Lecturers on the conference
Among the speakers at Internet CEE conference there are representatives of the largest interactive agencies and media houses present in the region. The representatives from research companies, investment funds and the biggest online publishers not only from the CEE countries, but also from the Western markets (interested in expansion upon the states of the CEE region) will be also present.
Mike Hess, Director of Global Research & Communications Insights, OMD (USA)
Mike Hess joined OMD in 2004. Mike serves on several committees (including PRISM) aimed at advancing the industry and has been a frequent speaker at ARF and other industry functions. Prior to OMD, Mike ran the in-store research and point-of-sale business for TNS. He has held senior positions at IRI, Clorox, BASES and Bristol-Myers Squibb. His monograph, “Short and Long-Term Effects of Advertising and Promotion” was published by the AAAA in 2002. He has also contributed articles to “Advances in Consumer Behavior”, “Marketing Research Magazine” and the “CASRO” annual magazine. Mike has an MBA from Wharton in Marketing Research, an MA from Columbia in Experimental Psychology, and a BSc from Loyola University, Chicago. He has lectured on advertising and marketing topics at 30 universities and presented executive seminars for the Burke Institute and IRI University.
Fedor Virin, Research Director, Mail.ru (Russia)
Fedor Virin is Research Director at Mail.ru − a leader in display advertising in the Russian internet industry, and the largest free e-mail service in ex-USSR. Before 2005 he was Head of the internet metrix SpyLOG and also Head of the Research Committee of the Internet and Business association (www.a-ib.ru − an association of major internet companies in the Russian Federation). Fedor gives lectures on the internet marketing in several Moscow universities, and is the author of hundreds of papers about the internet, research and marketing, amongst other topics.
Seth Bindernagel, Director, Localization at Mozilla, Mozilla (USA)
At Mozilla Seth leads localization efforts, focusing on providing the best translations and the best local user experience of the company’s software across three platforms. Before becoming Director of Localization, he launched Mozilla's Community Giving and Empowerment program. He also worked as the Program Manager for Ashoka, a global non-profit organisation focusing on promoting the field of social entrepreneurship. Seth received his Masters in Business at the University of California, Berkeley. He also attended Cornell University. Seth grew up in Cleveland, Ohio (in the USA). He is the author of the following blog: http://blog.mozilla.com/seth.
Rok Hrastnik, International Internet Director, Studio Moderna (Slovenia)
Rok Hrastnik is International Internet Director at Studio Moderna, the largest CEE DRTV & multi-channel retailer. He manages e-commerce operations in 19 countries and leads a team of more than 100 internet marketing experts across the region. His main professional focus is online direct marketing and multi-channel integration, as well as internet marketing processes and optimisation. He is also the author of “Unleash the Marketing Power of RSS”, a book which made him the leading authority on RSS marketing in the US and Japan. Rok is a regular speaker at top global direct marketing conferences, such as DMA Annual (US), ACCM (US), Marketing Sherpa's E-mail Marketing Summit (2009; US), ERA Europe, German Teleshopping Conference and German Direct Mail World.
Mikhail Gourevitch, General Director of Mediamir, RBC (Russia)
Mikhail Gourevitch joined RBC in 1999 as a parliamentary journalist and analyst. He rapidly progressed through positions of increasing responsibility to become the Deputy Director of RBC's media business in charge of advertising and promotion in 2004. Mikhail played the leading role in creating the daily e-newspaper Ytro.ru, which grew into one of the leading online sources for general news in Russia. He actively participated in the establishment of the Russian internet through numerous projects, associations, conferences and forums. Mikhail hosts a television program on RBC TV, which is dedicated to marketing, public relations and advertising. He also gives lectures on information stream management on the internet at the Journalism Faculty of Moscow State University.
Artur Waliszewski, Country Business Manager , Google (Poland)
Artur Waliszewski joined Google in January 2006. Artur is responsible for strategic development and management of the Polish Google office. Artur leads a dedicated Polish team, supported by regionally based staff in London, and is in charge of evolving the Google brand for the local market. Artur’s work for Google includes building close partnerships with advertisers and partners in order to help realise the economic potential of online advertising. He will also be leading work on the localization of Google products to ensure they are fully adapted to the needs of Polish internet users. Artur has the extensive work experience in the area of online business development, products and marketing gained at the largest Polish internet company – Onet.pl. He began his career as one of the first employees at Onet.pl in 1996. Having worked in several positions from marketing and sales to business development, in the last 4 years he became a Board Member and Head of Portal Services.
Elena Lazarova, Key Account Manager, Neogen (Bulgaria)
Elena Lazarova has been working in the internet business since 2005. Her career started with the position of Operations Officer at Neogen Bulgaria. At the end of 2005 she became involved in online sales and marketing. In 2006, Elena became a Brand Manager in the International Division, being responsible for the brand building of all Neogen social web sites and their marketing.
Saša Škorić, Online Director, Oglasnik (Croatia)
Saša Škorić was appointed to the post of Online Director of the Oglasnik Group more than 2 years ago. He received a BCs degree in Marketing from the University of Osijek and has been involved in the internet activity since the mid 90s. At that time Saša helped to establish the first internet café and one of the first city portals in Eastern Croatia. Before coming to Oglasnik, he held the position of Portals Manager in the leading Croatian telecommunications company − Vipnet − where he spent almost 5 years.
Jan Sifra, Marketing and Communication Manager, Etarget (Slovakia)
Jan Sifra works at Etarget, a contextual advertising network that operates in 7 CEE markets – in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia and Serbia. As Marketing and Communications Manager, he is responsible for communication projects, researching the CEE markets and developing a network of communication partners. He regularly contributes to various industry magazines across CEE. Jan started his professional career at Avon Cosmetics in the PR and Marketing Department; he later moved to Neopublic Porter Novelli to develop the first PR projects online in Slovakia.
Ulrik Krag , CEO, Mediaprovider A/S (Denmark)
Ulrik Krag is CEO of Mediaprovider A/S – the leading internet publisher within the IT sector in Scandinavia. The company provides media products such as internet and mobile services and magazines. Ulrik is also a member of FDIM’s Board and is chairman of the group responsible for the official Danish mobile statistics. He acquired experience in the media production industry while working at the Danish company Ncom Publications A/S, which was acquired by the Swedish internet publisher Mediaprovider Scandinavia AB in May 2007. He graduated in Economics from the University of Aarhus, Denmark, and in Commerce from the University of New South Wales, Australia.
Matej Novák, Senior Search Marketing Consultant, Ataxo (Czech Republic)
Matej Novák works as Senior Search Marketing Consultant for Ataxo – search marketing agency with offices in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia. He is responsible for Ataxo’s largest clients, setting up and optimising search marketing workflows and research. His web activities started in 2000, at a time when he was studying philosophy at Charles University in Prague. He worked as Web Developer and closely cooperated with PLANstudio – a specialised internet cartography company. In 2005 he joined Ataxo, holding the positions of Chief of SEO Department, Senior SEM Consultant and Quality Manager.
Andrey Sebrant, Product Marketing Director, Yandex (Russia)
Andrey Sebrant was born in Moscow in 1954. In 1977 he graduated from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), where he later also earned PhD in physics. He carried out experimental research on laser and plasma physics at Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy up till 1995. In 1989 he became an active internet user and in 1995 he has started business activities in the internet industry, holding a post of Marketing Director at GlasNet, one of the first Russian ISPs. Andrey cooperated with the largest internet companies such as Russia-On-Line, Lycos Russia (subsidiary of Lycos Europe), Pole.ru, occupying top marketing and product development positions. Since 2004 he has held the post of Product Marketing Director at Yandex. At the same time for 8 years he has been working as an editor-in-chief of Russian Journal of Internet Marketing and as a Board Member of the "Internet and Business" association.
Tomáš Búřil, Sales Director, Seznam.cz (Czech Republic)
Tomáš Búřil is Sales Director of Seznam.cz – the leading internet company in the Czech Republic. Seznam.cz owns 6 out of Top 10 most visited web sites in the country and has 60% market share of search engines and 40% of online advertising. Seznam.cz portal comprises e-mail service, news, search engine, maps and other web sites. Tomáš is involved in the online business for 11 years now. At Seznam.cz he has been working for more than 6 years. His responsibilities are sales and business development.
Wim Vermeulen, Managing Director, Ogilvy (Belgium)
Wim Vermeulen has 19 years of experience in marketing and advertising. For 12 years he has been working in the internet marketing sector for the clients participating in media, technology, FMCG, banking and the automotive industry. He is an international speaker on such topics as interactive television advertising, in-game advertising and Web 2.0. As Managing Director of Ogilvy Interactive in Brussels, together with his team was responsible for the first interactive commercial TV, the first branded entertainment TV show and the first in-game advertising campaign in Belgium. As CEE Regional Digital Director he helps clients from the CEE region to thrive in digital marketing.
Filip Pieczyński, International Operations Director, Gemius SA (Poland)
He graduated in finance and banking from Warsaw School of Economics. For the last 4 years Filip has been responsible for the international development of the online research agency Gemius. He negotiates with local joint-industry committees about introduction and advancement of internet audience measurement. He also establishes cooperation with publishers, media and advertising agencies. As Director of International Operations Department, he also supervises the team of Gemius' abroad employees. Currently, the Gemius company successfully operates in the following countries: Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Belarus, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Israel, Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, UK, Russia and the Ukraine.
Alexey Belyaev, President, AIB (Russia)
Alexey Belyaev is President of "Internet and Business" association (AIB) – a non-profit industry organisation, founded in 2007 by 4 leading Russian internet companies: Mail.ru, Rambler, RosBusinessConsulting (RBC) and Yandex. Between 1995 and 1999 Alexey worked for RBC − Russian business news agency, developing online stock price information system and business news web site. From 2000 to 2007 he held the posts of Project Manager, Industry Relation Officer and Head of Partnership Division at Rambler.ru – a major Russian internet portal. Since 2007 Alexey is Head of AIB, association that conducts various studies on the Russian internet, develops educational courses for industry and hosts the annual "Internet and Business” conference − the biggest industry events in Russia.
Since September 2008 Dominik Czarnota together with Tomasz Przybyłowicz and Marcin Dobrzyniecki develops Sales Department at Nasza Klasa Sp. z o.o. Dominik worked previously for INTERIA.PL in eCommerce Department from the very foundation of this department and he was appointed Director of this division in 2006. He also gained extensive experience in e-commerce while working as eShop Product Manager for PTK Centertel.
Chris Modzelewski, CEO and Founder, ChartSearch Inc. (USA)
Chris was the founder of Gemius SA, the largest interactive media research agency in Central and Eastern Europe. As the company's majority shareholder, Chris oversaw the business growth from a bootstrapping startup to being a multinational pan-European leader, with leading market share across 15 countries throughout Central and Eastern Europe. At present he is the CEO of ChartSearch Inc.
Cristian Pantazi, Editor-in-chief, HotNews.ro (Romania)
Cristian Pantazi is Editor-in-chief of the leading news web site in Romania – HotNews.ro. He has worked for about 10 years as a Bucharest-based journalist for various dailies. At HotNews.ro he coordinates a team of over 50 journalists and a large number of collaborators. Besides running daily editorial activities, Pantazi contributes to the development of the editorial concept in accordance to the latest information on world mobile. Pantazi graduated from the University of Bucharest in 1999, where currently he is an associated professor in Journalism and Communication Sciences. He also holds a Master Degree in Mass-Media Management from the same university. In 2007, Mr. Pantazi was a trainee of the Economic and Political Reporting from South East Europe held by Foundation in London and Frankfurt.
Marcin Gaworski, Managing Director and Partner, 180heartbeats (Poland)
In August 2007 Marcin Gaworski cofounded 180heartbeats interactive agency. Before that Marcin worked as Managing Director for MRM Worldwide and Zentropy Partners (McCann Worldgroup). He gained a broad experience by working with such clients as Plus GSM, General Motors, Microsoft, Knorr, L'Oréal, Lufthansa, LOT, MasterCard, Mentos, Nestlé, Siemens Mobile, SAMSUNG and Żywiec. He is a judge of numerous advertising competitions (Boomerang 2005, WebstarFestival 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, Cyber KTR 2005, Golden Arrow 2006,2007) and a member of Media Academy and Advertising (Impactor) as well as Internet Academy (Webstarfestival). He takes an active part in industry conferences and trainings regarding e-marketing. He also publishes articles on industry media. Marcin graduated from d'Etudes Politiques de Paris and Warsaw School of Economics.
Tomasz Cisek, Board Member , Empik (Poland)
Tomasz Cisek has been working in the internet business since 2004. He is a co-founder of the largest online advertising network Ad.net and Managing Director of Sabela Media Polska – the company that has implemented technical standards of online advertising in the Polish market. Since 2004 Tomasz has been a Board Member of Interactive Marketing Partner Polska. Tomasz is also the initiator of Jet.Mail system – a useful tool in one-to-one communication with the use of e-mail. Between 2002 and 2005 he was a Member of IAB Polska Chief Committee, an originator and Organisation Director of First IAB Forum. Tomasz is also an initiator and author of the first Polish research on internet users profile, which was presented during the annual conference in Los Angeles in 2003.
Since 2006 Tomasz has been Director of Empik.com and a Board Member of Empik s. z o.o.
