VP, News

Michael A. Anastasi is Vice President of News for the USA TODAY Network Tennessee and Vice President/News and Editor of The Tennessean in Nashville. Appointed on Nov. 30, 2015, he is the chief executive responsible for all USA TODAY Network newsgathering operations in the state. Anastasi came to Nashville from the Los Angeles News Group, where he was senior vice president and executive editor of one of the nation’s largest news networks. Under his leadership, the L.A. News Group won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize in Local Reporting. Anastasi also served as managing editor of The Salt Lake Tribune in Utah and as well as a reporter and editor at prior assignments throughout California. He is a board member for the Associated Press Media Editors.

President, International and Digital Media

Sean Cohan is President, International and Digital Media, A+E Networks.  He was elevated to this newly created role in January 2016.

 

Cohan oversees A+E Networks International Division – the company’s brands, content, and services outside the U.S.  He manages staff in New York, Los Angeles, London, Rome, Tokyo, and Singapore, and teams across 20 more cities.  The Division’s activities include branded channels, content sales and digital media distribution.  A+E Networks operates 75 branded channel feeds abroad and distributes a 13,000-hour library across more than 200 territories, in 39 languages on a range of platforms.

 

He also manages A+E Networks’ Digital Media including all strategic, operational, editorial, social and distribution functions around digital media both in the United States and around the world. This includes all broadband and mobile elements of all A+E Networks brands, including video content, apps, websites, social media and games.  His team is responsible for A+E Networks’ popular websites History.com; aetv.com; mylifetime.com and FYI.com; TV Everywhere apps for Lifetime, A&E, History and FYI; History Vault™ and the Lifetime Movie Club™, A+E’s direct-to-consumer offerings; and partnerships with Subscription Video on Demand (SVoD) and Download to Own (DTO) platforms, amongst other digital activities.

  

In addition, this past spring, A+E Networks announced the launch of 45th & Dean, a multi-platform video and audio storytelling hub run which reports into Cohan.  45th & Dean is a full-service agency supporting brands, shows, advertising and distribution partners.  It is focused on content creation, distribution, measurement and audience development and branded content partners.  45th & Dean publishes daily content strategically produced and distributed for distinct audiences on specific platforms.

 

Previously, Cohan held the title of Executive Vice President, International for A+E Networks. Cohan was formerly Senior Vice President, International; Vice President, Business Development & Digital Media; and Director, International Business Development for A+E Networks. Previously, he held positions at Primedia, Morgan Stanley, NBC and A.T. Kearney.

 

Cohan has been recognized as part of CableFax’s Most Influential Minorities in Cable, Multichannel News’ 40 Under 40, Digital TV Europe’s Euro 50, and TelevisionWeek’s Hot List. He was honored with Broadcasting and Cable’s 2016 Diversity Leadership Award, and has been named a NAMIC Next Generation Leader and Luminary. As well, Cohan is a member of the BANFF board. A graduate of Harvard University, he holds an MBA from Stanford University.

Senior Features Writer

Arianna Davis is a senior features writer at Refinery29 specializing in entertainment. She covers pop-culture, profiles celebrities, and writes cultural commentaries, trend stories, and personal essays. She's also an on-camera personality for the site; to date, she's interviewed Hillary Clinton, streamed live from the Grammy and Emmy Awards red carpets (live!), served as the host of a weekly pop-culture talk show called The Mention, and much more.

 

​Previously, she worked at Us Weekly and O, The Oprah Magazine. Throughout her career thus far, she's interviewed the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Mariah Carey, Blake Lively, Viola Davis, and more. The Penn State alum has also written about travel, beauty, food, and lifestyle, and her work has been published in New York Magazine, The New York Times, Marie Claire, Glamour, The Huffington Post, and more.

EVP & CPO, Advertising Products

Bio coming soon!

VP, Innovation & Commercial

Jarrod Dicker is an entrepreneurial technology and media executive. He is currently VP of innovation and commercial at the Washington Post and founder of RED, the Post's research experimentation and development team. 

 

Dicker oversees the company’s commercial strategy, technology, product and operations across the entire business. Prior to the Washington Post, Dicker lead product and technology teams at RebelMouse, Time Inc. and the Huffington Post. He also sits on the Board of Advisors for Rutgers University School of Innovation, Techstars IoT and Mogul Inc., a technology platform that enables women worldwide to share ideas and access content based on personal interests.

Ken Doctor’s work centers on the transformation of consumer media in the digital age, from the New York Times to Netflix and from Comcast to Conde Nast. He draws connections among the news, information and entertainment we all get and the fast-changing business of media.

He is the author of “Newsonomics: Twelve New Trends That Will Shape the News You Get.” Ken writes the popular “Newsonomics” column for the Nieman Journalism Lab and writes regularly for POLITICO Media as well. Most of his work can be found at www.newsonomics.com. Newsonomics is the word he coined to describe this new discipline of understanding the money flow within the print and broadcast transition to digital.

A veteran of the digital media industry, he combines deep experience as an executive in strategy, revenue models and journalism. His experience includes 21 years with Knight Ridder, as well as time spent in the worlds of licensing, corporate development, business development and syndication.

EVP & Chief Technology Officer

Marcus East is Vice President Product & Technology and Chief Technology Officer for National Geographic, based in Washington DC where he leads the teams responsible for building world class digital experiences for audiences around the world.

 

He has spent half of his career working for technology companies (4 years at Apple and 6 years at IBM) and the other half helping global brands to harness the power of technology — including Comic Relief, Marks and Spencer and National Geographic.

 

In addition to his expertise in delivering value for commercial organizations, he also has a passion for the use of technology to drive positive social change, and spent two years building and leading Comic Relief’s technology function, during which time he drove the delivery of award-winning technology and digital products, including the record-setting donations platform that supports Red Nose Day; he has also advised and acted as a trustee for a number of charities.

 

East is also very interested in policymaking related to technology, and he has also been involved in a number of Government and public sector steering committees and think-tanks. Having lived and worked in the UK, Asia and America, he has an international perspective on the challenges facing organizations and societies today, and how technology affects them — he has strong views on social exclusion, diversity in technology, managing technology talent and how large corporations should react to the challenges and opportunities that the advent of the digital age brings.

Andrew Essex is one of the most successful admen of recent years—a storyteller and creative wunderkind whose message about the future of advertising is shaking up an entire industry. Essex speaks frequently on media and marketing. In his groundbreaking book, The End of Advertising, he sets up the ultimate challenge for his profession: Innovate or die.

 

Essex is currently an advisor to and the former Chief Executive Officer of Tribeca Enterprises, the parent company of Tribeca Film Festival. He is the former CEO of Droga5, arguably the most celebrated creative agency on the planet and winner of multiple "Agency of the Year" awards. Until 2015, Andrew Essex was the Vice Chairman and CEO of Droga5, generally considered to be the hottest shop in the advertising industry.

 

Essex began his career in media as an award-winning journalist and held editorial posts at The New Yorker, Entertainment Weekly, and Salon.com, among others. He was also a consultant for the launch of US Weekly magazine. He has served as a television commentator for ABC, CNN, Anderson Cooper, The View, FOX News, CNBC, and E!. His writing has been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, Outside, Entertainment Weekly, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, Food & Wine, Allure, Interview, the Village Voice, the American Book Review, and Details.

 

Essex serves on the board of The American Advertising Federation and is the co-author of three previous books: A Very Public Offering: The Story of the Globe.com, Chasing Cool, with former Barney’s CEO Gene Pressman and Le Freak: An Upside Down Story of Family, Disco and Destiny, with celebrated musician Nile Rodgers.

 

He is an advisor to the White House Office of Digital Strategy and the Wharton SEI Center for Advanced Studies in Management. He serves as an angel investor and advisor for a myriad disruptive technology and consumer packaged goods firms. Essex has an MA in American Literature from New York University. He lives with his wife and two children in Brooklyn.

Media Reporter

Sara Fischer is a Media Reporter for Axios, covering media trends.
 
Previously, she was a digital producer for The Washington Post, where she produced and edited segments for live and digital audiences.
 
Fischer’s media background includes writing, reporting, subscription and advertising sales, as well as corporate research. She came to The Post from The New York Times where she was part of The Times’ political advertising team.
 
Fischer joined The Times from CNN in 2014, where she wrote breaking news stories for CNN Politics and co-authored the network’s political newsletter, Gut Check. Before joining CNN, Fischer served as a Business Development Associate at POLITICO, where she helped manage sales operations and client engagement for the company’s advertising team.

She holds a Bachelor’s degree from The George Washington University in Political Communication and a Master’s degree from The George Washington University in Legislative Affairs.

Sr. Editor, Media

Principal Analyst

Fatemeh serves B2C Marketing Professionals, with a focus on the shifting global consumer data ecosystem. She helps marketers navigate the complex connections between privacy, trust, and ethical data use, including the practices and vendors that can help them bridge the privacy/personalization paradox. Her seminal research on personal identity management (PIDM) describes how consumers will soon manage the sharing of their personal data with each other and with businesses. Her report "Adaptive Intelligence" further defines a framework for privacy-compliant data sharing between organizations to gain insight, reduce risk, and increase profitability.

 

Prior to joining Forrester, Fatemeh was principal of Times Two Marketing, where she built social and multichannel marketing programs designed to engage consumers, drive brand loyalty, and deliver relevant, actionable data to her clients. Prior experience at Binger Catalog Marketing, Abacus, and HagginGroup (now Epsilon) provided her with a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing multichannel organizations across a spectrum of channels, market verticals, and disciplines. She has also held multichannel marketing positions on the client side, with firms like The Flax Companies and The Sharper Image.

 

Fatemeh is a member of the International Associate of Privacy Professional (IAPP) and is a Certified Information Privacy Manager (CIPM). She has served as a judge for the Multichannel Merchant Awards and the ECHO Awards.

EVP & COO

Meredith Kopit Levien was named executive vice president and chief operating officer of The New York Times Company in June 2017. Ms. Kopit Levien oversees the teams responsible for digital product, design, audience and brand, consumer revenue, advertising, live events and new product development.

She was most recently executive vice president and chief revenue officer, a position she held since April 2015. In that role, Ms. Kopit Levien was responsible for the generation of all advertising and subscription revenue from The Times’s products and services and for leadership of the advertising, marketing, video and live event teams. Ms. Kopit Levien joined The Times Company in August 2013 as head of advertising.

She previously served as chief revenue officer at Forbes Media, where she led the North American and European revenue operations for Forbes.com, the Forbes Magazine Group and Forbes Conferences since 2011.
 
Ms. Kopit Levien began her professional career in 1993 at the Advisory Board Company in Washington, DC., did a two year stint at digital ad agency and website development firm i33 Communications, and worked in various sales and marketing roles at Atlantic Media Company from 2001 to 2008.

 

Ms. Kopit Levien is a current Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute, an executive committee member of the board of the Ad Council, on the board of the IAB, and a co-chair of the Lincoln Center Media and Entertainment Council.

She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Virginia in 1993.  Ms. Kopit Levien lives in New York City with her husband and son.  She is a passionate advocate of sustaining the independence of high quality original journalism, a fan and follower of great literary fiction and has been the executive sponsor of The New York Times Women’s Network since January 2014.

President & Publisher

SVP

Jay Lauf is Publisher of Quartz and SVP of Atlantic Media. In his role, he oversees Quartz's business operations and acts as a senior advisor to Atlantic Media on corporate initiatives. Involved in start-ups, web launches and the expansion of events and conventions across his years in trade magazines, he also helped launch the U.S. edition of T3 (Tomorrow’s Technology Today). He then moved to WIRED magazine in 2001 where he spent seven years, the last two as Publisher. He joined The Atlantic as VP/Publisher in April 2008, and assumed the role at Quartz when the digital, global, business news publication launched in September 2012.  Prior to his role at Quartz, Lauf led The Atlantic's revitalization as its Publisher.

President

CEO, Axel Springer Digital Ventures GmbH

President, Axel Springer USA

Dr. Jens Müffelmann, CEO Axel Springer Digital Ventures GmbH and President Axel Springer USA, has been instrumental in Axel Springer’s digital transformation and is currently responsible for Axel Springer’s expansion in the USA.

 

Since 1997, he has held various leadership positions at Axel Springer SE, initially in Corporate Development and subsequently as a Director of Corporate Strategy and Development. From 2004 until 2014, he spearheaded the creation of the Electronic Media Division comprising Axel Springer’s portfolio of internet, TV and radio companies. In June 2014, he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Axel Springer Digital Ventures. While continuing his role as CEO, Jens Müffelmann was appointed President Axel Springer USA in January 2016.

 

Jens Müffelmann graduated in engineering from the Technical University of Berlin and completed a PhD as part of a joint research project of the University of the Bundeswehr and Columbia University on “Organizational Change in German and American companies”.

SVP, Enterprise Customer Engagement & Investment Executive

Lou Paskalis is the Senior Vice President, Customer Engagement and Investment.  In his role he is responsible for Communications Strategy, Media Investment and Measurement and Marketing Data and Tech platforms for the enterprise.  Paskalis oversees media strategy and investment across traditional, digital and social channels with an eye toward driving innovative solutions across lines of business, he also leads the banks efforts to orchestrate customer experiences in a more personal way across paid and owned channels.

 

Prior to joining Bank of America, Paskalis was the Vice President of Global Media, Content Development and Mobile Marketing at American Express.

 

Paskalis is Chairman of the Board of the North American Mobile Marketing Association a board member of the Media Ratings Council.  He serves on multiple IAB task forces and sits on Advisory Councils for Turner, Twitter and Cheddar. He is a long serving jury member of the IAB MIXX Awards and Global Effie awards.  Lou holds an MBA in finance and marketing and a B.S. in business management from the University of Notre Dame.  He lives in Manhattan where he indulges his passion for bike riding, travel, wine and Formula One motor-racing.

@jorgeramosnews

Has been called “Star newscaster of Hispanic TV” and “Hispanic TV’s No. 1 correspondent and key to a huge voting bloc” by The Wall Street Journal. Time magazine included him in the list of “the 25 most influential Hispanics in the United States” and Newsweek in its list of 50 political and media figures.

 

Jorge Ramos has been the anchorman for Noticiero Univision since 1986. In addition Ramos also hosts “Al Punto”, Univision’s weekly public affairs program offering in- depth analysis of the week’s top-stories and exclusive interviews with newsmakers. He is also the host of Fusion’s “AMERICA with Jorge Ramos,” a hard-hitting news program geared towards young adults.

 

Among his many recognitions, he received the Maria Moors Cabot award from the University of Columbia and has won 8 Emmy awards for excellence in journalism (including the first one ever presented by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences to honor leaders of Spanish Language Television). He was honored in 2002 with the “Ruben Salazar” award by the National Council of La Raza for his positive portrayal of Latinos. In 2008 The Commonwealth Club of California recognized him with the Distinguished Citizen Award for being one of the outstanding individuals who embody the American Dream as an immigrant to the United States.

 

He is the author of ten books and bestsellers: “Behind the Mask”, “What I Saw”, “The Other Face of America”, “Hunting the Lion”, his autobiography “No Borders: a Journalist’s Search for Home”, “The Latino Wave”, “Dying to Cross”, “The Gift of Time; Letters from a Father”, and the children’s book “I’m Just Like My Dad/I’m Just Like My Mom” (HarperCollins) and “A Country for All; An Immigrant Manifesto”.

 

He writes a weekly column for more than 40 newspapers in the United States and Latin America distributed by The New York Times Syndicate, provides three daily radio commentary for the Radio Univision network and collaborates with the largest Spanish- language website in the United States (www.univision.com).

 

He is frequently tapped to comment on issues related to Hispanic Americans and has been featured in NBC’s Today Show, CBS’ Early Show, ABC’s “Nightline”, CNN’s “Larry King”, “Crossfire” and “Lou Dobbs”, Fox News’ “The O’Reilly Factor”, PBS’ “Charlie Rose”, HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher”, Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report”, among many others.

 

Jorge Ramos is an immigrant. He came to the United States as a student in 1983. In November 1986, at age 28, he became one of the youngest national news anchors in the history of American television. Since then, he has been called “the voice of the voiceless” for other immigrants like him.

 

Ramos holds a degree in communication at the Ibero-American University in México City and has a Master’s degree in International Studies from the University of Miami. The University of Richmond gave him an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters in 2007.

 

He is a father of two, plays soccer every Saturday morning and is considered one of the most eloquent, credible and powerful voices of Hispanic America.

Columnist

Jennifer Saba is a columnist for Reuters Breakingviews based in New York.  Her focus is on media, technology, advertising and retail. Prior to joining Breakingviews in 2015, she was a reporter with Reuters news. Jennifer has covered media for almost 18 years. She began her career in advertising.

Global CEO

David Sable is Global Chief Executive Officer of Y&R. Named to the post in February 2011, David has long had Y&R in his blood. He first joined as a trainee in 1976 and credits his start here for both his passion for the business as well as his core skills.

 

After Y&R, David worked at Wells Rich Greene and then moved to Israel, where he co-founded an agency, Mimsar. That start-up was a pioneering entry into the high-tech arena and reinforced David’s entrepreneurial spirit. Coming back to the U.S., David found his home at the extended Y&R family, working for Burson-Marsteller and Cohn & Wolfe. In 1990, he returned to Y&R Advertising to lead the international portion of the agency’s Colgate-Palmolive account. He then helped create Y&R’s team approach on the U.S. Postal Service’s consolidated account, before leaving to pioneer an omni-channel startup in the U.S., Genesis Direct. In 2000, he moved to Wunderman, also part of the Y&R family, where he spent 10 years, ultimately as its Vice Chairman, before returning home to Y&R.

 

David is active in the industry as Chair of the Advertising Council’s Board of Directors and, for many years before, a Director-at-Large of the 4As.The 4As just named him one of the 100 People Who Make Advertising Great. He has served as Jury President at Cannes three times, as head of the Direct, Creative Effectiveness and Creative Data juries and was a member of the Titanium jury.

 

A prolific writer, David has a strong online presence. LinkedIn named him one of their Top Voices 2016, and he has consistently ranked as one of their most widely read global business leaders since he was invited to the Influencer platform. He has been blogging The Weekly Ramble since 2006 and is a frequent contributor to The Huffington Post.  He also was an Executive Producer on MTV’s highly acclaimed REBEL MUSIC series.

 

In 2013, Fast Company named David one of the 10 Most Generous Marketing Geniuses. He serves on the U.S. Fund for UNICEF’s National Board and was the founding chair of their NY Board.  He serves on NY’s Volunteer State Office of National and Community Service Commission and served 14 years on the NY Cultural Advisory Committee. He sits on the Boards of UNCF and the Christopher Reeve Foundation and is deeply involved with the Special Olympics. He also is a member of American Eagle Outfitters’ Board of Directors.

 

David and his wife, Debbie, have two daughters. two sons-in-law, four treasured grandchildren — Henry, Teddy and Gemma, and Goldy.

Host, Reliable Sources & Senior Media Correspondent

Brian Stelter is the host of "Reliable Sources," which examines the week's top media stories every Sunday at 11:00 a.m. ET on CNN/U.S, and the senior media correspondent for CNN Worldwide. Stelter reports and writes for CNN and CNNMoney.

 

Prior to joining CNN in November 2013, Stelter was a media reporter at The New York Times. Starting in 2007, he covered television and digital media for the Business Day and Arts section of the newspaper. He was also a lead contributor to the "Media Decoder" blog.

President

Richard Tofel was the founding general manager of ProPublica from 2007-2012, and became president on January 1, 2013. He has responsibility for all of ProPublica’s non-journalism operations, including communications, legal, development, finance and budgeting, and human resources. He was formerly the assistant publisher of The Wall Street Journal and, earlier, an assistant managing editor of the paper, vice president, corporate communications for Dow Jones & Company, and an assistant general counsel of Dow Jones. More recently, he served as vice president, general counsel and secretary of the Rockefeller Foundation, and earlier as president and chief operating officer of the International Freedom Center, a museum and cultural center that was planned for the World Trade Center site. He is the author of “Home Run Revolution: Babe Ruth in His Time, 1919-20” (2015), “Non-Profit Journalism: Issues Around Impact” (2013), “Why American Newspapers Gave Away the Future” (2012), “Eight Weeks in Washington, 1861: Abraham Lincoln and the Hazards of Transition” (2011), “Restless Genius: Barney Kilgore, The Wall Street Journal, and the Invention of Modern Journalism” (2009); “Sounding the Trumpet: The Making of John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address” (2005), “Vanishing Point: The Disappearance of Judge Crater, and the New York He Left Behind” (2004) and “A Legend in the Making: The New York Yankees in 1939” (2002).

President

As a President of Hearts & Science, Zak is dedicated to the P&G business. Previously, he was Chief Digital Officer of Grey, where he led and integrated Grey’s digital efforts across the global agency. He’s also served as Managing Director of global digital agency VML in New York and Director of Product Strategy and Business Development at 24/7 Real Media. Zak received his MBA from the Wharton School.

 

Voted Most Creative by his high school graduating class, Zak’s an ad guy through and through. More surprising is his experience in laboratory research, attempting to reverse genetic point mutations using chimeric oligonucleotides. We won’t test you on that one.

Correspondent

Katy Tur is an NBC News Correspondent and anchor of the 2 p.m. ET hour of “MSNBC Live.” A dogged journalist, Tur emerged as a breakout broadcaster in 2016 while covering the entirety of the Trump campaign across all platforms for NBC News and MSNBC.

 

Tur released “Unbelievable: My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History” in September 2017, which debuted on the New York Times best seller list.

 

Tur is known for her resolute reporting style and for her determination to chase the facts. She has also earned a reputation for holding government officials accountable for their statements, accusations, and actions. During her hour of “MSNBC Live,” Tur aims to give viewers immediate analysis and reaction to the daily White House press briefing in addition to diving deep into the day’s news stories.

 

In her 18 months covering the 2016 presidential election, Tur conducted multiple in-depth interviews with then-candidate Donald Trump from his campaign headquarters. While on the road, she set foot in over 40 states and logged nearly 4,000 live television appearances.

 

Prior to joining NBC News’ 2016 political team, Tur was stationed abroad as a foreign correspondent in the NBC News London Bureau. From 2012 to 2014, Tur was a correspondent in the NBC News New York bureau. During that time she earned a Gracie award. Before joining the bureau, Tur was a reporter for WNBC from 2010 to 2012, where she was awarded multiple Emmys.

 

As a digital reporter for The Weather Channel, Tur chased storms from 2009 to 2010. She started her reporting career in 2007 at News12Brooklyn before moving on to WPIX, where she won an AP Spot News award.

 

A native of Los Angeles and graduate of the University of California Santa Barbara, Tur currently resides in Brooklyn, NY with her fiancé.

Global President

Troy Young is global president of Hearst Digital Media. Since joining the company in 2013, he has built a continuously growing division that creates and manages the content, technology, operations, product and business development strategies for 20 digital brands in the U.S. The portfolio includes Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Harper’s BAZAAR and Delish, as well as Sweet, a collaboration with Snapchat on its Discover platform. Young also oversees Hearst Magazines’ international digital business.

 

In 2015, Young was named Adweek’s Magazine Executive of the Year, an honor that recognized him for unifying Hearst’s “print and digital brands into a single, well-oiled machine whose traffic has surged” leading to a 75 percent increase in revenue, and for his development of MediaOS, "a combined CMS, ad sales and data strategy tool for all Hearst properties.” In 2014, Young was inducted to MIN’s Digital Hall of Fame, and in 2013 he was named to the FOLIO 100, a list of the most influential and impactful media professionals of the year. Young was also one of MIN’s Most Intriguing People the same year.

 

A media executive and entrepreneur with 20 years of experience in digital publishing and advertising, Young was previously president of Say Media. Prior to Say, Young held several executive positions at Omnicom’s digital agency Organic, including the role of chief experience officer, where he advised on strategy and created award-winning work for clients including American Express, Virgin Mobile, Sirius XM, Chrysler and Bank of America. He has held numerous advisory roles with digital media, mobile and commerce companies and currently serves on the boards of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Digital Content Next (DCN).