Andy Hobsbawm, Founder, Green Thing

Andy established the first international Internet agency in 1994 and was a founding director of leading British new media company Online Magic that merged with Agency.com in 1997. As European Chairman of Agency.com, Andy still helps guide and is a spokesperson for the firm with his unique insight into the continual evolution of the interactive medium. He also advises Omnicom companies on digital strategies.

Andy co-founded Green Thing with one of the UK’s most respected creative directors, Naresh Ramchandani. Dothegreenthing.com is a not-for-profit public service that inspires people to lead a greener life. People from 200 countries have tuned into Green Thing over 3.6 million times saving over 10,000 tonnes of reported CO2 (we suspect savings are many times that).

A pioneer of the UK internet industry, Andy still remember the buzz of watching users from around the world interact with his earliest Web site, the world’s first commercial eZine PowerPC News, following the release of Mosaic in 1993. Andy was recognised by industry professionals as one of most influential 100 individuals who have most contributed to the development and growth of the Internet in the UK over the last decade and also received a Special Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005. In Campaign Magazine he has been voted New Media Innovator of the Year and named by industry peers as one of the most admired digital pioneers.

Andy was born and raised in London, and educated in London and Montreal. He lives in Highgate with his wife, two children and Gibson 330 ES, and has yet to receive any royalties from obscure pop songs released by a minor independent record label in Europe.

James Alexander, CEO, Green Thing

James is a highly innovative and practical business creator, builder and strategist.

James is currently a Trustee and CEO of Green Thing (www.dothegreenthing.com). Green Thing is a public service that inspires people to lead a greener life. Since launch in October 2007, people in 201 countries have tuned into their content over 4 million times and saved over 11,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide – and all without a penny spent on marketing.

James is also a co-Founder and Board Director of Zopa (www.zopa.com), dubbed “e-Bay for money”, the multi-award winning marketplace where people meet to lend and borrow money.

James is also currently an Associate to The Foundation, an Advisor to MyBnk.com,Walkit.com, Mojo.com, LeapAnywhere.com, Kubera Money and a Patron to MartinFirrell. Prior to Zopa, James was Strategy Director at Egg and before that consultant with LEK Consulting.

James holds an MBA from INSEAD and a 1st class honours degree from University College, London. He loves spending time with his family and bird watching – and in 1990, during an expedition to Africa, helped re-discover 3 species of bird that had been considered extinct.

Julian Sambles, Head of Audience Development, Telegraph Media Group

Julian is a SEO and online marketing specialist, currently heading up the Audience Development department that was set up in July 2007 as part of a streamlining of online activity within the Telegraph Media Group (TMG).  The department allows TMG to maximise opportunities within the new media landscape, focusing on increasing the visibility and distribution of the rich editorial content of www.telegraph.co.uk to its audience.  Julian has been responsible for the sustainable growth of the audience from a static 7m UU/month in July to 27m UU/month in March.

He was previously Head of Online operations, working alongside the Editorial, Commercial and Technical directors to embed digital activity at the heart of TMG’s business model.

Prior to joining the Telegraph Media Group he has worked for a range of online companies including being a section Managing Director for Rightmove.co.uk where he set up a new division of the company (Valuation Services) focusing on creating extra revenue streams from the depth of property data available to Rightmove.

Renowned for making things happen, Julian is key to successfully driving businesses forward in the Digital age.  He lives in Haslemere, has skied for Great Britain and still enjoys annual trips to the Alps with his wife and three children.

Nicola Staines, Head of Online Channel Insight, O2 (Telefonica)

Nicola has over 10 years of experience in online, from project management to marketing (SEO, SEM, CRM, PPC) to consultancy and strategy. She has experience from both agency and client side, and has worked on UK, EMEA and global projects and implementations. This breadth of experience and skills meet business as well as customer objectives whilst always ensuring best customer experience.

Nicola joined O2 in 2006 and is currently Head of Online Channel Insight. Previous roles include Online Marketing Manager at Disney, e-Business Director at Vanguard Rental UK, and in Online Marketing Communications at Microsoft.

Markus Schilling, Head of E-Business, Neckermann.de

As head of the E-Business Solutions department, Markus is responsible for the conceptual design of e-Business activities and the User Experience Management at neckermann.de.

In this context his intention is to create an online shopping experience focused on user-friendly processes and innovative applications to drive value for the customer, boost conversion rates and maximize ROI.

Prior to his current position Markus led the eCRM-Systems-Team and was accountable for all eCRM, M- and T-Commerce activities. Furthermore he established an individual shopping experience to derive the most suitable offer for every online-shopper.

Markus is an expert in onsite search engines and played a key role in a front-end redesign project which was awarded 'Best Online Shop in Germany' in 2004 by the Federal Association of German Mail Order Traders who particularly emphasized the onsite search process.

Markus began his career at Neckermann.de GmbH in 2002 and has a degree in Business Administration. In addition he studied at the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia to broaden his extensive e-commerce know-how.

Jonathan Williams, e-Marketing Director, Trader Media Group

Jonathan is e-Marketing Director for Trader Media Group, responsible for the Group’s digital marketing strategy for its UK and international websites. He has over 10 years experience in digital marketing across mobile, DTV and online.

Jonathan joined Auto Trader as Marketing Manager in 2001 and was made responsible for all digital marketing in his role as Head of Marketing for Trader Media Group two years later. As such, he’s responsible for: AutoTrader.co.uk, the UK’s no. 1 motoring website and its sister titles including Bike Trader and Truck Trader; Vebra, the UK’s no. 1 provider of estate agency software, and its property portal Thinkproperty.com; and Trader Media Group’s automotive dealer services companies including 2nd Byte, Contact Advantage and Trader Data Systems.

Previously, Jonathan worked for Fish4 as Head of Strategic Alliances, heading up online partners across Mobile, DTV and web. Prior to this, Jonathan was based at YAC (Your Always Connected), specialising in unified messaging. In his early career Jonathan held a number consultancy roles at traditional agencies, managing the growth of the digital client base.

Kerry Bridge, Digital Media Communications Lead, Dell EMEA

Kerry Bridge is part of Dell’s Global Corporate Communications team, reporting into the Global Communications Director for Dell’s Public Sector business unit.

Her main area of responsibility is for leading Dell’s approach to digital media communication worldwide for Dell’s Public Sector Business.  She is also part of the broader Dell Conversations and Communities team, a global team that drives Dells outreach to customers and key stakeholders on the companies blogs, wikis and forums, listening and learning as well as proactively reaching out on the web to be part of the conversation. 

Kerry has been with the company for nine years. Prior to her current role, she has held various communications related positions at Dell including digital media communications, environmental communications and internal communications for EMEA.

Lawrence Merritt, Commercial Director, Photobox

Lawrence spent over eight years at ZDNET and Ziff-Davis, rising to Advertisement Director, before entering the digital marketing field more full time as Online Marketing Manager at Expedia.co.uk where he was employee number 8 in the EU; he remained here for nearly four action packed years. After a brief stint as European Business Development Director for Atlas DMT (now part of Microsoft) where he launched the  first ‘Atlas’ powered Advertising network in the UK, Lawrence spent the next four years at Yahoo!, initially as the in-house SEM lead, rising to become European Director, Central Marketing. 

In 2007, Lawrence moved to take up his current position as Commercial Director at online digital photo printing service Photobox where he is responsible for sales and marketing. Over the last two years Photobox has grown rapidly to become the clear market leader in the UK with over 40% category reach.

Lawrence is married with 4 children, lives in London and is a big Arsenal fan.

Katie Smith, Head of Digital Media, Macmillan

Katie Smith is Macmillan’s Head of Digital Media and is responsible for cross organisational digital strategy reaching across from fundraising to service development. Macmillan’s online services now reach approximately 8 million users every year, including through its online communities which are populated by nearly 30,000 members. Macmillan relaunched its website this September following a merger with cancer information charity Cancerbackup. This was a major integration project which included the merging of two existing online communities.

Prior to working at Macmillan, Katie was at 10 Downing Street where she led the project to develop the phenomenally successful ePetitions system, working with MySociety.

Guy Stephens, Customer Knowledge Manager, Carphone Warehouse

Guy is the Customer Knowledge Manager at Carphone Warehouse, where he has been since September 2008. He is part of the team responsible for delivering help self-service via carphonewarehouse.com. He is also trying to understand how social media can enhance the online help and support/customer service experience through the use of Twitter (@guyatcarphone, @cpwhelp), blogs, LinkedIn group, Facebook, YouTube videos and podcasts.  

Prior to Carphone Warehouse, he was the Global Online Marketing Manager for Mars Drinks, the largely B2B division of the global Mars FMCG business. Guy has worked in the online environment for over ten years, building up experience in online marketing, eCRM, SEO, ecommerce, email marketing, project management and social media. He is a strategic thinker who is passionate about championing the cause of the customer and how their needs can be met in an increasingly fragmented and multichannel environment. Follow Guys's blog at beingguy1067.wordpress.com.

Craig Sullivan, Group eBusiness Customer Experience Manager, Belron® International

Craig is a User Experience champion with a wealth of experience gained working with high street retailers and leading brands.

Craig has been Group eBusiness Customer Experience Manager at Belron® (Autoglass etc.) since April, where he continues to make consumer facing improvements and fosters an appreciation of the importance of the user experience to the success of the business.
Previously Craig was with Lovefilm for 4 years as Product Manager - Digital and Usability, prior to which he spent 6 years as Usability and E-Commerce consultant for John Lewis.

His skills base includes UX, Usability testing, User Centred Design, online marketing, customer insight, web analytics and multi-variate testing.

Charlotte Robertson, Vice President - Global & Digital Marketing, EMI Music

Charlotte recently joined EMI as vice president of consumer reach, and is driving the development of new ways for EMI to reach and build relationships with music fans. Working across traditional and digital channels, Charlotte is building capabilities which will allow EMI to monetize and deliver value in every part of the music experience.

Charlotte was previously with BSkyB where she was head of Marketing – Online Business.

Louise Mullock, Head of Online Sales and Marketing, BSkyB / Sky.com

Louise joined BSkyB as Head of Online Sales & Marketing in 2008. Fascinated by consumer behaviour, she sees her job as being about managing quality traffic, ensuring conversions and positioning products correctly. Louise emphasizes the importance of an integrated approach across different marketing functions.

Louise was a management consultant with Accenture Consulting before joining Carphone Warehouse where she was Head of Online Marketing.