting down on queues and making customers lives easier allowing them to enjoy more of the festival itself. This technology will again be utilised at Barclaycard presents British Summer Time, their new partnership in Hyde Park and most recently was seen on the Austrian ski slopes as part of the Barclaycard Arctic Disco at Snowbombing last month.


Alastair Macdonald
Head of Research & Insight,
Phar Partnerships
Alastair joined Phar Partnerships in January 2013, to set up a new division specialising in sponsorship research and strategy, following five years as Head of Sponsorship Insights at Havas Sports & Entertainment. Previously Alastair ran his own agency for nine years, Connexus, which he sold to Havas in 2008. With 14 years’ experience, Alastair is one of the sponsorship industry’s leading experts in analysing the value and effectiveness of sponsorships, and developing a more strategic approach to sponsorship selection and rights. Since 1999 Alastair has worked for a wide range of blue-chip sponsors and rights holders including: Aintree Grand National; AXA; British Airways; Chelsea FC; Lawn Tennis Association; Lucozade; Manchester City FC; Mercedes Grand Prix; Nokia; O2; Ryder Cup; The Football Association; The Premier League; Volvo Ocean Race; Zurich.

Julian Mack,
Director,
Threshold Sports
With a first job (1999) persuading Premier League footballers to drink GSK’s Lucozade Sport on camera, Mack progressed to direct this cornerstone account for Lighthouse. In 2003 he moved to Australia to deliver British Airways’s Rugby World Cup sponsorship creating the idea to fly the trophy back in a BA plane entitled ‘Sweet Chariot’. In 2004 he moved client side to head up Sony Ericsson’s global sponsorship portfolio including the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. In 2008 he founded Threshold Sports with James Cracknell. Threshold consult to the likes of BP, Standard Life, Nokia and buildoutdoor events like www.rideacrissbritain.com that deliver well being, charity and client entertainment objectives to clients including Sport Relief, Cisco and Mitie.


Mike Mainwaring,
Director,
Generate Sponsorship
Mike has 14 years commercial and sponsorship experience and heads up the Consultancy and the PR & Activation divisions at generate.
The consultancy division works with both brands and rights holders, understanding their goals and objectives, and develop strategic recommendations that enable our clients to achieve their business and brand aims through sponsorship. The PR & activation division deliver inspired activations solutions, that are be-spoke to our client’s needs and are based on insight to ensure we are answering specific behavioural or attitudinal challenges.
Clients Mike has led on include: eBay, QBE, Speedo, New Balance, Friends Life, Maximuscle, UK Sport, Sport England, British Cycling, FEI, Worcester Warriors, Cancer Research, Central Saint Martins
Before life at generate Mike spent 18 months consulting for the likes of Barclays, Guinness and WRC, having previously spent 10 years at Carlsberg where he led their UK sponsorship programme, delivering against the company’s commercial strategy. Rights controlled included; The FA (England, The FA Cup & Wembley Stadium), UEFA Championships’, the UEFA Cup, premiership football and rugby clubs, international sportsmen and leading music bodies including; Live Nation, Glastonbury Festival and Festival Republic. Within his role Mike led strategic reviews, identifying opportunities and creating a bespoke CUK sponsorship effectiveness models. He also delivered award winning through the line marketing activations centred on Carlsberg’s sponsorship portfolio, which drove growth in brand metrics and product sales.

Daniel Mathieson,
Head of Experiential Marketing & Partnerships,
Barclaycard
Daniel started in the industry in 1996 where he joined Advantage International to work on the MasterCard account. His first project was World Cup 2008 where as well as supporting UK promotional activity he was part of the on-site team managing all stadium activity in Paris.
On his return he was tasked with managing MasterCard's sponsorship of the British Professional Golf Tour as well as moving into the athlete management area where he was helping to look after the careers of the stable of young football players. This role led to a brief spell in the football agency world with Key Sports Management, before he returned to the sports marketing arena with PRISM. There he looked after Ford's sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League including all of their pan-European activation activities, media promotions and high level hospitality programmes.
After five years at PRISM, he was tempted away to join Sportingbet to look after their pan-European sponsorship property, Euroleague Basketball, before his move to Barclaycard. In his current role Daniel was challenged with introducing sponsorship back into the Barclaycard's marketing plans and after a successful first two years which included the Title Sponsorship of the first ever World Freerunning Championships, Barclaycard have firmly established themselves in the music and entertainment space following the implementation of a global sponsorship strategy to deliver a customer benefit programme, environments to showcase their payment technology and innovations and finally to provide business hosting opportunities. Their partnerships now include Wembley Arena, The NIA, The Ticket Factory, The Barclaycard Mercury Prize and most recently British Summer Time in Hyde Park.

Nick Mott,
Sponsorship Manager,
QBE
Nick joined QBE in April 2010 from sponsorship agency Synergy, where he led Philips Consumer Electronics sponsorship of the Williams Formula One team. Over the last ten years Nick has worked on a number of top brands in the consumer electronics, automotive, FMCG and professional services sectors on a range of communications and marketing campaigns. For QBE, Nick is responsible for developing and implementing strategy for the company’s sponsorships with the RFU, QBE Internationals, Premiership Rugby, Chris Robshaw and Glasgow Warriors.


Andy Muggleton
Commercial Director and Founder,
Generate Sponsorship
Andy has 15 years of major sponsor and rights holder experience across football, rugby, motorsports, venues, film, music and environmental platforms and programmes. As Commercial Director he advises rights holders on commercial and sponsorship strategy and leads the sales division in delivering revenues for rights holder clients.


Chloë O'Connor,
Development Manager,
Dublin Theatre Festival
Chloë O'Connor is the Development Manager with Dublin Theatre Festival, Europe’s oldest English language theatre Festival. Chloë graduated from NUI Maynooth in 1997 with a B.A. Hons Degree in History & Classics and went on to work in IT for several years as a programmer. From 2004, she worked with her family business, T.S. O’Connor & Son Ltd., for over six years as head of Sales & Business Development. During this time she also set up her own business, Stronghold Packaging Distributors Ltd, specializing in reusable, environmentally friendly, packaging. This company featured in the book, That’ll Never Work, stories of twelve Irish entrepreneurs, published by KPMG in 2007. Very strong executive experience and training, combined with over six years experience in arts organisations means that she brings a fresh perspective to business development in the arts sector. She currently heads the Development department of Dublin Theatre Festival, responsible for Corporate Sponsorship including new business development and client management, Cultural Funding, Public Funding and the annual Gala Night.

Paul O’Kane,
Public Affairs Director,
Dublin Airport Authority
Paul O’Kane is Public Affairs Director with Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) which owns and operates Dublin and Cork Airports. He is responsible for all public relations and sponsorship activities at the company and also heads the Dublin Airport’s award-winning social media team. Paul has been with DAA for seven years and prior to his current role co-ordinated the public relations aspects of Dublin Airport’s €1.3bn capital development programme. Before joining DAA he spent 15 years as a national newspaper reporter, working for The Sunday Tribune and The Irish Times. He holds a MA (Hons) in Journalism from Dublin City University and a BA (Hons) in Modern History & Politics from Queen’s University Belfast.

Stephen Park
RYA Olympic Manager
British Sailing
Stephen Park is the RYA Olympic Manager for the British Olympic & Paralympic Sailing Teams. Born in Glasgow, he obtained a Diploma in Management Studies and a Masters degree in Recreational Management and joined the RYA Olympic Programme in 1997. Before becoming RYA Olympic Manager, Stephen experienced the Olympic Programme both as a sailor and as a Coach; campaigning for the 1992 and 1996 Olympics and coaching at the 2000 Olympics, where his sailors won a silver medal.Stephen led the British Olympic & Paralympic Sailing Teams to 5 medals at the 2004 Olympics and to 6 medals at the 2008 Olympics - the most successful Olympic Sailing Team performance in history. He received an OBE in the 2009 New Year’s Honours List.Stephen led the British Olympic & Paralympic Teams to a further 7 sailing medals at London 2012 (including the first ever Paralympic sailing medals) and he continues to manage the Teams towards Rio 2016

Philip Spedding,
Director,
Arts & Business
Philip has advised businesses ranging from American Express in New York to Deutsche Bank in London and Samsung in Seoul and he has helped arts organisations across the UK. He is on the management committee of the Charity Tax Group and has advised the Treasury, amongst others, on tax efficient giving.
After gaining a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of British Columbia, Canada, Philip returned to England to work in the arts. His fundraising experience includes work at the Almeida Theatre (focusing on Individual Giving, Galas and Foundations) and at the Young Vic Theatre (Lottery grants and community fundraising initiatives).
Philip joined Arts & Business initially as the Arts advisor in the London region. He has led Arts & Business’ activity on individual giving to the arts and its international connections. He has lectured on the development of arts and private sector partnerships both across the UK and internationally in countries as wide ranging as Albania, Russia, Germany, South Korea and Taiwan.


Richard Thompson,
Chairman,
M&CSaatchiMerlin
Richard Thompson is the Chairman of M&CSaatchiMerlin. His business interests include; Chairman of Surrey County Cricket Club & Chairman of Oval Events Ltd Chairman of Mama Group PLC (The UK’s largest independent Music & Live Venue & festivals business), Chairman of Debrett’s People of Today (publisher of the definitive book of people of influence and power in the UK). Richard has founded three start-up business; all of which have been successfully acquired or floated. Having won numerous awards inc Marketing agency of the year, Young Entrepreneur of the year. His business career has been defined by the ability to build brands though re-invention & re-positioning. These skills have been well deployed in building the careers of M&C SaatchiMerlin’s roster.


Ed Wooller,
Head of Consultancy,
Repucom
Ed runs the rapidly growing Consulting Division within Repucom. The group draw upon market research, media research and market intelligence to support brands in the planning and evaluation of their sponsorship investment. Ed’s team work with many of the biggest brands in the world to set KPIs and provide holistic and independent evaluation of the impact of sponsorship activity. Sponsorship evaluation tools include KPI scorecards as well as both media and sales based ROI. Evaluation frameworks are designed to capture both the value of exposure and the value of association inherent in sponsorship. Ed has been working in the sport & sponsorship industry since completing his MBA at London Business School in 2001. Previous roles at IMG and Mindshare have given him the opportunity to work with some of the world’s leading rights holders and sponsors.



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