Bruce MannChief Programming Officer Liberty Global Central

Bruce Mann is Chief Programming Officer, Liberty Global and is responsible for its overall content strategy, acquisition and investments. Mr. Mann is responsible for overseeing Liberty Global’s €2.5 billion plus annual content spend, chairs Liberty Global’s Programming Council and sits on several of its content investment’s boards.

Prior to re-joining Liberty Global in January 2016 Mr. Mann ran Liberty Global’s content investments in Australia as CEO XYZnetworks, a joint venture between Liberty Global and News Corp which owned, operated and distributed 12 basic cable television channels. He was one of the founding managers of Austar Entertainment, Liberty Global’s publicly traded operations in Australia.

During his 30 plus year career Mr. Mann has held several roles in the media and sports with TVN, Austar Entertainment, Time Warner, E! Entertainment and The Washington Reskins. He holds a BA in Business Administration from Clarion University and is based in Amsterdam.

Speaker

Alan OgstonVice President Market PlanningLiberty Global Central

Alan joined LG at the end of November 2016. Prior to joining, he spent 8 years at media, entertainment and sports strategy consultants O&O in London where he was Head of Consulting. During this time he worked with LG on various projects - including Ziggo Sport and MySports – and on content strategy assignments for organisations such as Sky, BT, the BBC, All3Media, Endemol, ITV, UKTV, and Channel 4.

Alan moved with his family in February from London to The Hague and has been buying bicycles ever since.

Speaker

David Bouchier

Chief Digital Entertainment Officer Virgin Media

David joined Virgin Media in August 2014 with the remit of looking at the world of Digital Entertainment. He has set himself the task of rejuvenating Virgin Media’s TV offering. This includes introducing new programming such as Virgin Media Exclusives (Kingdom and Ash vs Evil Dead), innovative product ideas like the Telly Tablet and raising the profile of content in VM’s marketing. His aim – to make 2016 the Year of TV!

He has had a varied career in the world of film and TV and started out helping to fund auteur art house movies. Later Liz Murdoch asked him to come and help with Sky Pictures, BSkyB's foray into film making. He was responsible for handling BskyB’s international expansion first in Germany and then Italy, with News Corporation, working with Tom Mockridge to create Sky Italia from the stalled platforms of Telecom Italia and Canal Plus. By the time he left, the business it had doubled its subscribers and he can boast the film channels he was responsible for, had a higher premium penetration than Sport.

More recently he set up his own channels businesses. First JimJam – a preschool channel for the under 5s and subsequently a clutch of other thematic channels for Japanese Manga fans, cross-over popular music and reality TV. That led him into production – creating and then co-writing 4 series of Jarmies, a pre-school show introducing non-English language speaking kids to English words and phrases.

You can often find him at the theatre or walking his whippet, Misha

Speaker

Peter FoxDirector of Programming,Liberty Global CENTRAL

Peter’s first job included setting up ‘pay per-view’ special events for a small cable operator in the UK (which later became part of NTL –itself now a part of Virgin Media) and has worked in On demand cable television ever since. He was Head of Scheduling and Content Management for Chello On Demand and has been working in the On Demand Programming Acquisitions team since 2011. His main responsibility is to negotiate rights for VOD programming from the ‘Major’ Studios for UPC’s existing and future on demand services.

Peter Fox has a degree in Philosophy & Modern Languages from Oxford University; he’s a fan of the Eurovision Song Contest and the Swedish Melodifestivalen and he tries to attend in person at least every other year. Peter likes gardens & gardening; he likes pictures and painting and enjoys watching Olympic sports (especially athletics).

Speaker

William Linders

William has worked for more than 20 years in the entertainment industry in a variety of different capacities.

He started his career at KPN Telecom. After that William spent seven years at the Endemol Group as Executive Director Digital Media leading the worldwide digital activities of the company. From 2008 until 2012 he worked for Fox Mobile Group in Germany as EVP Content & Business Development, responsible for all commercial relationships. After that he joined UPC (Liberty Global)

Currently William is responsible for Content & Programming at VodafoneZiggo.

Director Content & ProgrammingVodafoneZiggo

Speaker

Sabine MöllerVice President of ContentUnitymedia

Sabine Möller studied English literature in Munich, Swansea and Cambridge. She started her career in the publishing industry, made a move from print to online and then to TV and video distribution. She has meanwhile spent 15 years in content licensing and rights acquisition.

Before joining Unitymedia, Sabine was Head of Entertainment, Content Partnering, at Deutsche Telekom where she looked after DT’s relationship with the TV, video and music industry. She joined Unitymedia in Feb. 2013 as Director Content for VOD and SmartTV Apps. Currently, Sabine is VP Content at Unitymedia and looks forward to exploring new content areas in an increasingly customer-centric environment.

Speaker

Ils NeutsVice President CVP EntertainmentTelenet

I’m a passionate marketer, a city lover and a mother of 2 fantastic kids.

In 2013, I joined Telenet in the go2market team to contribute to the entertainment ambitions. Since 2015, I got the opportunity to lead the TV and entertainment go2market, programming, acquisition and operations team. Our ambition as a team is to work out great entertainment experiences that work best to serve our customers. The great blend of technology, content and marketing keeps me inspired - especially in the challenging market we are facing today.

Speaker

Bob LeightonSVP Programming USLiberty Global Central

Bob Leighton joined Liberty Global in 2005. He is currently SVP, Programming US, maintaining senior relationships with US major studio program suppliers and cable and satellite distributors.

Mr. Leighton is nearly a 40 year veteran of the television industry. Prior to Liberty Global, Bob headed content for 7 years with Starz, as EVP Programming, responsible for all programming functions for its suite of Pay TV channels, including program planning, film acquisition, original programming development, on-air promotion, scheduling and technical operations.

Bob joined Pay TV pioneer HBO in 1980 and developed broad Pay TV experience in his 17 years at HBO in a variety of roles. In the 1990s he was based in Europe and oversaw the development, launch, and operation of various pay and basic cable channels, primarily in Central Europe. Previous assignments at HBO in New York during the 1980s included Director of Programming, Cinemax and Director of Audience Research. Mr. Leighton began his television career at Young & Rubicam where he purchased commercial advertising time on both broadcast networks and the earliest US ad-supported cable channels.

Mr. Leighton holds a MBA from Columbia University and a BA from Harvard College.

Speaker

Diederik KarstenChief Commercial Officer Liberty Global Central

Diederik Karsten is Chief Commercial Officer for Liberty Global since August 2015. He is responsible for ensuring customer-centricity in part of Liberty Global’s operations and structure. He does this through his management leadership of Liberty Global’s marketing, customer experience, content & programming, mobile, data and business to business services and advanced analytics & data operations.

Previously Mr. Karsten served as Managing Director and Executive Vice President of European Broadband Operations. Prior to joining Liberty Global, he served as Chief Executive Officer of KPN Mobile, served as a non-executive Board Member of EasyJet PLC in the United Kingdom and held various management positions at PepsiCo and Procter & Gamble. Mr. Karsten holds a degree in business economics from Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam, with specializations in Marketing and Accountancy.

Mr. Karsten currently serves as a director of Telenet Group Holding NV, a Liberty Global subsidiary, and a Belgian public limited liability company and is the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Ziggo BV and Unitymedia GmbH, a Liberty Global subsidiary in the Netherlands and Germany.

Speaker

Gerd LeonhardFuturist and Humanist, Author, Keynote Speaker, CEO The Futures Agency

Gerd Leonhard is a hunter and gatherer of human values from the future. From culture and society to commerce and technology, Gerd brings back the news from the future so business and society leaders can make better choices right now. In his latest book, Technology vs. Humanity, Gerdexplores the key ethical and social questions which urgently require an answer before we increasingly abdicate our very humanity. For organizations in the grip of disruption, Gerd supplies visionary insights and concentrated wisdom that inform key decisions makers today. A musician by origin, Gerd Leonhard has now redefined the vocation of futurist as a new humanist.

Gerd was listed as one of the top 100 influencers in technology by Wired magazine (2015). His clients include over 200 companies and organizations in 50+ countries, including Google, IPG, UBS, Roche, WWF, Cisco, KPMG, Accenture, Nestlé, Unilever, US Social Security Agency, the BBC, Universal Studios, the EU Commission and many more.

Speaker

Sigrid Van Den Houte Vice President Brand, Media and CommunicationsLiberty Global Central

Sigrid Van Den Houte is a Brand and Marketing and Communications professional with over 20 years of experience.Since February 2016, Sigrid has held the position of Vice President Brand, Media and Communications at Liberty Global.She is responsible for building a brand & communications framework that can bring customer value propositions to life, based on consumer insights, across the different brands and markets in Europe. Together with her team of international marketing communication experts, she is developing best in class capabilities in the media and communications area, helping the different local brands to become leaders in their business domain. Prior to this Sigrid was Chief Commercial Officer at SBS Belgium, (television channels ‘four’ and ‘five’). And before that she was Vice President Brand, Media & Communications at Telenet; Communications Director at Carrefour, Director Marketing and Corporate Communications at Mobistar and Marketing Manager at HP. At the end of 2012 Sigrid was voted by the Union of Belgian Advertisers and PUB magazine “Advertiser Personality of the Year " after successfully launching King and Kong at Telenet.

Speaker

Lukas KernellVice President of ProgrammingLiberty Global Central

Lukas Kernell has been working with Liberty Global since 2003. As Vice President of Programming, Lukas is responsible for maintaining LG’s relationships with its content partners. During his tenure with LG, Lukas has also fulfilled various roles at Chellomedia, LG’s former content and broadcast services division.

Prior to joining LG he was employed by Stokvis-Niehe Producties, a subsidiary of Endemol, overseeing its initiatives in the new media space. At RTL, the largest commercial broadcaster in The Netherlands, Lukas was responsible for Business Development at iMedia, the “new media” unit of RTL. As General Counsel and VP Business Development at @Home Benelux, Lukas was instrumental in establishing and operating the joint venture between several Dutch cable operators, Intel and At Home Network.

With close to 20 years’ experience in the television, internet and cable industry in various roles, Lukas continues to be fascinated by the ever developing worlds of media and technology. Lukas holds a law degree from the University of Maastricht and lives in Amsterdam with his wife Lynda and their son, Olivier.

Speaker

Pascal AmreinDirector Content UPC Switzerland

Pascal Amrein joined upc cablecom in 2000 as part of a new business development team, establishing digital television in the company, then still cablecom. After launching a new set-top-box in his role as Product Manager DTV, he started focusing on programming in 2003, driving the launch of new products and feature including HD and VOD in Switzerland.

In his current role as Director Content Switzerland Pascal oversees all programming related matters for linear and on demand programming at UPC Schweiz GmbH in close cooperation with the team in Austria.

He was born in Switzerland, holds a MBA from the University St.Gallen HSG and lives in Zürich.

Speaker

Jeroen BergmanManaging Director of ProgrammingLiberty Global Central

Jeroen Bergman is Managing Director of Programming. Jeroen has been responsible for content acquisition across linear channels, VOD and apps across all the European markets Liberty Global operates in since 2001. Additionally, Jeroen was Managing Director of ChelloBenelux’ three key activities: the play-out facility Chello DMC, the premium movie service Film1 and the premium sports service Sport1 from 2005 to 2012.

Jeroen’s previous roles in Liberty Global include Managing Director Customer Operations in UPC Netherlands and Managing Director Sales, Marketing and Customer Care of UPC Broadband at the corporate level.

Before Liberty Global, Jeroen was Commercial Director at Dutch cable operator Casema, worked for Australian cable and telecom operator Optus in marketing and business development and was strategy consultant at Monitor Company, a global business strategy consulting firm.Jeroen Bergman holds an MBA from Nijenrode University, the Netherlands.

Speaker

Stephane DavidVice President Content & Programming OfficerLiLAC

Stephane David has been in charge of programming for LiLAC since September 2016. He was previously Executive Director of Content at Virgin Media between 2013 and 2016, and Vice-President Programming of UPC and LG between 2005 and 2013.

Stephane started in the pay-TV industry 18 years ago, with Canal+ Group, where he held several programming and management positions in France, Belgium and The Netherlands, most recently as CEO of Canal+ Benelux.

Stephane graduated in Business Administration from EDHEC and holds a postgraduate diploma in media law from the University of La Sorbonne.

Speaker

Roger FeinerVice President MySports Media UPC Switzerland

04.03.1964Living in Esslingen/ZurichMarriedThree daughters (16/16/12)Lic. iur. University of ZurichSport Management University of Fribourg92 – 98 Head of Sport Rights and Marketing SRG98 – 02 Broadcasting Director FIFA02 – 05 Managing Partner Tact-X AG05 – 15 Managing Director Teleclub Sport15 - VP MySports MediaHobbies: Tennis, Jogging, Biking, Swimming.

Speaker

Manu LeroyDirector for Sports productTelenet

Manu Leroy is working at Telenet (Belgium) as a Director for Sports product, sponsoring and go to market. He has been working for 7 years for Telenet and has a passion for sports. He started his career in TV sports production, moving into marketing for 5 years and then moved back into sports (the business side) at Telenet.

He combined his professional career with sports career, playing hockey at international level and making the team for the London Olympics for the Belgian hockey team.

Speaker

Will MoererDirector Ziggo Sport VodafoneZiggo

Will is managing the Ziggo Sport and Ziggo Sport Totaalchannel (formerly Sport1) since 2010. Before this, Will founded WK Productions (sports production company) that was sold to Eyeworks Sports and worked there as general manager for several years. Also Will was Secretaire General at Filmnet/Canal+.

Speaker

Mark GiesbersVice President of Entertainment ProductsLiberty Global Products

Mark Giesbers is Liberty Global’s VP of Entertainment Products, the group that centrally develops and manages Liberty Global’s TV/video products & services. This includes all of our digital entertainment products & services such as video CPE, UIs, online/mobile TV, video apps and portals for Liberty’s digital cable & satellite TV customers. Mark’s team is also responsible for Liberty Global’s next-generation entertainment platform ‘Horizon’ and new services such as Replay TV, nPVR and content discovery tools. Also part of the Entertainment Products group are teams looking after quality management, product/UI design, CMS/metadata development and central content operations.

Before joining Liberty’s central team in 2012, Mark served on the country management team at UPC Netherlands, Liberty’s local Dutch cable operation as their VP Marketing & Content since 2008. In the 13 years prior to joining the Liberty family he held commercial and strategy management roles in telecoms, media and consulting at various companies including Talpa Media, Vodafone Germany, O2/Telfort and British Telecom.

Speaker

Bob Greene

Managing Director, Business DevelopmentLiberty Global Central

Bob Greene is the Managing Director, Online Entertainment for Liberty Global, the largest cable operator in the world. He is an experienced senior executive with over 25 years in sales, marketing and operations in the entertainment, interactive and broadband industries. Greene has led the creation and development of multiple online video subscription services, including the launch of Horizon TV Online in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Ireland and Germany. He has a strong track record in taking established or early stage companies and maximizing the core business while creating expansion into new product lines or platforms.

As Executive Vice President of Advanced Services for Starz Entertainment, Greene oversaw all the digital and internet strategies for the company and was responsible for the development and successful launch of the Emmy nominated Vongo and StarzPlay online subscription services. A recognized leader and speaker in the new digital media, Greene also has extensive experience and relationships in the cable industry as well as within Hollywood. Prior to joining Starz, he was the CEO of an internet media company, Digital Lava, that traded on the NASDAQ; was a senior member of the start-up interactive software company, Lightspan, originally funded by Accel Partners and Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers and spent nearly 13 years at Showtime Networks and MTV in executive sales and marketing roles

Speaker

John Paul Managing Director, Advanced Advertising and DataLiberty Global

John Paul is Managing Director, Advanced Advertising and Data for Liberty Global and is based in the Company’s London office. He is responsible for the development of new advertising models, partnerships and employment of data across the company.John has over 25 years experience in the broadcast and cable sector with a focus on operations and emerging product strategy. Before rejoining Liberty Global in 2014 he was CTO of Special Broadcasting Service (SBS Australia), COO of Australia Network, and Founder & Managing Partner of Trident Media Partners where he advised Tier 1 media firms: NBC, News Corporation, Telstra and Foxtel on strategy and infrastructure.

Prior to this, he was part of UGC, Liberty Global’s predecessor, where he worked in Australia on the launch of AUSTAR and its triple-play products and helped the company explore investment opportunities in Asia. He was a principal architect of Australia’s early pay TV industry – with Australis Media and has served on the boards of SANZAR (South Africa, New Zealand and Australia Rugby) and Freeview Australia. He began his career in family trade publishing businessTVEditorial Corporation and NBC Affiliate operations.He holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance from American University and is a Dux graduate of the Royal Australian Naval College.

Speaker

Peter HuttonChief Executive OfficerEurosport

Bringing with him 30 years of experience of working in the sports industry across a host of senior management roles, Peter Hutton joined Eurosport as Chief Executive Officer in March 2015 with the remit of bringing a “renewed focus to programming, production, promotions and platforms”.

Based in Paris, Peter oversees Eurosport’s growing portfolio of sporting content that reaches 236 million cumulative subscribers across 94 countries in Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa. Peter immediately invested in production and rights, delivering the network’s business strategy to create more exclusive, premium and locally relevant content with a strong focus on Eurosport’s pillar sports of cycling, tennis, motorsports, snooker and winter sports.

Peter heads the Eurosport team that will deliver the Winter and Summer Olympic Games to millions of sports fans across Europe. In addition to the Games itself, Peter has made no secret of his ambition to tell Olympic stories all-year round via Eurosport’s programming that includes the World Athletics Championships and FIS Alpine Ski World Cup events allowing audiences to connect with athletes day-in, day-out.

Peter also works closely with the Managing Director of Eurosport Digital to grow the Eurosport Player, the on-demand OTT service, and Eurosport.com – available in ten languages worldwide and visited by 14.5million unique users across Europe alone.

Speaker

Simon FreerChief Commercial OfficerLiberty Global Central

Chief Commercial Officer and private equity investor. Asset manager with over 20 years international investing and operating experience across a wide range of sectors and business stages. Over 10 years focus in the technology / media / telecoms sector, leading the 3i global TMT sector team and various Liberty Global strategic media investments . Also Strategy management consultant at Arthur Anderson prior to 3i

Speaker

John RossiterGeneral Manager, Central EuropeSony Pictures Television Networks

John Rossiter is general manager, Central Europe, for Sony Pictures Television (SPT). Based in Budapest, he oversees six brands with 14 localized channel feeds across 13 countries in Central Europe. During his tenure, he launched dedicated SVOD service AXN Now as well as AXN Spin; led the acquisition of Viasat channels which significantly grew Hungary's portfolio; established in-house distribution sales and marketing in four countries; and built a stand-alone ad sales team.

Before his current position, Rossiter was a senior financial analyst for Walt Disney Television International; director of business development & finance, Europe, for Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI); and senior vice president, operations and business development at HBO Europe.

Rossiter is a board member of Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM) Europe.

He received degrees from Rhodes University in South Africa as well as Eaglesvale College in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Speaker

Antonio Carvalho Vice President, AnalyticsLiberty Global BI

Antonio Carvalho is Vice President, Analytics, at Liberty Global, leading the efforts in the areas of Advanced Analytics and Data Sciences, including Product and Content Analytics, Customer Analytics and Audience Measurement, across the group.

Prior to joining Liberty Global, Antonio was Chief Research Officer at Kantar Media, responsible for Audience Research, Analytics and Data Sciences across over 50 markets where Kantar Media operates.

Antonio holds and BSc and MSc in Chemical Engineering from the Lisbon Institute of Technology, a PhD in Mathematics from the University of Bristol and a Post Doc from Oxford University, where he was a Research Fellow.

Jeff BartonSenior Manager of PartnershipsLiberty Global Central

Jeff recently joined the Liberty Global programming group, coming from HBO in New York. Jeff started working for HBO after college and he has spent the past five years managing marketing and sales relationships with U.S. MVPDs.

Dennis BekenkampDirector of ProgrammingLiberty Global Central

40 years old, married with two children (boy 7 and girl 11).From May 2005 until November 2015 worked at UPCNL/Ziggo in different roles within programming/ content. Since November 2015 working at Liberty Global as Director Programming. In that role, he’s responsible for content acquisition, with main focus on NL and BE and having among others the BBC, AETN, Scripps and all international news channels as main accounts.

Before UPCNL Dennis worked for KPN and KLM in customer service and marketing roles and graduated in Culture, Organization and Management (MSc) from VU University Amsterdam

Camelia BradProgramming Contract ManagerLiberty Global Central

Camelia Brad joined Liberty Global in 2014, as Programming Contract Manager. She is responsible for the contract management across the European markets. With main focus on boosting efficiency through process improvements and technology upgrades, she has coordinated the electronic signature process (Docusign) and is currently involved in the implementation of the new contract management system developed by Mediamorph.

Previously, Camelia worked for UPC Romania as Content Manager and moved to Amsterdam upon completing an 8 months secondment.

When she isn’t glued to a computer screen, she spends time traveling, learning Dutch, sometimes enjoying a nice tennis match or avidly waiting for the new seasons of House of Cards and Games of Thrones!!

Rachel DijkstraExecutive Assistant to Bruce Mann Liberty Global Central

Rachel Dijkstra joined Liberty Global in May 2016 and is Executive Assistant to Bruce Mann. Prior to joining Liberty Global, she worked for the Senior Management of both adidas and Teleplan. Rachel has followed Media and Event studies in Rotterdam and Chicago. After her studies, she went back to her roots and spent some time in Busan, South Korea for a long vacation.

She lives in The Hague, near the beach, with her partner and soon to join the family, 2 British shorthair kittens. She really enjoys travelling and working close with the broader team of Programming. In Rachel’s free time, you can find her at the local running- or swimming club, keeping fit!

Carlos FavitaSenior Manager Operational AnalysisLiberty Global Central

Carlos will join the Market Planning team on July 1st reporting into Alan Ogston, VP of Market Planning. He will be responsible for market analysis, programming planning and reporting as well as development of strategic recommendations for the Central Programming team.

He joins the team after five years at the Central Business Analysis and Planning team, where he focused on executive reporting and strategic analysis to directly support the CCO (Chief Commercial Officer) in managing day to day operations. Prior to that he worked in FP&A team, after having started as a Management Trainee at Liberty Global in 2008.

Carlos holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration and Management from Nova School of Business in Lisbon.

James HendersonProduction DirectorLiberty Global Central

Corporate Development and Media Industry Strategist. 15 years investment and operating experience in the media industry across FTA, Content Production and Digital sectors. Investment and asset management of LG Content Investments. Former Head of Corporate Development/M&A at ITV.

Pim HofmeesterDirector On DemandLiberty Global Central

Pim has been working in the entertainment industry for over 15 yrs. Starting out in this industry as a Brand Manager with leading game publisher Ubisoft, Pim was at the cradle of the roll-out of the world famous Prince of Persia brand, later evolving into the Assassins Creed series.

In April 2006 he joined UPC NL as a Sr. Brand Mgr. – responsible for DTV acquisition, Premiums and the roll-out of VOD in NL. After the successful launch and expansion of the UPC NL VOD service, Pim joined Liberty Global in 2012 as Director of VOD & Content Development, with a focus on presenting customers the best digital entertainment experience possible, ranging from product & content development to marketing, budget and metadata.

Pim lives in the Haarlem area in The Netherlands and keeps being happily amazed by the rapid evolution our industry is currently going through.

Greg MatsonVice President of ProgrammingLiberty Global Central

Greg joined Liberty Global in June, 2014, as Vice President, Programming. He has responsibility for negotiating content agreements with several key accounts across the various European markets, and for coordinating content acquisition with our Affiliates across CEE.

Prior to joining LG, Greg worked many years for NBC Universal in Los Angeles and London, launching and expanding their pay television networks internationally. Greg also spent part of his career in Munich, developing distribution and digital media strategy for ProSieben Sat1.

Greg is American and grew up in sunny Southern California. He now loves living in almost-as-sunny Amsterdam with his wife, Tiffany and their 7-year-old daughter, Danielle. Greg holds degrees from UCLA and Georgetown University in the U.S.

Carolyn Oosting-KlumppPersonal Assistant Programming Liberty Global Central

Carolyn joined Liberty Global in September of 2012. There she supports Jeroen Bergman and the Programming team with everything imaginable, the most fun & challenging of course being organizing the yearly Programming conference! She studied film at Emerson College in Boston where she was born and raised.

Her 20s were spent playing drums in various Boston rock bands, and having not quite reached stardom she instead acquired and ran her own used record store for a few years across from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

With dual U.S. & Irish citizenship, Carolyn made the move to the Netherlands in 2004 searching for adventure - mostly, while also looking for gainful employment. There she started a dog walking service in Amsterdam, which proved quite gainful. Then in 2006 she switched gears and started working at a small company as Office Manager and Conference Manager. She now resides in the suburbs of Amsterdam with her husband and 2 sons, aged 9 and 8. Hobbies (and stress relief) include playing drums in a blues band and boxing at the company gym.

Luigi PappalardoProgramming AnalystLiberty Global Central

Luigi joined the Liberty Global Programming team as Programming Analyst in January 2014. Before that he worked as Financial Business analyst for ChellomediaBenelux.

Luigi holds a Master in Business Administration from the University of Amsterdam and Master of Science in Marketing and Communication From the University of Siena.

Cornelius SchauerVice President of ProgrammingLiberty Global Central

Cornelius holds a Master degree in Communications Science, Politics and Marketing from the University Essen, Germany. After starting out in the Multimedia and Internet Content industry, he joined a company with the thrilling name “Kabel NRW” in 2001, which was later “ISH” and is now “Unitymedia”. After 9 years in Cologne he transitioned from Unitymedia to Liberty Global in The Netherlands.

Cornelius is VP Programming at Liberty Global and has his focus on Programming is Austria, Switzerland and Germany and the key accounts Discovery and Disney.

Andrea SchumacherDirector of ProgrammingLiberty Global Central

Andrea has over 16 years of experience in the international cable/satellite/broadband business. After leaving her native Germany straight from university for what was planned to be a 6 months internship, Andrea spent the next 10 years in London holding a number of roles within the international Pay TV sector. These ranged from General Manager at Music Choice to Director of Distribution & Affiliate Marketing at Travel Channel Intern. to Channel Manager at NBC Universal, overseeing the roll out of new channels and services, financial planning and business strategy, negotiating distribution deals, PR and marketing across Europe, Africa and Asia.

Making the journey across the Channel and changing to the operator side, Andrea joined Liberty Global in 2008 as Director of Programming in the Central Programming department in Amsterdam, working on Pan-European content deals and focusing on Central and Eastern Europe. Since March 2017 she is also a member of the Liberty Global Works Council.

Andrea has a Masters degree in Economics, Anglistik/Amerikanistik and Hispanistik from the University of Kassel, Germany.

Alex SviridovSenior Manager Programming - Specialist ContentLiberty Global Central

Alex Sviridov is a Senior Manager Programming - Specialist Content at the Liberty Global Operations in Amsterdam. Alex joined Arrivo-on-Demand team in 2005 and became responsible for content selection and NVOD scheduling.

With the growth of TVOD service across territories he started to manage VOD programming and strategic content acquisition.

Today Alex and his team provide special VOD and linear programming for all affiliates of Liberty Global and third parties across Europe.

Dylan PorterManager Entertainment CVPLiberty Global Central CMO

Dylan Porter is a manager in the Entertainment CVP team, Liberty Global and is responsible for the positioning and commercial exploitation of Entertainment propositions within the markets. In close collaboration with the Product development, Programming and CEX functions he sees to the strategy and conversion of our content offering into attractive customer focused marketing.

Prior to joining Liberty Dylan was based in Sydney, Australia were he worked in the sport partnerships team for News Corp owned Multi Channel Network.

He holds a BA in History from Ohio Wesleyan University and is based in Amsterdam.

Dana BoureanuManager Commercial Planning & AnalysisLiberty Global Central Planning

Dana joined Liberty Global in 2016. As part of the Central Commercial Organization, she handles the business analysis, planning and strategic reporting for the EVP (CCO) office, i.e. preparing presentations and communication materials to Supervisory Board members, Executive Leadership Team, internal events, conferences, etc.

She has 6+ years of prior experience in media, working at ProSiebenSat.1 Germany with the Executive Board and senior management across a variety of functions including strategy, business operations, investor relations and corporate financial reporting.

Dana has a Master’s degree in International Business Management from the University of Westminster in London, as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Finance & Banking.

Gagandeep SethiVice President Business Analysis and Planning Liberty Global Central Planning

Gagandeep Sethi is Vice President Business Analysis and Planning at Liberty Global. He is responsible for the business analysis, planning and strategic reporting functions for the Central Commercial group.

Prior to joining Liberty Global, Gagandeep was a consultant at Monitor Deloitte, working in Corporate strategy, Customer & Marketing strategy, (Digital) Innovation strategy, Pricing and Demand Analytics, and Economic and Social strategy as a means to assist organizations in addressing their toughest challenges in a dynamic world.

Gagandeep holds a degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Mumbai and an MBA in Strategy from the RSM Erasmus University.

Lucien Brouwer

Lucien Brouwer started in the role of Director Entertainment Platforms in January 2017. Lucien’s team leads the product development for our entertainment platforms suite and has product ownership throughout our European markets for our next-generation and legacy digital TV/video & multiscreen product platforms.

Before joining Liberty Global Lucien lead the video & connectivity product teams as VP Products within Ziggo, having joined UPC Netherlands in 2013 as Director of Product Management. Earlier in his career Lucien worked at KPN where he headed product management teams, worked in the company’s handset and retail operations and was the Business Program Manager in a BSS transformation program.

Director Entertainment PlatformsLiberty Global Central Products

Chris van der Linden

Director Quality & Product Operations Liberty Global Central Products

I am in my current role as Director Quality & Product Operations responsible for overall product quality, content operations and metadata. Within product quality we are focused at safeguarding the quality of our pan-European portfolio of Entertainment and Connectivity products during the product development phase and in-life management. We organize collaborative cross-functional frameworks such as the Fit4Play-program to target tactical and strategic improvements at customer needs driving up NPS.

The content operations team is operating and controlling the supply chain of content delivery from the studio-sourcing all the way up to the platforms used by the customer with the aim to provide a timely, consistent and high-quality VOD-catalogue to the customers. Within the metadata domain we are responsible for the vendor-management, sourcing, delivery, integration and operation of metadata into our video platforms for the purpose of presenting rich and engaging user interfaces to our customer base. Up until recently I have been responsible for cloud-based video products (Replay/nDVR), video analytics and measurement, personalization/discovery and advanced advertising.

I hold a MBA from the University of Amsterdam and a Bachelor in Information and Communications Technology.

Tina RodriguezDirector Entertainment ServicesLiberty Global Central Products

Tina Rodriguez joined Liberty Global in December 2016 as Director Entertainment Services.Together with her team, she is responsible for developing and enhancing all of our Entertainment Services across our Video products. This portfolio includes Linear TV, Radio, VOD and Replay TV, Cloud Recording, Personalisation, and Advanced Advertising. Combined, these services create meaningful value for Liberty and improves the customer experience by connecting customers to their entertainment content.

Before coming on board, Tina led the Entertainment Product Management department at Unitymedia, one of our biggest operating companies. She has over a decade of experience working in digital entertainment and has accumulated considerable experience of product development/product management in her previous assignments as Director New Media DACH for Sony Music, and Head of Music at Vodafone Germany. She has also worked as a strategy consultant focussing on entertainment development and copyright clearance for several German Telecommunication companies.

Claire LautenschutzSenior Legal Counsel Liberty Global Central Legal

I enjoy working in a dual legal role in both the Commercial and the Content Legal Team collaborating with and advising the Programming, T&I and Corporate Procurement departments. Focus areas include multi-jurisdictional programming contracts, new technologies, software & products.

Originally from bonnie Scotland, I moved to London where I stayed for eight years and worked for a media law firm & BBC Worldwide. I jumped across the pond to Amsterdam nearly three years ago and appreciated the Dutchies so much that I married one and live happily just outside the city in Santpoort Zuid. Outside of work I love music, being outdoors, staying as fit and active as possible, travelling and spending lots of quality time with friends and family.

Helena SamahaSenior Commercial CounselLiberty Global Central Legal

Helena Samaha is a dual qualified lawyer (France/England) with extensive experience of working internationally. Prior to joining Liberty Global, she was Group Head of Legal & Regulatory at Lycamobile in the U.K. Before that, Helena worked abroad for 8 years, during which time she was General Counsel and Company Secretary of 24-country Pay TV company OSN (Orbit Showtime Network), headquartered in Dubai. She previously held the position of General Counsel-EMEA at the global restructuring firm Alixpartners, where she was based in the Paris office.

Before joining AlixPartners, Helena was a Partner at law firm DLA Piper in the TMC group in London. She joined DLA Piper from the Virgin Group, where she held the position of Group Legal Director based in the corporate HQ in London. Helena trained and worked as a finance lawyer at Clifford Chance in London, and holds an LLM in corporate and commercial law from Kings College London.

Christian Bakx Chief Marketing Officer Central & Eastern Europe

Chris joined chello, part of Liberty Global in 2000 after 4 years of IT consulting in the banking industry. In 2000 he joined chello as leading program management, and throughout the years, he held various management positions in delivery product management, pricing, base management and commercial development working with all UPC country organizations.

He is passionate about consumers and optimizing customer loyalty driving customer lifetime value. He is one of the drivers of the UPC bundling journey that started in 2004. In 2009 he was promoted to a VP position overseeing Strategic Pricing for LG. He joined CEE in October 2015 to drive improvement of the proposition, supported by the Horizon / Next Gen Video product roadmap, and monetization of innovation.

Chris graduated from the University of Applied science in Utrecht, with a specialization in Business Science and completed an Executive MBA at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University in 2007.

Bogdan BucureiHead of CVP & ContentCentral & Eastern Europe

Starting with March 1st 2017, Bogdan is the Head ofCustomer Propositions and Content for UPC CEE Countries.Bogdan has over 16 years of experience in marketing andtelecom. He joined the UPC Romania team in June 2010, asTelephony Manager. Six months later, in December 2010, hebecame Internet & Telephony Manager and in 2011 he tookthe challenge of being the Product Management Director, beingresponsible for all of UPC’s products, as well as for developinga competitive product portfolio and an integrated marketingstrategy. In August 2015, he became UPC’s Marketing Director,coordinating the entire marketing activity of the company forthe residential segment.

He graduated the Faculty of Electronics and Telecommunicationsin Brasov, where he also followed an MBA program within theTransilvania University.Bogdan has a beautiful 5 year old daughter who loves Disneylandby any kind of weather. He is passionate about skiing, even if hejust learned, and about biking, even if he cannot ride a bike.Last year, he climbed Kilimanjaro, and if you want to bringback his memories from there, just call him Bogodan.

Ewelina RabsztynContent Director Central & Eastern Europe

Ewelina Rabsztyn, Content Director CEE since 1st March 2017, had previously been Programming Director of UPC Polska for over 3 years; in her role she is responsible for linear and on demand content acquisition, relationships with content providers and programming costs.

Ewelina has been with UPC Polska since 2001 starting then as Brand Manager for Wizja TV the DTH platform that soon merged with Cyfra+. Following the merger, she continued in the Marketing Dept of UPC Telewizja Kablowa managing programming changes and programming communication to customers, was part of the video milestones such as the launch of digital television (2008), VoD platform (2009), Horizon Go and Horizon Box (2014) and Replay TV this spring (2017). In her ‘previous life’ she was dedicated to FMCG food products, premium sportswear and premium hair care products.

Ewelina studied English at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (MA degree) and graduated from post-graduate MBA Atlanta Program run jointly by Poznań University of Economics and Georgia State University in Atlanta, USA.Ewelina is a proud mother of a 12-year old Honorata and loves spending all free time with her – travelling, shopping or baking cupcakes together. Recently they both watch Netflix on one i-pad, not necessarily together..

Ann De WaelDirector Content & AcquisitionTelenet

Ann joined Telenet 7 years ago, as legal manager. She gave legal support to the marketing, sales, B2B and mobile department.At the beginning of 2013, Ann became Director content & acquisition. In this role Ann is responsible for maintaining links with broadcasters, majors, studios, local suppliers and collecting agencies.

Prior to joining Telenet Ann was a barrister at the Bar of Antwerp for 19 years. She was a senior associate in the litigation department of A&O. Afterwards she became a partner in the law firm TVH.

Ann holds a law degree from the University of Leuven and holds a postgraduate diploma in economics from the University of Antwerp.

Evelyn AttererDirector of ContentUnitymedia

Evelyn holds an MA degree in History, German and English from the University in Cologne and has been working in the cable business for 20 years - mainly in product management and content. Today Evelyn’s role is Director Content at Unitymedia in Germany where she looks after the linear TV business. Evelyn dedicates tremendous energy at defending the German feeding-in fee model and is very passionate about everything related to content.

Oliver TaproggeDirector of Content for VOD and AppsUnitymedia

Oliver Taprogge joined Unity Media as Director of Content for VOD and Apps in 2015. He is responsible for the partnerships and contractual relationships with non-linear partners at Unitymedia. His television career started in 1999 in Los Angeles, in the international production department for E! Networks.Following the launch of E! Networks in Europe in 2003 he was one of the initial employees that was hired in the London based headquarters taking on responsibilities in production and ad sales in 2004. In 2006 he made the move to pan regional linear channel sales as Affiliates Sales Manager EMEA for E! Networks (eventually Comcast Networks.) In 2010 he joined BBC Worldwide as Regional Manager of Affiliate Sales- EMEA.In 2013 he joined AMC Networks International (previously Chello Zone) as Head of Affiliates Sales WEMEA later focusing on UK & IRE, Scandinavia, Southern Europe, DACH & Turkey.

In his spare time, Oliver enjoys climbing, travelling, and supporting Manchester United.

Eileen WolfContent, Marketing & ProductsUnitymedia

Eileen holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Wiesbaden Business School. She entered the content world as student member of the Deutsche Telekom content team in 2009. After her studies she joined Kabel BW in 2011 as Product Manager payTV. She has since moved from Heidelberg to Cologne in the course of the KBW-Unitymedia merger. Today she is responsible for a variety of regional and shopping channels, the paytv portfolio and all New-TV projects within the Unitymedia content team.

Sonja SchiftarProduct Manager VODUPC Austria

Sonja joined UPC Austria in 2010 as Product Manager VOD.

Before that, she spent seven years in the music business, followed by five years being in charge of the DVD releases for Universal, Sony, Paramount, DreamWorks, Constantin and a roster of smaller independents.

After a two year sojourn into the world of sports, she happily returned to content, where she juggles everything regarding VOD that isn’t engineering; from content acquisition to marketing, communication and being the resident nerd at UPC On Demand’s annual participation at the Vienna Comic Con.

When she’s not staring at screens and stages big and small, she likes to do Pilates, archery or runs through the Vienna Woods.

Elizabeth Béres

VoD ExpertUPC Hungary

Elizabeth joined UPC Hungary in June 2014 as an intern. 2016 January she became VoD expert, in which her duty was to manage all VoD related content task, VoD operation and development. She was actively involved in the MyPrime, Helios and ReplayTV launch in her country.

In the last months she started to deal with programming related tasks, such as strategy, communication and programming finance.Besides her position at UPC Hungary, she currently studies Marketing MSc at Budapest Corvinus University, Hungary’s top business program. Her passion is to backpacking to unique, unexplored places.

Dorka Keszei

Dorka Keszei started working as a Content Specialist for UPC Hungary in April 2017. Previously Dorka was an intern for over a year in the Content team. Dorka graduated from Budapest Business School in January.

Now she is responsible for VOD contents, VOD and programming communications and managing local channels.

In her free time she likes to spend time with friends and family, loves to travel and getting to know other cultures especially gastro cultures.

Content SpecialistUPC Hungary

Viktor TakacsContent ManagerUPC Hungary

Viktor is probably one of the newest members of UPC Hungary, just started in a Content Manager position and will be responsible for all linear and non-linear programming related tasks. Previously he spent almost eight years at Sony Pictures Television where he was responsible for the programming of flagship channels on the Hungarian market such as VIASAT3, VIASAT6 and AXN. He was also involved in launching SPT’s VOD service and in different business development related initiatives.

Viktor describes himself as a real team player and not only on the work field but also in his personal life as he’s still an active water polo player on a masters level and a rhythm guitarist in a cover band.

Madalina RadulescuVideo Content ManagerUPC Romania

Madalina Radulescu is the latest addition to the UPC Romanian content team. She’s the country video content manager and she is responsible for all linear and non-linear programming related tasks. Previously, she worked for more than 20 years in TV production, news and entertainment, for the most important TV stations in Romania. She’s a graduate of the University of Bucharest, and a TV, movies and travel passionate.

“Because I like the way letters are adding up in words describing wonderful realms, I studied literature. And I graduated from University of Bucharest, Romanian-English department. Because I like the way images and sounds are mixing together with words showing people how the world is shaping, I started working in television. And I worked for ProTv, Antena Group, Realitatea Media, Distraction Formats, in various positions, from editor to producer, general producer, deputy editor-in-chief, content manager. Finally, because I am very curious about people, life, environment, books, movies, TV shows, what’s happening around me, why is it happening, I joined the huge army of invisible TV people in the back of the cameras. And I’ve been doing this for over 20 years, making every single day a special day.”

Matthias KriebVice President Commercial ManagementUPC Switzerland

Matthias Krieb joined UPC Switzerland (then Cablecom) back in 2005. Since then he took on various roles in Marketing, Products, and Strategy/Transformation. He currently is responsible for key growth and transformation programs in CHAT like footprint expansion and the transformation of the Swiss Landlord model.

Earlier this year, he took on the commercial responsibility for the new channel MySports which will be launched this summer, and for the CH Programming business. As VP Commercial Management he reports to CMO Anna Gatti. Prior to joining UPC, Matthias worked in Telco/Hi-tech consulting for Strategy Consultants Bain & Co. in Germany and Switzerland for 8 years.

Thierry FavreauSenior Programming ManagerUPC Switzerland

Thierry Favreau has recently joined UPC as Senior Programming Manager responsible for Marketing and Content strategy for the linear division within the Swiss Market. As part of the Content Team, he is tasked in delivering unique strategic marketing initiatives, supporting all linear renewals and focusing on engaging broadcasters to strengthen the Liberty Global footprint within the region.

His television career started during the 2010 Olympic Games working with the International Olympic Committee clearing rights with international broadcast partners. In 2014 he headed a start-up focusing on content creation and distribution and found success around consulting for live rights acquisitions and strategies across the Nordics, Western Europe and Canadian market leading the company from 90 clients to over 300 under his tenure.Following a move to AMC he continued his success across the DACH, Nordic and UK markets eventually leading him into his role at Liberty Global.

Thierry is an avid Ice Hockey player, Snowboarder and never misses a West Ham United game.

David Kent

David Kent joined the UPC Ireland Content team in November 2012. Prior to joining UPC Ireland, David was the Head of Entertainment Propositions for Hutchison 3G Ireland responsible for managing the Mobile and Mobile Broadband consumer facing portals.

Before joining H3G, David spent eleven years in London working within the Telecommunications industry in content and product management roles with T-Mobile International and Fonestarz, a mobile content specialist.

David holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the National University of Ireland in Economics and Sociology.

Content Manager Virgin Media Ireland

Paul CallingtonHead of Content AcquisitionVirgin Media UK

Paul is a Virgin veteran having joined Virgin Mobile in 2000, after a brief foray in the mid 2000’s launching mobile TV with BT (the ill-fated but equally ground breaking Lobster!) Paul re-joined Virgin and Virgin Media in 2007.

In a career spanning ten years at Virgin Media he’s held a number of senior roles within the business, across Group Strategy, Broadband and TV Product, during that time leading and launching diverse initiatives including retail JV’s, Value Added Services / Apps and OTT propositions.

Now as Head of Content Acquisition Paul is now responsible for the commercial relationships with key content and channel partners across both pay and free portfolio’s, ensuring that Virgin TV delivers the best TV experience for its customers.

Peter ChapmanDirector of ContentVirgin Media UK

Peter Chapman is Director of Subscription Services and is responsible for the customer offer across our bundled linear channels, on demand programming and apps, having negotiated distribution agreements for a number of years prior to this. Peter has been involved in UK cable since 2004. He joined Virgin Media as Head of Enhanced TV and was responsible for leading the company's push into interactive services with high profile events such as Wimbledon, the World Cup and Big Brother. Peter was a key player in the rollout of HD, and the subsequent launch of the UK's first VoD service.

Before joining Telewest Peter spent more than a decade working for major broadcasters such as the BBC, Channel 4, Sky, and Viasat, where he was directly involved in transmission, scheduling, commissioning and programme making. He is a graduate of the University of Auckland, majoring in Political Science, and also gained a post-graduate degree in documentary and film making.

Richard VivianDirector of ContentVirgin Media UK

Richard joined Virgin Media in April 2016 as Director of Content responsible for the acquisition of all linear channels and accompanying channel VOD across Virgin Media in the UK and Ireland. Richard has nearly twenty years’ experience working in the TV business, starting his career in content distribution for the UK’s largest commercial broadcaster ITV. Between 2000 and 2006 Richard worked at Discovery Communications Europe first in content acquisitions and latterly in a UK commercial role covering channel distribution, ad sales and what was then known as ‘new media’. Richard and his family took a two year career break to manage a private luxury safari lodge on the Kenyan/Tanzanian border. On his return to the UK, Richard worked at Channel4’s JV music channel business, The Box, in a commercial role. Most recently Richard spent nearly 6 years at the Walt Disney Company working in channel distribution for ESPN and the Disney Channel.

Richard is married with 3 children and current favourite pastime is gardening – the new rock’n’roll!