Marco Rimini
head of communications planning worldwide, MindShare
Marco Rimini started his career in 1985 working in various creative agencies as an account planner, becoming head of account planning at EuroRSCG.
In 1995 Marco become one of the first account planners to work in Media at CIA Media Network as head of strategic planning and vice-chairman. Never one to sit still he went to JWT in 1999 to become head of strategy across local and international clients including HSBC, Vodafone and Kraft.
Marco has a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University, an MBA from Milan Business School and was convener of judges of the IPA Effectiveness Awards in 2000.
He joined MindShare in July to develop the communications planning practice by reuniting the craftskills of account and media planning and applying them to the digital age.
Richard Morris
regional director, DDB Europe
Richard Morris is regional director of DDB in Europe, where he has responsibility for all International Business Development, Marketing and PR. He has worked in advertising for 20 years, eight of them in business development.
He is chair of the IPA New Business Group and also a member of the International Agencies’ Council of the European Association of Communication Agencies.
Richard has a degree in Geography from Cambridge University – after which he promised himself he would never take another exam ever again.
Neil Wright
general procurement manager, T-Mobile UK
Neil Wright started his career in 1992 at Vauxhall Motors and over 14 years covered a number of Direct and Indirect Procurement roles.
He joined T-Mobile in 2006 as General Procurement Manager and has responsibility for Marketing and Customer Finance categories. In addition to his UK responsibilities he is a key member of the International Marketing Procurement team.
His seven years experience in Marketing Procurement has covered numerous agency pitches and negotiations. He recently delivered a successful decoupling project in the area of pre press and artwork production.
Neil has a degree in Politics from University of Leicester.
Kester Fielding
global demand procurement director, Diageo PLC
Kester began his career in 1989 selling dodgy advertising space.
In 1990 he joined the McCann-Erickson media department where he worked on the Coca-Cola GB, Black and Decker and Unilever accounts amongst others before joining The Coca-Cola Company as GB Advertising and Media Manager. This was followed by various spells in Hammersmith, Atlanta and Uxbridge.
He joined Diageo in 2001 as the first Global Media Director and is now responsible for Global Marketing Procurement.
Kester has a degree in Modern and Medieval Languages from the University of Cambridge.
Alex Batchelor
Marketing Director, Royal Mail
Alex joined Royal Mail as Marketing Director in June 2005, after almost four years at Orange. He is responsible for £7bn of mail-related revenues and delivering three key strands of Royal Mail’s strategic programme: revitalizing the product portfolio; rebalancing prices and making the Royal Mail “easy to do business with”.
Whilst at Orange, Alex was VP, Worldwide Brand and was responsible for managing and developing the Orange brand on an international basis. He joined Orange from brand consultancy, Interbrand, where he spent five years, latterly as joint Managing Director. Before that Alex was Board Strategic Planner at Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising, working on accounts including Toyota, Hilton, and Carlsberg Tetley.
Previously Alex held a variety of marketing positions at consumer products group, Unilever, including several years as Product Group Manager for Elida Faberge in Austria.