| |

The Media Leader Club founding members revealed

The Media Leader Club founding members revealed

The Media Leader can announce the founding membership of its new The Media Leader Club.

Following its launch at The Year Ahead event earlier this year, The Media Leader invited 25 of the most prominent industry leaders to join the initiative to champion positive outcome in media. The founding members will help set the club’s initial targets for success.

They will be joined by around 100 more leaders, who can apply to join. More details on the application criteria, as well as full membership benefits, can be found here.

The 25 founding members are:

  • Deborah Armstrong — senior vice-president, Disney Advertising, EMEA; country manager, UK and Ireland, Disney
  • Nick Baughan — director of global agencies, Meta
  • Damien Bernet — vice-president, EMEA advertising, Netflix
  • Dominic Carter — executive vice-president, publisher, The Sun, News UK
  • Dan Clays — CEO, EMEA, Omnicom Media Group
  • Priya Dogra — chief advertising and new revenue officer, Sky
  • Caroline Foster Kenny — global chief client integration officer, VML
  • Imogen Fox — global chief advertising officer, Guardian News & Media
  • Mike Gordon — chief commercial officer, Global
  • Ajay Keerthy — head of marketing, retail and wealth, HSBC
  • Trevor Johnson — global head of commercial partnership solutions, TikTok
  • Anna Jones — CEO, Telegraph Media Group
  • Susan Kingston-Brown — global brand president, UM
  • Maria Koutsoudakis — chief brand officer, Vodafone
  • Josh Krichefski — CEO, UK and EMEA, GroupM
  • Annette Male — CEO, UK, Dentsu
  • Richard Morris — CEO, UK and EMEA, IPG Mediabrands
  • Simon Myciunka — CEO, Bauer Media Audio UK
  • Rak Patel — chief revenue officer, Channel 4
  • David Pullan — managing director, People’s Postcode Lottery
  • Ross Sergeant — global head of media, Allwyn
  • Karen Stacey — CEO, Digital Cinema Media
  • Sam Taylor — interim marketing director, Direct Line Insurance Group
  • Dom Williams — chief revenue officer, Mail Metro Media
  • Kelly Williams — managing director, commercial, ITV

 

Tackling industry challenges, effecting positive change and championing the best of media have always been the driving forces behind The Media Leader and its events — and these will be the focus of The Media Leader Club.

The club was inspired by The Media Leader debates at recent Future of Media conferences, where over 100 leaders discussed key challenges for The Media Leader to champion on their behalf.

Dedicated to creating an environment where industry leaders can come together to network and discuss key issues in private throughout the year, The Media Leader Club will champion the challenges raised from these gatherings to the wider industry, with a focus on steering positive change and outcomes.

Steven Scaffardi, managing director of Adwanted Events and The Media Leader, said: “I couldn’t be more excited to get started on this initiative and working with some of the most impressive minds in media today.

“We are creating an environment for leaders to share challenges, collaborate on solutions and help shape our own content direction in the coming year but, more importantly, with the view to having a positive outcome on driving success for the industry.

“I am incredibly grateful to this initial group of 25, who have all leaned in to try to make this initiative a success. I look forward to welcoming more media leaders to the club over the next two weeks.”

Potential members have until 28 February to apply. Find all the details here.

Koen Smeets, Global Strategy Director, ReMotive Media, on 22 Feb 2025
“So industry success is going to be delivered by the established largest media companies in the UK? No representation of the smaller challenger companies that are setting new agendas, driving the real change that is needed in the industry? If the Media Leader really believes that the big guys are going to change the industry, let me tell you that this is going to be a failure. The real change is going to come from those that are challenging the status quo. These big boys and girls will fight to keep the status quo and only adapt when really being pushed by the market.”

Media Jobs