Previous Speakers

Here’s a snapshot of some of the A-List keynote speakers that we’ve had join us across the years.

speakers
Dr Hayaatun Sillem

CEO - Royal Academy of Engineering, Co-Chair - Hamilton Commission

Hayaatun is CEO of the Royal Academy of Engineering and Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering Foundation. She chairs the government’s Business Innovation Forum and St. Andrews Prize for the Environment and co-chaired with Sir Lewis Hamilton his Commission on Black representation in UK motorsport. She is NXD at Laing O’Rourke and the UNBOXED festival; trustee of Mission 44, EngineeringUK and Foundation for Science & Technology; member of the Levelling Up Advisory Council; and advisor to EQL:HER and Lloyd’s Register Foundation. She has been named as one of the ten most influential women in both UK engineering and UK tech. She has a PhD in Biochemistry and was made CBE for services to International Engineering in 2019.

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Ian Holmes

Director of Media Rights and Content Creation

Ian has worked in the sports media rights business for over 25 years. For the last 21 years he has worked primarily within Media Rights at Formula One. Following Liberty Media’s acquisition of the company he was subsequently appointed Director of Media Rights where he manages the licensing of the Group’s Worldwide rights. More recently Ian assumed responsibility for overseeing F1’s digital content production and the commercialization of Formula One’s own digital product including F1 TV. Ian is also responsible for, and an Executive Producer of the hugely popular Netflix series; ‘Drive to Survive’. Prior to Formula One, Ian worked at Kirch Sport, Prisma and ISL Marketing.

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John Doonan

President

John Doonan is the President of the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) the Program Manager for Garage 56: NASCAR To Le Mans, overseeing the development and execution of program’s technical and marketing components.

As President of IMSA, Doonan has been instrumental in helping converge global technical regulations for the top prototype category of endurance sports car racing (LMDh), establishing IMSA’s next chapter in GT racing focused on the global GT3 specifications, and working to establish a new 10-year strategic alliance and licensing agreement with the ACO.

Prior to joining IMSA, Doonan was previously the director of motorsports for Mazda North America Operations for 17 years where he developed the overall strategy and managed Mazda’s motorsports programs in North America.

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Sabrina Kreienborg

Head of Global Sponsorships, Corporate Brand Marketing

Certified international specialist and passionate contributor to making DHL the leading global brand in the logistics industry. Having worked in various Corporate Functions, Sabrina took over responsibility for DHL’s Formula 1 sponsorship in 2009 and subsequently established the global sponsoring strategy for DHL, making it a key platform for the company’s 360° Marketing and Communications activities. Today, the portfolio encompasses 14 world-class partnerships reaching and engaging a global audience, incl. 7.6 billion cumulative TV audience and 630 million fans online.

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Nicholas Meyer

Global Lead for Energy Transition Partnerships

Nicholas Meyer currently oversees Shell’s Energy Transition Partnerships within the Global Partnerships team. His scope includes managing Shell’s partnerships in Formula E with teams Nissan e.dams and Mahindra Racing but also driving broader decarbonization efforts with key partners to showcase how Shell is providing more and cleaner energy solutions to power progress towards lower carbon future. Shell has set the ambition to become a net-zero emissions business by 2050. To do so, Shell is transforming its business and finding new opportunities in close collaboration with partners – providing more low-carbon energy such as biofuels, hydrogen, charging for electric vehicles and electricity generated by solar and wind power.

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John Beasley

Global Director Consumer Experience

John Beasley is Global Director Consumer Experience at BAT, having joined the business in February 2021. Previously, John held roles as Chief Marketing Officer at VERO True Social and energy drink giants Monster Energy, working as a marketing leader across the EMEA region, and Red Bull as Head of Brand.

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Julia Pallé

Director of Sustainability

Julia Pallé is a leading expert on sustainability in motorsport and the international elite sport industry. In her role at the world’s first all-electric motor racing series, Julia certified the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship net zero carbon since inception – the first sport in the world to achieve the standard.

While developing and implementing the sustainability strategy at Formula E, Julia has overseen a range of significant achievements that establishes Formula E’s credentials as a leader of sustainability in tier-one sport.

Before joining Formula E, Julia was the Sustainability Executive at Michelin Motorsport.

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Martin Whitaker

CEO

Martin Whitaker has enjoyed an extensive career in motorsport spanning some thirty years and has included roles throughout the sport working for the governing body the FIA and for Formula One Management: as the communications manager for Formula 1 team McLaren and Director of Motorsport for the Ford Motor Company and its Formula 1 and World Rally Championship programme. In addition, Martin has held the role of Chief Executive Officer for the Bahrain International Circuit and for the international racing series Australian V8 Supercars. Martin is now the CEO of the Saudi Motorsport Company, leading development of the sport in Saudi Arabia and the hosting of international events such as the FIA Formula 1 STC Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and the Dakar Rally.

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Ellen Jones

Head of Sustainability

As a sustainability leader, Ellen works across the Environment, Social, and Governance agenda to develop strategies and collaboratively deliver change programmes. At Formula 1, Ellen’s is responsible for the delivering F1’s Sustainability Strategy which has 3 key pillars:

1. To achieve Net Zero Carbon by 2030
2. To leave a legacy of positive change wherever we race
3. To take steps to build a more diverse and inclusive sport by removing barriers, nurturing talent, and inspiring change.

As a wider Sustainability team, our role in F1 is to empower the business to deliver on our sustainability objectives & manage our governance & reporting requirements.

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Jim Wright

Group Commercial Director

Jim Wright is a professional commercial director with a proven and quantifiable track record in motorsport.

Jim has represented a number of motorsport rights-holder clients through a long and distinguished career. A highlight was his 12-year term as Commercial Director of the Williams F1 team from 1994-2006 before being recruited by Gerhard Berger to the senior commercial role at the Toro Rosso F1 team. After working with the Red Bull owned team Jim was asked to head the commercial team for the fledgling Virgin Racing / Marussia Virgin Racing team in 2009. Currently, Jim holds the position of Group Commercial Director for Michael Andretti’s growing Andretti Autosport racing organisation and his primary focus is the FIA Formula E series for electric racing cars and the Extreme E series for all-electric off-road SUVs as well as being the elected Secretariat for the Formula E Teams & Manufacturers Association.

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Philipp Männer

Senior Director Media Rights and OTT

Philipp Männer is Senior Director Media Rights & OTT at WRC Promoter GmbH, the rights holder of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), the FIA European Rally Championship (ERC), the FIA World Rallycross Championship (World RX), and the FIA European Rallycross Championship (Euro RX). In his role he is responsible for the distribution and commercialization of the media rights portfolio globally and WRC Promoter‘s own OTT platforms. Philipp Männer has 15 years of experience in the sports and media industry where he has worked for companies such as Sportfive, Paramount, and the PGA Tour.

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Amr Elrawi

Director, Sports Marketing and Business Development

Amr Elrawi is an award-winning commercially focused and data-driven business leader and advisor, with over 22 years of experience in marketing, sales & service within four different industries: telecom, technology, financial services, and sports.

As the Director, Sports Marketing and Business Development at Oracle and part of the East London University Advisory Board, Amr helps sports organisations and partners including Oracle Red Bull Racing, the Premier League and Sail GP to use data, AI & Machine Learning models and technology to win and drive performance.

Before joining Oracle, he was the Head of Acquisition for Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, focusing on growing and engaging fans using Data and Marketing Solutions to drive commercial value & improve Fan Experience. Amr also holds an Executive MBA degree from Warwick Business School.

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Mark Sibla

Chief of Staff

Mark Sibla is the chief of staff of INDYCAR, where he is tasked with operational efficiency, external relationships, financial initiatives and the overall business affairs of INDYCAR.

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Sheikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa

CEO

Sheikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa has held the position of CEO at the BIC since 2010 and has been a fundamental part of the success of the circuit since its inception. A keen racer himself, he has been involved in sports management and motorsport throughout his career and takes an active role in supporting the growth of motorsport in the region. Prior to his role at BIC, he worked for Bahrain’s General Organisation for Youth and Sport and was also Vice President of The Bahrain Motor Federation. He sits on several sporting advisory boards and was previously a member of the FIA Single Seater Commission and the F1 Commission.

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Neil Ralph

Principal Sports Partnership Manager

Neil is Principal Sports Partnership Manager at Amazon Web Services (AWS), leading technical collaborations with motorsports organisations including Formula 1, Scuderia Ferrari and NASCAR. After 20 years working across industries, Neil joined AWS in early 2017 and has been focused on motorsport since the inception of the partnership with F1 in mid-2018.

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David Dempsey

Senior Vice President

Dr. David Dempsey is an original co-founder of Salesforce EMEA, bringing Salesforce into Europe in 2000. Under his leadership he has overseen the growth of the European, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) division of Salesforce from a three person Irish start up to a pan-European business with offices across Europe including regional hubs in Dublin, London, Paris, Amsterdam and Munich.

A previous Country Leader at Salesforce Ireland, and based at the company’s Irish headquarters in Dublin, David currently serves as an Executive Board Member for SFDC Ireland Ltd and its subsidiaries. David is also Salesforce’s Senior Vice President for EMEA Corporate Relations and sits on the Salesforce UK/I Leadership Team. In addition to his Irish executive role, David is also a pivotal voice for the Salesforce ESG focus in EMEA, including our Sustainability, Inclusion and Impact Investing focus and initiatives.

Prior to establishing Salesforce EMEA, David held executive positions at Oracle, in both the UK and at home, including nine years spent as Head of Ireland Consulting Services. David is a certified Member of the Institute of Directors and has both an MBA (2005) and DBA (2015) from Waterford Institute of Technology. His recent book ‘Industry Trends in Cloud Computing’ was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2018.

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