At Econsultancy we believe that to truly deliver transformational growth, you must have unquestionable expertise behind you.
In 1999, Econsultancy launched as a forum for industry pioneers to ask questions, share ideas and connect with each other.
Founded by Ashley Friedlein, the business produced its first independent research reports in 2001, with the first, ‘Content That Works’, setting Econsultancy’s tone for a practical focus on best practice.
Since our inception two decades ago, we’ve been at the centre of the digital marketing and ecommerce community, bringing fresh perspectives, deep insights and the kind of expertise that only comes from living and breathing our subject matter.
We define what digital marketing and ecommerce practitioners need to know to be effective in a rapidly changing environment. To truly ensure an effective learner experience, learning must be:
Continuous – In a constantly evolving marketing landscape, learning content needs to be constantly refreshed and updated.
Connected – By bringing people together, online and in-person, learning becomes engaging, inspiring and fun.
Contextual – The days of one-off training days are over. Trusted answers to myriad questions must be available at the click of a mouse.
The 3 Cs guide Econsultancy’s approach to Multi-Touch Learning™, across skills assessment, on-demand online learning through the Econsultancy Skills Cloud™, our best practice research and trends analysis, and in team learning classes.
We’ve mapped 1,390 skills categories across digital marketing and ecommerce. The Econsultancy Skills Taxonomy™ is the basis of all our content and ensures we’re covering everything your organisation needs to succeed.
Customer Success Manager
Molly works to ensure all Econsultancy clients are getting the most out of their membership.
Prior to Econsultancy, she worked in sales in both B2B and B2C roles. Molly is originally from Yorkshire and has proudly kept her accent. She enjoys Pilates, reading and music .
Research Director
As Econsultancy’s Research Director, Laurence Bird leads the content & research strategy and team for Econsultancy’s subscribers.
Previously, Laurence worked in Haymarket’s Strategy & Planning team where she led the insight strategy across the whole group. She joined Haymarket from AutoTrader, where she led the customer value strategy and insight team for the #1 digital marketplace in the automotive industry.
Earlier, Laurence worked as an independent consultant and held positions at several media, marketing and analytics companies. She was Digital Research Director at Time Warner where she led the digital insight programme for CNN International globally, including the creation and management of award-winning thought-leadership projects.
Previous to that, Laurence was Vice-President at IAB Europe and Head of Planning & Research at IAB UK where she worked closely with the CEO and Board and acted as a consultant to the online and mobile industries. She also chaired the IAB’s Research Council, led the research & planning team, and managed the Measurement Committee.
Before joining the IAB, Laurence held several positions at Walt Disney International where she provided quantitative and qualitative analysis and conducted and commissioned projects across all product categories, including digital, TV, films, consumer products and theme parks. She was involved in global initiatives focusing on the company’s brand management and strategic planning.
Laurence holds a global top-tier Executive MBA from Imperial College Business School, where she specialised in Strategy, Entrepreneurship and Marketing. While studying, she won the prestigious London Business School Business Plan Competition and consulted for the Beijing Olympic Games.
Senior Account Manager
Morgan ensures all clients are getting the most out of their Econsultancy membership.
Prior to joining Econsultancy, he worked at startups for 6 years in client-facing roles. He loves thinking outside the box finding new ways to ensure client expectations are not only met but also exceeded.
Morgan loves long hikes, food (he is a trained pâtisserie chef), working out and spending time at home with his partner and two cats, Padfoot and Fig.
Managing Director
Richard became sole Managing Director of Econsultancy in March 2021 and is responsible for the evolution of Econsultancy into a Multi-Touch Learning provider. He is 100% focused on delivering exceptional outcomes for our customers and has a passion for making our products and services as good as they can possibly be.
Richard spent the 10 years prior leading some of the world’s most iconic B2B brands at Centaur Media and Ascential including Marketing Week, The Festival of Marketing, Creative Review, MEED Media (in the Middle East), World Architecture Festival, Drapers and the Architects Journal.
Before moving to B2B Richard worked in D2C ecommerce founding EBTM which listed on AIM in 2006 and setting up DMGT’s ecommerce operations. Before that Richard worked in music, perhaps most notably running Tribal UK Records “the UK’s most respected and forward-thinking label” (Rough Guide, 1999).
Richard holds a degree in History from Durham University and an MBA from Imperial College, London.
Commercial Research Director
Leading Econsultancy’s sponsored research business, Jim’s efforts are focussed on delighting clients with unique research and insights that position brands as thought leaders and market experts.
With in-depth, comprehensive digital marketing expertise, Jim and his team work across wide-ranging formats to underpin entire content marketing strategies – from reports to infographics, dashboards, webinars, and live event presentations.
Managing Partner
Paul has spent the last eight years helping marketing and digital leaders and their teams adopt a new mind-set and build new skills by developing and delivering multi-channel learning programmes.
Prior to this, Paul spent 15 years in operational marketing at Nestle & Diageo. His senior roles included Head of Scotch and Luxury Brands for Global Travel & Middle East and Beer Portfolio Manager for Southern Africa. This combination of operational experience and capability building means Paul is able to understand and authentically connect with marketing teams at all levels.
Paul loves the outdoors and in his free time can most often to be found running, cycling or dog walking with his family which includes an 12 year old boy (George) and identical nine year old twin girls (Ruby & Leela).
Senior Account Manager
Simon is Senior Account Manager at Econsultancy, and works with our clients to maximise the value of their Econsultancy membership.
Simon’s previous roles have been in digital advertising, content marketing and social media, and most recently in business development for a strategic communications agency.
Simon is a classically trained musician and an avid cyclist, and has two young children (Rosie and Osian) to keep him more than occupied in the evenings and weekends.
Senior Programme Manager
Founder
Ashley founded Econsultancy in 1999. He is one of the most influential and connected figures in digital and marketing. As one of the 100+ recommendations for him on LinkedIn reads, “If Ashley doesn’t know it – it ain’t worth knowing.”
Ashley is author of two best-selling books on digital. A columnist, commentator and blogger, he speaks worldwide on digital and marketing trends and best practice.
Ashley is involved in a number of digital businesses and ventures as investor, adviser, mentor and operationally, outside of his involvement with Econsultancy, including: CEO & Founder, Guild – private professional messaging app; Chairman, Ably – realtime data delivery platform.
Client Director
Charlie is a Client Director at Econsultancy and is responsible for driving the success of our key client partnerships. He has a wealth of experience in designing and delivering large-scale capability programmes spanning digital, marketing, and Ecommerce.
Insights Writer
Nikki Gilliland is a writer at Econsultancy.
Senior Account Manager
Director of Programme Management
As Director of Programme Management at Econsultancy, Kate is responsible for the management and smooth running of customised training and consultancy projects for Econsultancy’s global clients.
Before joining Econsultancy, Kate held Business Unit Director roles at Chemist+Druggist and venuefinder.com at UBM (now Informa), managing all aspects of business management, strategic planning and P&L ownership. Kate has a proven track record in transformational change management, new system implementation and process improvement.
Marketing Manager
Sarah began her career in the buying division of a large chain of department stores, working with some of the worlds leading beauty brands, including L’Oreal, Estee Lauder, Chanel and Elizabeth Arden. After transitioning into a marketing career, she has built up a significant amount of experience across retail and education sectors, delivering marketing and PR activity for a diverse range of markets.
She has worked for Econsultancy for the last ten years where she has honed her digital marketing expertise. She spends her spare time hanging out with her kids, doing up her house and partaking in the occasional bottomless brunch.
Head of Client Services
Charlotte started at Econsultancy as an administrative assistant in 2013 and has had various roles throughout the years, including working as a project manager for the data team. Charlotte now leads the Econsultancy membership client services team, who help to support and deliver customer success to our community of Econsultancy members.
During her free time, Charlotte can usually be found walking her dog Bertie, or whipping up something sweet in the kitchen.
Business Development Manager
Hatel is one of our most experienced Senior Business Development Manager and an expert in understanding what will make the greatest difference to a client’s business. She has extensive experience in the fields of digital, marketing & ecommerce and is able to weave together complex and sophisticated solutions tailored to client requirements. Away from work Hatel is a creative individual and likes travel, and spend her time with her husband and puppy.
Senior Analyst
Rose Keen is a Senior Analyst and author at Econsultancy, where she helps deliver industry-leading research for the digital marketing industry.
With over 10 years of media and business strategy experience, she has worked across a wide range of industries from automotive and consumer electronics to food and fashion. Her particular interest is the intersection between consumer behaviour, cultural shifts and technology.
Business Development Manager
Sonja forges trusted relationships, developing bespoke solutions with a high level of customer service. Half of her career has been spent working within Centaur Media businesses, most recently joining the Econsultancy Business Development team in 2019.
Sonja has a passion for cooking and pursuing creative outlets, including music and community events.
Global Partnerships Director
Damian is our Global Partnerships Director helping leadership teams define and exceed their digital marketing and ecommerce goals via Econsultancy’s multi-touch learning capabilities.
Damian has over 23 years’ experience in senior commercial and leadership roles with some of the world’s most exciting and forward-thinking organisations, including Media Solutions Director at Time Warner Inc, Executive Director for advertising agency WFCA, and Managing Director for Adobe’s leading training provider, Academy Class.
In addition to being a Chartered marketer (CIM), he is an ILM certified Coach, NLP Practitioner, UK Ambassador for the Continued Professional Development (CPD), Advisor for HRH Prince of Wales Nominet Trust, and recently appointed Fellow at the Royal Society of Arts.
Outside of work he enjoys exploring places off the beaten track with his young family and is a mixology enthusiast in search of the perfect cocktail.
Senior Account Manager
Georgie is a senior account manager and works with some of Econsultancy’s largest global clients. She has worked in account management since 2014 and is passionate about building strong business relationships.
When not working, Georgie can be found walking her dog or riding her horse.
Group Managing Director
Steve oversees Xeim brands including Marketing Week, Festival of Marketing, Creative Review, Econsultancy, Influencer Intelligance, Fashion & Beauty Monitor, Oystercatchers, MarketMakers and Really.
Prior to this he was responsible for Centaur’s Media & Events portfolios and Home Interest Division. Before joining Centaur in 2015, Steve held Managing Director roles at WGSN, i2i Events, Emap Communications (now Ascential) and Emap Consumer Media (now Bauer).
He has experience of running multi-media, international businesses in key sectors across both B2B and Consumer markets.
Client Director
Director of Product & UX
Client Director
John has been working for digital agencies since the late 1990’s. He started his digital career in 1996 at the publisher Condé Nast Online overseeing their online publications. He left publishing to move to the digital agency sector where he worked in client services and growth positions at a variety of agencies including Agency.com, Modem Media/Digitas, the Engine Group, Harvest Digital, Wunderman Thompson Technology as well as acting as General Manager for technology start-ups in Berlin and London. Over the years John has delivered projects for a range of FTSE 100 clients across media, financial services, pharmaceutical, retail and technology sectors.
In his role at Econsultancy he responsible for managing client relationships within the Capability Training and Consulting practice delivering training and consultancy engagements.
Platform Manager
Inga supports a variety of learning programmes, focusing on increasing learner engagement. She is dedicated to the build, integration and implementation of Econsultancy’s learning management system and reporting suite while driving value to our customers.
Before Econsultancy, Inga worked at Getty Images for over a decade within various account management roles, where she looked after advertising agencies and was involved with many high profile advertising campaigns
In her spare time she is a keen photographer and during her worldwide travels the camera is her trusted companion.
Senior Content Producer, Events
Charlotte joined the business in 2019, working on Festival of Marketing and Econsultancy Live as Content Producer. Since 2020 she has helped drive the success of the virtual and hybrid editions of these events, as well as bring the Festival of Marketing Masterclass event series to life through impactful content, speakers, and event experiences.
Director
Richard is a Director at Econsultancy and specialises in accelerating marketing performance & digital transformation.
Richard has worked internationally with The Coca-Cola Company, domestically with McDonald’s restaurants, heading Adult and Family Marketing, and before Econsultancy was one of the four equity partners of Oystercatchers. In addition to working in brand marketing, Richard has worked for Publicis Worldwide where he led the agency’s P&G business in EMEA for several years while running Publicis Groupe’s African expansion in parallel.
Richard is an award-winning diversity advocate and has been recognised as a ‘Male Agent of Change’ by the Women’s Business Council & Management Today, as well being ranked in the top 12 men championing women in business by the Financial Times. Vice-Chair of The Ideas Foundation, Board Member of Creative Equals, Token Man, BAME2020 and the first male SuperMomma for SheSaysUK. He is proud to be called a ‘Campaigner for increased diversity in the industry’ by The Huffington Post.
Senior Analyst
Lynette works in the research team at Econsultancy, where she works on delivering industry-leading research, briefings and reports for the digital marketing industry. Her previous experience has involved responsibility for delivering measurements and insights and improving overall online customer experience for Cancer Research UK and the Royal Mail Group.
Deputy Insights Editor
Rebecca is an internet aficionado, technology enthusiast, and an ardent fact-checker. Her favourite topics to sound off on include voice search, SEO, emerging technology, digital transformation, UX, and ridiculously overhyped marketing trends.
Away from the blog, she can mostly be found on Twitter.
Commercial Director
Senior Learning Editor
As a Senior Learning Editor and consultant, Julian defines and develops customised learning solutions that help accelerate the digital transformation of Econsultancy’s global clients. He also contributes to the ongoing development of Econsultancy’s multi-touch learning offering.
Julian has spent over 25 years working at the forefront of digital marketing and ecommerce, advising and training clients across sectors on how best to adopt, and adapt to, ever evolving digital media & technology within the marketing mix.
Most of this time was spent within the media agency world (with stints within WPP and Dentsu) where he was responsible for delivering integrated, digital marketing communications plans, consultancy and training within insight & strategy roles.
Data and Reporting Analyst
Marketing Director
Lisa is an experienced marketeer who has been leading marketing teams for 20+ years.
She has transformed marketing functions by creating high performing teams, supported by the right technology and data cultures to give customers something that really matters to them.
A content convert, Lisa believes in the power of offering value to customers through outstanding content marketing campaigns. She is responsible for overseeing the Econsultancy Marketing team and is an avid user of Econsultancy’s content to help keep the team’s skills up to date.
Programme Director
Abby is a PRINCE2 qualified, experienced project manager within the L&D sector.
She is responsible for the concurrent management of some of the largest client projects in Econsultancy’s global Capability & Consultancy (C&C) team. Abby covers everything in the life cycle of a project from initial conversation with the client & proposal, budgeting and design through to launch, deploy, iteration and feedback.
Before joining Econsultancy, Abby was the Short Courses Manager at another marketing training company, responsible for running all in-company learning programmes and F2F training courses.
SVP, Learning
Stefan manages all of Econsultancy’s research and content in North America. He is the primary author of over 100 studies exploring topics in digital marketing, technology and business transformation with partners such as Adobe, Google, IBM, Microsoft and Salesforce.
Stefan’s work has been featured in the Wall St. Journal, New York Times, USA Today, NPR, CNN, CNBC, Fast Company and AdAge.
Before joining Econsultancy, Stefan was the research director for MarketingSherpa. He began his digital career as co-founder of rich media pioneer Bluestreak, now part of Dentsu.
Head of Events
With over 20 years’ experience running events across numerous brand and sectors, Lyndsey works across the Xeim portfolio of live events. She is responsible for the operational delivery of Econsultancy Live, Econsultancy’s flagship event, bringing the brand to life for subscribers, clients and partners.
Lyndsey can be found at events with clipboard and radio in hand, and can be reliably called upon to supply coffee, WIFI codes and other less vital event support.
Senior Programme Manager
Programme Manager
Joyce works on bespoke training programmes including managing global deliveries for blue chip clients. She is a qualified Agile Project Manager and a qualified Business Analyst. Before joining Econsultancy, she was a Project Manager in the retail and ecommerce sectors for 2 years.
Director of Commercial Finance
Director of Strategic Partnerships
Group Client Services Manager
Sam is our organisational superstar who heads up our Econsultancy subscriptions client services team. The client services team help to support and deliver customer success to our community of Econsultancy subscribers.
Econsultancy’s Digital Advisory Board brings together industry leaders to share ideas and provide robust feedback on our strategic direction. The DAB informs our content and product development and ensures we always have an ear to the ground when it comes to the issues facing the digital marketing and ecommerce industry.