Connecting the global ticketing ecosystem together

Hugh Gledhill leads the marketing for Layered Reality experiences. He’s responsible for growing ticket sales via growth and performance marketing, demand management/dynamic pricing, and website optimisation. He has over 20 years experience growing ticket sales 30-60% for music, theatre and innovative entertainment events using data driven approaches.

Greg Loewen is the CEO of Digonex – the leading provider of automated dynamic pricing solutions in the live entertainment and attractions sectors.  Greg has been CEO since 2014 during which time the company has achieved rapid growth and developed a robust network of ticketing partnerships.
Greg is also actively involved in his local arts community, currently serving as the Board Chair of the Indianapolis Symphony.

Prior to leading Digonex, Greg held a variety of leadership roles in the North American media industry.  He is a graduate of Queen’s University (Kingston, Canada) and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Emil R. Ljesnjanin is a highly accomplished entrepreneur who has demonstrated his ability to succeed in business. After establishing a successful real estate company, he self-funded the development of NFT-TiX, a blockchain-based ticketing platform aimed at solving real-world problems for both event organizers and attendees. Motivated by his past experiences with counterfeit tickets, Emil’s vision was to create a platform that is both secure and transparent, offering instant payouts and automatic collection of royalties from the secondary market. His commitment to innovation and problem-solving led to NFT-TiX being recognized with the Best Innovation Award at the UK Festival Awards.

Hannaford comes to Ticketek with over 13 years’ experience in ticketing operations. He has led ticketing for some of the most prestigious venues and organisations in the live music and entertainment industry, including ticketing for the Hammersmith Apollo, multiple special events ticketing projects at AEG Presents and heading up Global Live.

Hannaford also launched and headed up Twickets Resale in Australia and was the lead on Global Ticketing operations at Dice. Most recently he managed Ticketing Strategy & Digital Delivery for London’s The O2 Arena.

In his new role, he will report to Ticketek Managing Director Cameron Hoy, who said “Danny is an experienced and accomplished ticketing executive who will lead our UK team with commitment, integrity and passion. In addition to Danny’s extensive ticketing knowledge, he has a demonstrated track record of Digital transformation and I look forward to his contribution to our global ticketing leadership team.

Ticketek is a global leader in live event ticketing, data and analytics. Its integrated model provides clients with a highly valuable combination of with insights, marketing and sales.

“I am delighted to be joining Ticketek UK and have the opportunity to work with a business that thinks differently about ticketing. I am really looking forward to and joining a great team that is already delivering impressive growth in this market” said Hannaford.

Cameron Hoy, Managing Director of Ticketek, is a highly respected industry leader with three decades of senior level experience across technology, e-commerce, media and entertainment. Joining Ticketek Australia as Director of Sales and Marketing in 2007, Cameron became Managing Director in 2010. Cameron now leads a global ticketing business operating across Australia, New Zealand, the Asia Pacific and the United Kingdom. Cameron was instrumental in establishing TEG’s Ovation business which provides Sporting Organisations, Venues, Promoters and Producers, with a single destination for analytics, data science, research, personalisation and advanced digital marketing. His passion for building high performing teams is reflective of a track record of achieving growth in highly competitive markets and of delivering innovative tech solutions from concept through to market.

Adam is an experienced commercial leader with a background in catering and venue operations that led on to roles focussed on sales functions, including hospitality, sponsorship & partnerships, and broader revenue generation.

He has a wide range of experiences across the sports and entertainment industries for both stadia and arenas and, in his current role as Commercial Director for The O2 Arena, is responsible for a number of key commercial revenue streams, including food and drink, premium seats, merchandise, attractions, parking and The O2 app.

In 2020 Adam took on responsibility for ticketing at the world’s no 1 music venue and has overseen the digitisation of more than 2 million tickets a year, culminating in the award of the coveted ‘Live Music Innovation of the Year’ at the 2022 Music Week Awards.

Adam was part of a core team working on plans for the return of live events in light of the Covid-19 global pandemic and has steered the business back to record profitability.

In addition, he led on the creation of a venue Green Team and roll out of the ‘Good Vibes All Round’ programme at The O2 encompassing Sustainability, Community, Charity and Accessibility. He continues to lead this for the arena alongside the key commercial functions of his role.

Zac started Tixel with his co-founder Jason Webb in early 2018 after experiencing ticket fraud at a Tame Impala concert. His career expertise spans marketing, engineering, risk mitigation and loss prevention and today, as CEO, he leads a team of passionate music and technology fanatics focused on creating an honest, easy, and trusted place for fans to buy and sell tickets to their favourite shows.

Mark founded Music Venue Trust in 2014, an award-winning charity which works to protect, secure and improve Grassroots Music Venues across the UK. MVT represents over 900 venues and has campaigned to change laws and policies, to gain greater recognition for the vital work GMVs do and make them more sustainable. Mark has co-owned Tunbridge Wells Forum for over 30 years, spent 20 years as CEO of the award-winning music charity Rhythmix and owns Outstanding Music, a 360-degree music company. Mark is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a regular speaker at international conferences and was NME’s Person of the Year in 2020.

Jeanene graduated from University of California, Los Angeles with a degree in Film & Television. After working in the industry for several years, she quickly shifted her focus to sports and entertainment venues. With over 20 years of ticketing experience, Jeanene quickly found her niche within the industry after assisting with the transition for the Los Angeles Philharmonic from the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion to the Walt Disney Concert Hall. She has managed over nine venue/stadium transitions and openings, most recently Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego. Others include, DRV PNK Stadium for Inter Miami CF, U.S. Bank Stadium for the Minnesota Vikings and Allianz Field for Minnesota United FC.

I’m the UK Sales & Ticketing Director for Global Creatures, the producers of the spectacular Moulin Rouge! The Musical.
I have been working in the West End for six years and in that time, I’ve been lucky to work on some wonderful shows. Previously I worked for Immersive Everywhere managing the sales and ticketing strategies on productions of The Great Gatsby, Peaky Blinders – The Rise Doctor Who: Time Fracture, Amelie and The Choir of Man.

Previously I worked for AKA Promotions where I managed the sales strategy for numerous shows including Tina! The Tina Turner Musical and War Horse.

Co-Founder of Tessitura Network and CEO from company inception until stepped down in planned transition in 2021. Grew the company from inception to over 725 organizations using Tessitura in ten countries, 230 Tessitura Network team members, created an ecosystem of partners, and activated a worldwide community sharing ideas and best practices.  Technology and functionality advancements were made every year, and multiple products and services added .  Currently doing Advisory and Board work in this industry and others.  Specialty areas include Business Development / Start-Ups / Alliances / Leadership / Strategy / Acquisitions & Divestitures / Negotiations.  Prior experience as Chief Financial and Strategy Officer for an internet company IPO, and leadership in a public holding company carrying out and operating dozens of acquisitions. MBA and CPA.

Over the last 15 years, Steve has worked in many roles across the live events space promoting events, creating and producing venue, founding an arts charity, and three ticketing startups. The most successful and highest acclaimed is Tickets for Good (The Ticket Bank LTD).

Tickets for Good is a gated marketplace distributing unsold ticketing inventory for live events through a network of verified users. Primarily supporting ‘people doing good’ (NHS workers across the UK), before expanding into charity workers, and other groups affected by the cost of living crisis.

Une Marija Jurkstaite is Head of Experience for YTL Arena Bristol – currently developed 365-entertainment complex with interlinking facilities for live music, sport, exhibitions, conferences, film, and much more.

Une specialises in customer experience design, marketing, ticket sales and community growth activities. She will play a pivotal role in growing the YTL Arena fan database and ensuring each event sells to its targeted full capacity and delivers world-class fan experience across all touchpoints.

Une joined the YTL Arena in 2021 from her previous role as Chief Business Officer for 20,000-capacity Zalgiris Arena and Zalgiris Basketball Club where she was leading business growth activities, digital transformation, and innovation projects. During 8 years in the organisation, she developed a track record for driving revenues, fan growth and creating a “sell-out” culture at the venue.

Eike Humpert (31) is working in club football for eleven consecutive years. After finishing his degree in Sports Business Management in Lincoln, UK, he started his professional career in Marketing and Sales for the East Berlin Football Club 1. FC Union Berlin. After occupying positions in Marketing, CRM and Merchandising/E-Commerce he was responsible for the business development department with emphasis on IT, Multimedia, CRM/ERP, E-Commerce, BI and Organisational Development. Joining VfL Wolfsburg in April 2019 as Head of Digitalisation his department is responsible for the digital and innovation strategy of the G

An established sports industry CEO for over ten years now, Daniel Gidney launched the first ever cricket bond as part of an innovative £12m fundraising to develop and operate a new 150 bedroom Hilton hotel, which will open summer 2017. Daniel’s time at LCCC has generated record profits and the securing of the largest ever naming rights in First Class Cricket, with Emirates. He also secured ECB International matches, including an Ashes Test and a World Cup semi-final in 2019. Daniel was also the 2011 Midlands Business Person of the Year, and the 2014 Trafford Business Person of the Year.

Kyle is an award-winning live entertainment Marketing and Partnerships specialist with 20 years of experience in delivering world-class, strategic leadership in the field of marketing, digital, ticketing and brand partnerships. Kyle has been responsible for the curation of innovative and industry-leading campaigns for Rhythm and Vines since 2015, as well as managing the significant growth of the festival’s brand partnerships. During this time, he also co-founded one of New Zealand’s leading tour and event promotion companies Endeavour Live.

Kyle’s current role is Head of Marketing for Live Nation Festivals in New Zealand, overlooking the brand and growth of Live Nation’s portfolio of festivals in Aotearoa, including Rhythm and Vines, Golden Run Music Festivals and more.

Having studied Drama at the University of Exeter, Sophie moved to London and worked in various roles across the industry, including as a producer, director, company manager, theatrical agent, and stage manager, while also concurrently working in ATG’s West End box offices. She then settled at The Old Vic, where she worked for 12 years, working most recently as the Head of Box Office. She was honoured by being nominated twice as Box Office Manager of the Year by SOBOM in 2017 and 2018. She has worked for Sonia Friedman Productions as Sales and Ticketing Director for the last 18 months, looking after a wide-range of West End and touring productions such as The Book of Mormon, To Kill A Mockingbird, Jerusalem, Dreamgirls UK tour, Leopoldstadt and Oklahoma!

Katy Raines MA MBA is regarded as one of the UK’s leading consultants on data-driven strategy for Cultural Organisations. She has developed and led research and implementation programmes for large and middle scale organizations throughout the UK and Europe.

During Covid-19 she developed and delivered the UK’s largest collaborative dataset of cultural attenders’ attitudes to returning to events, beginning with After-The- Interval, and working with over 800 organisations – capturing over ½ million responses from attenders.

Her current clients include the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Coventry City of Culture, UK Sport, Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and Historic England.
www.indigo-ltd.com
@katyraines
@indigoltd

Shah-Zeib comes from a tourism and hospitality background after successfully running a number of successful businesses in Austria.
An exchange term abroad during his business undergraduate course in Vienna quickly resulted in Shah-Zeib finding his new home – in Manchester.
From there the journey only got better, where in the iconic Maracanã during the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil, Shah-Zeib fell in love with the world of ticketing.

What followed on from there:
·        MBA Football Industries, University of Liverpool, 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia, FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup France 2018, FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019 and many more

Having gathered global ticketing experiences as a service provider and rightsholder, Shah-Zeib’s journey has taken him to a different shaped ball game to the Rugby League World Cup 2021.
At RLWC2021, he is the Head of Ticketing, tasked with the delivery of the most inclusive edition of the tournament staging the men’s, women’s and wheelchair tournaments across several iconic venues in England.
With the postponement of the tournament now confirmed Shah will also take on the role of dealing with the refunds process as a whole while still building towards the biggest and best RLWC ever in 2022.

James is Product Leader and Co-Founder at Tixserve, a Business-to-Business, Software-as-a-Service, white-label, digital ticket delivery platform for rights owners/ticket sellers in the global entertainment and sports sectors. With a background in delivering ground-breaking solutions in the payments and mobile airtime distribution sectors, James and co-founder Patrick saw an opportunity to add value to the ticketing industry with a market-led, next-generation, ‘last mile’ digital solution. The Tixserve mobile-based, patented technology enables effective personalised security, public health protocol compliance and access control to events, preventing unauthorised ticket exchange/resale and fraud while greatly enhancing the customer experience and supporting the development of new data-driven digital marketing and commerce partnerships.

Francis Casado is one of the founders of Mobile Media Content – 3D Digital Venue and is currently serving as Head of Business Development. Prior to founding MMC- 3D Digital Venue, that revolutionized Interactive Digital Venue Management for Sports and Entertainment Venue Industry, Francis made his career around the beneficial application of 3D Technology and Virtual Reality for various sectors. A true entrepreneur, Francis’s previous time at Barcelona Media was primarily focused as a product manager responsible for developing innovative 3D solutions for use in construction of new urban developments by Barcelona Smart City Council.

Tim Chambers is a Mentor, Advisor and Consultant. He currently works with a number of organisations seeking to enter, redefine or expand their operations within the live entertainment and ticketing sectors, advising on corporate development strategies and directing transactions. Tim also has a number of advisory posts including NED roles with various start-ups and emerging companies.

Ian is the Owner and Founder of TheTicketingBusiness Forum and its news channel TheTicketingBusiness.com – both presented by his Xperiology events and marketing agency. His working life began in sports events management (including Formula 1, horse racing and Wimbledon) before pursuing an award-winning career in B2B magazine publishing. He has co-launched and edited numerous B2B publications and meetings, ranging from energy and industrial processes through to airport design and Intelligent Transportation Systems. He has also founded many of the sports sector’s most respected publications and news sources – including Stadia magazine, TheStadiumBusiness.com and TheStadiumBusiness Summit. In his downtime from family and worklife, he takes his dogs on the Downs, rides his (motor)bikes and treks up the occasional mountain.