Jerry Yang

Yahoo! Co-Founder and CEO

Jerry Yang, a Taiwanese native raised in San Jose, Calif., co-created the Yahoo! Internet navigational guide in April 1994 with David Filo and co-founded Yahoo! Inc. in April 1995. Yang, a leading force in the media industry, has been instrumental in building Yahoo! into the world's most highly trafficked Web site and one of the Internet's most recognized brands. A member of Yahoo!'s board of directors, Yang works closely with the company's president and CEO to develop corporate business strategies and guide the future direction of the company. Yang holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University and is currently on a leave of absence from Stanford's electrical engineering Ph.D. program.

Rt. Hon Andy Burnham MP

Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

Andy Burnham was appointed as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in January 2008. Prior to this he was Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Minister of State for Delivery and Reform at the Department of Health and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Immigration, Citizenship and Nationality at the Home Office. Andy was educated in Merseyside and gained an MA in English at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. He entered Parliament in June 2001 as Member of Parliament for Leigh, Lancashire, and has served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to David Blunkett at the Home Office, and to Ruth Kelly at the Department for Education and Skills. He was also a member of the House of Commons Health Select Committee from 2001 to 2003. Earlier in his career, he worked as a researcher for Tessa Jowell MP and for the NHS Confederation. Other past roles include Administrator for the Football Task Force and Special Adviser to Chris Smith at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in 1998. Andy is married to Marie-France van Heel and they have three children. He is an avid supporter of Leigh Centurions Rugby League Club and Everton Football Club.

Matt Mason

Author of The Pirate's Dilemma

Matt Mason is the bestselling author of The Pirate's Dilemma, the first book in the history of the world to hit the number one spot on Amazon's economics/free enterprise bestseller list, and the rap bestseller list, at the same time. It has since been published in seven countries and counting.

Mason began his career as a pirate radio and club DJ in London, going on to become founding Editor-in-Chief of the seminal magazine RWD. In 2004, he was selected as one of the faces of Gordon Brown's Start Talking Ideas campaign, and was presented the Prince's Trust London Business of the Year Award by HRH Prince Charles.

He has written and produced TV series, comic strips, viral videos and records. His journalism has appeared in The Guardian, The Independent, The Observer Music Monthly, Dazed & Confused, Adweek, VICE, Complex, Libération, and other publications in more than 20 countries. He has spoken and consulted on the subjects covered in the book all over the world. He recently founded the non-profit media company Wedia with his wife Emily. He lives in New York City.

Justin Billingsley

Director of Brand at Orange UK

Justin has 13 years strategic marketing experience in local, regional and global marketing leadership roles. His experience has spanned integrated communications development, global brand architecture development, product innovation and strategic asset and partnership management.

He has worked in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Singapore, USA and UK for Unilever, Coca-Cola and Nokia. He has just joined Orange in August 2007.

Ian Pearson

Futurologist with Futurizon

Ian Pearson graduated in 1981 in Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics from Queens University, Belfast. After four years in Shorts Missile Systems, he joined BT Laboratories as a performance analyst, and later worked in network design, computer evolution, cybernetics, and mobile systems. From 1991 until 2007, he was BT’s Futurologist, tracking and predicting new developments throughout information technology, considering both technological and social implications. He now does exactly the same things for Futurizon, a startup futures institute. As a futurologist and consultant, he lectures widely on his futures views. In between conferences, he writes on topics such as machine consciousness, human evolution, women’s issues, ageing, social trends and advanced computing technology.

He has received many awards for his papers, written several books and has made well over 400 TV and radio appearances. He is a Chartered Fellow of the British Computer Society, the World Academy of Art and Science, the Royal Society of Arts, the Institute of Nanotechnology and the World Innovation Foundation. He was recently awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science degree by the University of Westminster.

Richard Eyre

Chairman of the IAB

Richard Eyre’s roots are in advertising. He worked in three agencies, becoming the first Media Director of BBH in 1986. In 1991, he moved into Commercial Radio as Chief Executive of Capital Radio, and in 1997 was recruited to be Chief Executive of ITV.

In 2000 he became Chairman and CEO of Pearson Television, leading the merger of the business with CLT-Ufa to form RTL, the largest TV company in Europe.

Having completed the integration of the businesses he turned his back on a lucrative air miles package to fulfil some ambitions. He has written a novel which was published by Penguin earlier this year, and won a radio licence in his beloved Cornwall. Last year he celebrated his 50th birthday by walking to the North Pole.

He has built a portfolio of non-executive and advisory roles for a range of organisations from the Guardian Media Group, 19 Management and the Eden Project. He is Chairman of the Internet Advertising Bureau; RDF Plc, a major TV production company; and I-play, a mobile games publisher.

Sarah Messer

Head of Commercial Research & Insight, ITV

Sarah Messer joined ITV in February 2007 as Head of Commercial Research & Insight. Sarah’s team are responsible for all research that supports the Customer Relations department & their clients. This includes working closely with agencies & brand owners to help them make the best of their campaigns, and delivering strategic insights about ITV's platforms and content across the industry. Sarah has one of the few teams within ITV that work across the ITV Family; from TV to Broadband, Interactive to Mobile.

Her most recent work includes the acclaimed Event TV project, the largest study of its kind ever undertaken in the UK, which for the first time has demonstrated that all viewers are not created equal & that ITV content makes advertising more effective. She is also currently working closely with the JICiMS teams in the quest for a universally recognised internet measurement system.

Sarah joined ITV from News International where she worked on the Sun & News of the World newspapers & affiliated websites. Prior to that she spent a number of years at the Financial Times.

Federico Grosso

SVP Business Development, Blinkx

Federico Grosso is a digital media veteran with more than a decade of international experience. As blinkx’s senior vice president of Global Sales and Business Development, he is directly responsible for blinkx's revenue generation efforts through advertising and content acquisition as well as the day-to-day operations of the company's sales organization. Since joining blinkx in December 2004, Federico has led his team to create more than 250 media and advertising partnerships with some of the world’s most popular consumer brands including Reuters, MTV Networks, RealNetworks, Nokia, Microsoft and Shell.

From 1997 to 2004, Federico held several positions within Yahoo!, where he launched Yahoo! Italia and the European Commercial Team. A well-respected expert on both online advertising and digital media, Federico has spoken at prominent industry events around the world including MIPTV and Digital Hollywood. Federico received his B.A. in Political Sciences from the University of Torino, Italy, specializing in Communications and Digital Media Publishing. He has also completed the Emerging Leaders Program in General Management at the London Business School.

Spencer Hyman

Chief Operating Officer, Last FM

Spencer Hyman has been COO of Last.fm since early 2006 where he masterminds global business, ecommerce and advertising deals; which includes partnerships with Apple, AOL and Motorola, helping the social network grow into one of the most robust and innovative online music companies in the world. Last.fm was acquired by CBS in mid 2007 for $280m.

Spencer has over 20 years of experience in the media and high-tech industry with positions including: Managing Director UK, Copan, an international VC firm where he set up a London office. Retail Director of Technology Products for Amazon in Europe; Principal in Communications, Media and Technology at Booz.Allen and Hamilton, Inc.; Sales and Marketing Director for Hasbro Japan; Assistant Factory Manager, Hasbro Thailand.

He is also currently on the board of advisors of a variety of start-ups including Linked-In, Yoyo-games and Heligon.

Spencer is an honours graduate of Magdalen College, Oxford and, courtesy of the EU, attended the ETP in Tokyo, Japan.

Guy Phillipson

Chief Executive, IAB

Guy Phillipson took over as CEO of the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) in January 2005. Following his 100 day review, the IAB was restructured and repositioned as a valuable resource for marketers to help them make the most of all online advertising disciplines, including search, display, e-commerce and sponsorships.

During the year, online advertising revenues overtook radio, consumer magazines and then outdoor to become a truly mainstream medium. By the end of 2005 internet advertising revenues grew by 66% to reach a heady £1.4bn and Revolution magazine named Guy Phillipson Digital Business Person of the year.

From 1999 until 2004, Guy was the Head of Advertising at Vodafone UK. Responsible for an annual budget of £60m, Guy was responsible for brand, corporate, business and consumer campaigns during a period of substantial growth for the mobile giant. His numerous TV and new media projects include the Beckham-fronted Vodafone live! and Pay as you Talk commercials. Guy has worked very closely with ISBA over the years representing advertisers on the Executive Committee and chairing its Radio Action Group. In 2004 he was awarded a fellowship of the Radio Advertising Bureau. Previous posts have been at The Marketing Store, Barclays Bank PLC and Granada Group PLC. Guy is a regular speaker at major industry conferences and an accomplished jazz musician, having studied piano and composition at Trinity College of Music.

Kieron Matthews

Marketing Director

Kieron Matthews was appointed in April 2006 as the IAB’s first Head of Marketing. His role is to promote online to advertisers and agencies. This includes overseeing all IAB marketing communications across brand marketing, agency presentations, PR, conference marketing and promoting results from IAB initiatives.

Before becoming Marketing Director for the IAB, Kieron was also Marketing Director at the lead digital marketing agency Dare. There he worked on award winning campaigns for Lynx and the COI and was also involved in attracting new clients to Dare such as Sony Ericsson, Magnum, Vodafone, The AA and the BBC. In the time he was there, Dare grew from 9 staff to over 70.

Before joining Dare, Kieron worked at McCann’s, HHCL+P, TBWA Chiat Day (Toronto) and BBH where he launched Xbox across the web. Kieron has also worked on a diverse range of accounts including Coca-Cola, The FA, National Savings, Martini, Bank of Scotland, Early Learning Centre and T-mobile.