BIMA Committee

Chair

Justin Cooke

• CEO, Fortune Cookie

  Justin became a BIMA Executive Committee member in 2008 because he wanted to play a key role in making BIMA the must-join industry body representing and connecting people involved in digital Britain. His appointment to the role of Chair of BIMA in 2009 establishes Cooke as one of the most senior and influential figures in the global digital industry.

  Cooke founded digital agency Fortune Cookie in 1997 following creative roles with BBC Films, Universal Music and United News and Media with the aim of making it one of the most respected digital agencies in the world. A graduate of the University of Manchester (Computers in Theatre), Cooke has successfully steered Fortune Cookie through two industry recessions. With offices in London, Paris and Abu Dhabi Fortune Cookie now contains some of the greatest talent in the digital industry producing award-winning work of a consistently world-class standard for brands and organisations including Abu Dhabi Media Company, Amnesty International, Europcar, Legal & General, Small Luxury Hotels of the World, British Gas and UEFA. Cooke is also a board member of EPiServer, the world's fastest growing provider of Web Content Management, online community and e-commerce platforms.

  
  

Vice Chair

David Hart

• Managing director, Codegent

  David is a co-founder of full-service digital agency Codegent. Founded in 2004, Codegent has been quietly building a reputation for creating cutting-edge sites for high-profile clients including; Barclays, BBC, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Endemol, Gap, O2, Skechers, TeachersTV, V&A and Youth Music. At Codegent, David, is primarily responsible for generating new business, client services and the commercial direction of the company. Last year, Codegent’s turnover grew by nearly 70%.
  

  David started his career in 1994 in publishing and held senior marketing roles at The Economist, Financial Times and Pearson Education. In 1999, he joined the Internet Incubator, Brainspark as Marketing Director and helped in the early development of companies including Fortune Cookie, Que Pasa Media, The Usability Company (now Foviance) and EasyArt. After Brainspark, he was marketing director at digital agency, Reading Room.

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Executive Committee Members

Paul Bishop

• Managing Director, Splendid Paul started his working life as a Theatre Set Designer, then a sculptor of mannequins, working at the Moscow State Circus and then the founding designer of a web design agency. An obvious and natural career path don’t you think?
  
  Paul now spends his time helping clients create engaging user experiences across multiple platforms, these clients include eBay, Microsoft, Aston Martin, Intel & Tesco. There are more but I don’t like long lists.
  
  Splendid was formed in 2003 by Paul and two old friends Alex Eicke & Dan Morris with the aim of creating likable and usable digital products, not defined by technology or platform.
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Be Kaler

• Director, Futureheads Recruitment Ltd

  With 13 years experience of recruiting in the creative digital space Be has helped to identify and nurture talent and introduce them to her ever increasing rolodex. Be identified the need for user experience consultants as key to the production process within agencies and built a solid revenue stream for her employer and grew a team to 3 people. Be has placed hundreds of user experience and usability consultants in the digital space.

  As a key member of the UK Usability Professional Association, Be helps run and manage the careers event and identify key speakers for their monthly events, and this has in turn boosted their profile and number of visitors. She is a guest lecturer at several universities in the UK and aims to work with academics to ensure that key parts of the curriculum have commercial value. Be sees a rewarding part of her role as nurturing the next generation of digital experts to contribute to the international digital industry.

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Andrew Henning

• CEO, Redweb Ltd

  Andrew Henning has been on the BIMA executive board since 2008 and is CEO of digital design agency Redweb. It is the largest agency in the south west with 120 staff. Redweb specialises in website design and build and other services include consultancy, technical development and support, usability, search, mobile, social media, content and hosting. With a BA from Manchester in 3D design and previous experience in new media, print and marketing, Andrew started the agency in 1997. He now lives with his family in Bournemouth, which is also home to Redweb's headquarters.

  During his digital career, Henning's role has evolved from “hands on” designer-owner-manager to today's more strategic position. Still proud of its south coast roots, Andrew has instilled an agency with quality, service, competitiveness and sound business practice at its heart. With a successful team, Andrew now has more time to devote to the industry and welcomes the chance to assist BIMA with its future plans. He is committed to developing and nurturing local talent in the south west area as well as BIMA's initiatives of greater communication and collaboration across the UK.

  He is involved in the Education Committee, helping to deliver BIMA's annual Digital Schools Challenge. This rewarding enterprise sees BIMA reach and encourage young emerging talent and bridge the gap between schools and the digital media industry. It provides greater reach and influence for the future of digital in this country.

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Chris Kempt

• Founder, Kempt Ltd

  Chris has spent way too much time in front of a computer. After graduating in Fine Art in ’98 he decided he wasn’t suited to fast food work and chose to pursue his love of the internet professionally, a decision which he has never regretted to this day. Chris has worked in a range of roles around the industry including as Creative Director - New Media for Redhouse Lane Communications and Production Manager of the world’s biggest dance music website MinistryofSound.com.

  Chris founded Kempt in early 2003. Kempt are a digital marketing and production company who specialise in building and promoting flash games for a range of clients including Sony Europe, King of Shaves, the United Nations, NBC Universal and MTV. Their games receive many millions of visits every month. In addition to production work Kempt run a casual online game portal, Killerviral.com and viral tracking system memecounter.com which is fast becoming the de facto standard for tracking viral in the UK.

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Hal Robinson

• Managing Director, Librios

  Hal Robinson is Managing Director of Librios Ltd, an innovative information management company that focuses on structuring and shaping content to make output more efficient and controllable, whether to web or print. He has special expertise in healthcare and the publishing sectors, where his company has been credited with pioneering next generation methods of information management and delivery, particularly emphasising interactive content. He is also involved in developing online interactive games and puzzles for mobiles, PCs and consoles.

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Catherine Toole

• Managing Director, Sticky Content

  Catherine Toole is the founder and ceo of the British digital copywriting agency Sticky Content. A former press journalist, she has spent the past 15 years specializing in web, email, mobile and social media content projects for a wide range of clients, agencies and government departments.
   
  In 2012, Sticky Content is providing content strategy, web writing training, auditing and copywriting services to clients such as Belron (Autoglass), Sage, Post Office ®, Sony Europe, Lloyds TSB, John Lewis Partnership and Virgin Atlantic.
   
  A well-known speaker in the UK, Catherine runs content strategy seminars for the Nielsen Norman Group worldwide is a guest trainer for Econsultancy.

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Matt Pilgrim

• Digital Marketing Platform Specialist, Microsoft  Matt is a Digital Marketing Specialist working at Microsoft with a focus on retail, manufacturing and professional services.
  
  In his time at Microsoft Matt has worked in the emerging business division where he built relationships with Venture funds and startups across EMEA. More recently his time has been spent helping Microsoft to build out a Partner channel with full service design agencies and that has led him to his current position in the Digital Marketing Platform Group (DMPG).
  
  Matt is currently responsible for evangelizing the Microsoft digital marketing platform to build a multi-channel strategy and will work directly with customers to prove and resource a solution. Matt is also a regular speaker at various industry and technology focused events to help build understanding of the ever changing digital trends impacting businesses in the UK.�
  
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Gareth Jones

• Brand Engagement Director, LBi After spending ten years as a journalist asking awkward questions about marketing Gareth now spends most of his time trying to find the answers. Gareth is Brand Engagement Director of LBi, the global marketing and technology agency, where he is responsible for making the agency and its clients famous. Before joining LBi Gareth was Editor of Marketing magazine and Editor of its sister title Revolution, a quarterly publication specialising in digital media. Gareth has held a number of roles at Haymarket Business Media including News Editor and Digital Editor on Marketing. He has also occupied senior editorial positions at Centaur's New Media Age and MediaTel. He began his career as a broadcast journalist making programmes for BBC Radio 4.▲ Return
  
  

Namuli Katumba

• Head of Account Management and Service, Ultraspeed Group

  Namuli is Head of Account Management and Service at Managed Cloud specialists Ultraspeed, who have been providing competitive solutions to high profile brands, organizations, and digital agencies for over ten years. Clients include the British Heart Foundation, Nando’s and Blonde Digital.
  
  The relationships Nam has built with Ultraspeed’s clients over the past four years has given her insights into our ever-evolving digital landscape, and the impact that services and management has on customers’ experiences.
  
  Together with a colleague Nam started Talk Digital, a not-for-profit discussion group on the challenges posed by the digital arena, a subject about which she regularly writes articles. Nam has also started a discussion group outside work, for people in the sector to talk freely, give advice and ask questions in order to overcome their project challenges. She also has a specific interest in the impact of social media on the digital landscape and subsequently the environment needed to support that.
  
  As a recent introduction to the BIMA Executive Committee Nam is looking forward to being a part of a team that has consistently produced influential content and events that directly benefit the British Digital Industry.
  
  

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Andy Oakes

• Owner & Director, Blue Stripe Media Andy Oakes is a seasoned media professional who has been at the heart of the UK digital scene since 2005 and has worked in media since 1993.
  
  Andy is the Owner and CEO of BlueStripe Media , an agency working on behalf of media owners to build their online brands. Current clients include The Drum and TheMediaBriefing.com.
  
  Previously Andy was the Publisher of the industry bible, NewMediaAge. Taking over in 2005, Andy built up the brand to include the NMA Effectiveness Awards, The NMA Top 100, NMA Live, Reputation Online and Digital Professional.  Andy is passionate about the topic of online publishing and the how the media have had to take a more interactive position especially through social channels.
  
  Andy interests include cycling, cricket and rugby and is very poor at all three. He is also married and a father of two and lives in rural Essex.
  
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Howard Scott

• Digital Marketing Consultant Howard is digital marketing consultant who has worked in the industry since 1996. Currently working with several London companies as well as his own start-up in the mobile field he was, until recently, on the board of Sequence as Digital Marketing Director. Like many with a 15+ year career in digital he has a hybrid background covering technology, creative thinking, strategy and delivery.
  
  In his spare time Howard is a visiting lecturer at Southampton University on the subject of digital marketing and has helped create a relationship between BIMA and the university to look at opportunities around closer working in the future and a vision to be the "centre of excellence" for digital r&d.
  
  Howard is currently ranked as the 48th most influential person in the UK by the New Media Age top100, although he suspects this is due mainly to having more social media accounts than most people and little to do with interesting content but feel free to follow him on twitter @Howard_scott
  
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Nigel Vaz

• Managing Director, SapientNitro In his role as Managing Director, Nigel is responsible for driving forward SapientNitro’s vision of delivering excellent customer experiences by working closely with SapientNitro’s clients and global teams. In addition, Nigel oversees SapientNitro’s media, telecommunications, travel, retail and utilities clients across Europe and is a member of Sapient's global leadership team.
  Since joining SapientNitro in 2000, Nigel has held a number of key management positions, including leading key engagements for SapientNitro's clients across North America, Europe and India.
  Prior to SapientNitro, Nigel was the co-founder and Managing Director of a public company with interests in telecoms consulting and connectivity solutions. He has also consulted to and worked with a number of companies including AT&T/Cingular, McKinsey and Company, Orange, Siemens, Telkom SA, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone.
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Tiffany St. James

• Director, Stimulation Tiffany grew up in marketing in central government and employee engagement agencies enjoying reaching people inside and out of business and fuelling her love of pushing people out of their comfort zone with diamond heists for corporate adventurists outside the walls of Whitehall.
  
  Tiffany is now a digital strategist, trainer and speaker, advising government and industry through her agency Stimulation to evolve greater digital competency. She aligns corporate objectives and digital people skills and Stimulation’s client list includes Cabinet Office, Channel 4, COI, Guardian.co.uk, Marketing Agencies Association, Panasonic, Sony and Vodafone.
  
  As the former Head of Public Participation for UK Government and Director of Comms for Directgov she launched data.gov.uk working with Cabinet Office and Sir Tim Berners-Lee. She was responsible for delivering better public services online and training all civil servants to build digital capability. She developed the digital training strategy for Government.
  
  She advises the Speaker of the House of Commons on Public Engagement to make democracy and the House more meaningful to people in the UK today.
  
  Her causes are to support and nurture talent through greater digital capability which she undertakes being an advisor to BIMA, Head of Communications for Rewired State the public sector open data champions nurturing young developer talent and supporting One Young World, the premier global forum of young people with leadership calibre.
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Richard Baker

• CEO, Sequence Richard founded the agency in 1995 when he spotted the need for delivering applications through the emerging channel of the worldwide web. Since then Sequence has grown rapidly to become an award winning top 20 outside London digital agency, delivering rich online experiences for the likes of Disney, the BBC and the Cabinet Office.
  
  Richard was educated in his native South Wales, and studied Computer Science before joining the access solutions division of Compaq (formally Microcom Inc). During his time at Compaq Richard was involved in establishing the first Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Israel and Greece and was also involved in the introduction of the company’s first ISDN and 56K modem products to the UK.
  
  In addition to his BIMA appointment Richard sits on the ICT Sector panel for Welsh Government representing the digital sector and he also serves on the Steering group of eCrime Wales (www.ecrimewales.com) Welsh Government’s ground breaking trust and security initiative.
  
  Sharing his time between Sequence’s Cardiff HQ and London frontline, Richard is passionate about technology and the opportunity that it can bring – specifically in the regions and nations. He also has particular interest in how digital channels are being used between the public sector, business and the citizen, especially with respect to procurement and economic development. If you’re so inclined follow him @Richlybaked.▲ Return
  
  

Adam Graham

• CEO, Weapon 7 Adam Graham is the CEO of Weapon 7, a digital first - integrated communications agency. Until recently, he was Managing Partner and co-founder of Saint@RKCR/Y&R – Revolution and NMA's creative agency of the year, 2011. Prior to this, Adam founded one of the first internet radio stations back in 1998; was the first person to stream live music from Glastonbury in 2002; and, for five years, ran a small digital agency specialising in the music industry and youth marketing. He is still extremely passionate about digital and the possibilities it holds and is proud to be involved in Bima. He tweets on: @adamgraham▲ Return
  
  

Sarah Ronald

• Managing Director, Nile Sarah is Managing Director at Nile, an integrated customer experience company. With ten years’ experience in the technology, mobile, financial and government sectors, Sarah works with leading brands and companies to create blueprints for successful digital service experiences. Sarah is passionate about the intersection where technology can be designed to improve the experience of daily life while still delivering business efficiencies. Prior to her appointment with BIMA, Sarah served on steering boards for Heriot-Watt University and Bunnyfoot. She is also a founding member and co-chair of the Service Design Network in the UK. Sarah's role within BIMA is to extend the reach of the organisation outside London and into regional areas across Britain.▲ Return
  
  

Wyndham Lewis

• Head of Business Development, Harvest Digital Wyndham has followed the digital curve from the launch of the home PC to working with some of the world’s biggest companies on their digital marketing strategy and execution. His work has generated over $70 million in value for the companies that he has worked and consulted with.
  He heads up business development at the UK’s 7th largest digital media agency Harvest. He joined the executive committee of BIMA because of the need for the digital industry to have a voice and ensure that the UK remains a global force in the creative and technical industries.
  He has been involved in technology, mobile and social media since 1996. He is particularly proud of his work on Mobile Youth which defined a new generation’s adoption of mobile technology. Its success led to global consulting and research contracts with MTV, Vodafone, Nokia and Sprint.
  He was head-hunted to work in the US for the Top50 US agency One to One Interactive as group director for their Technology Media and Telecoms team. His love of the English weather, family and tea brought him home where he has continued to work with companies to deliver the best possible online performance and experience across all the digital channels.▲ Return
  
  

David Gamble

• Founder & Creative Director, Hometown London David is the founder and Creative Director of Hometown London, Soho’s newest advertising agency.
  He was also the founder of Saint@RKCR, which he helped take from 2 to 70 staff, and both NMA and Revolution magazine’s agency of the year in just 4 years.
  David was one of the UK’s first truly integrated thinkers, creating big brand ideas for some of the world’s best-loved brands above-the-line and digitally since 1995.
  He has had the fortune of working with many talented people over the years. He’s also filmed on the set of Gladiator, taken part in battle manoeuvres in the Atlantic, spent time in LA with Pamela Anderson, and helped relaunch Kate Moss’ career. He says there have been dull days, but not many.▲ Return
  
  

Justin Pearse

• Editor, NMA Justin Pearse is editor of New Media Age, the UK’s only title covering the business of interactive media and marketing.
  Justin joined New Media Age as reporter in April 2000, becoming features editor in 2001, news and deputy editor in 2005 and editor in 2007. Previously he was a reporter on daily online technology tile ZDNet. He started his journalist career on weekly IT industry trade magazine IT Week in 1997.
  He appears regularly on television, radio and in the national press as an expert on all issues relating to digital media and as a regular host and panelist at a variety of conferences and events.▲ Return
  
  

Natalie Gross

• CEO, Amaze As CEO of global digital marketing and technology agency Amaze, Natalie is responsible for defining and driving the strategic and commercial direction of the business.
  Recruited in 1999 by digital visionary Roy Stringer, Natalie led the acquisition of Amaze by the Hasgrove Group in 2007, at which point she became Managing Partner. In October 2011 Natalie became CEO.
  Now responsible for a team of over 200 people across Europe, Natalie works as Executive Sponsor or advisor to internal teams for a client portfolio that includes Coca-Cola Enterprises, Dyson, Lexus, Toyota, Coats Plc and The Co-operative Group.
  Natalie drives the Amaze brand purpose – to inspire original thinking through a deeper understanding of technology and human behaviour. This is her passion and she leads research projects in this area, including a five-year study into today’s generation of digital natives, coined Amaze Generation.
  She is a key voice in the industry, providing regular commentary on the future role of the digital agency, the industry’s challenge for skills and talent and delivering digital solutions globally. ▲ Return
  
  

Regional Advisors

Alex Cowell

• Founder and Managing Director, Cubeworks Alex is founder and Managing Director of Cubeworks, a Brighton-based digital agency specialising in business process automation. Since its formation in 2002, Cubeworks has successfully delivered major projects for private, public & third sector clients such as EMAP, Diageo, CEOP, Aon, NSPCC and Reed Business Information.
  Alex is passionate about using the web & lean processes to improve businesses' performance and efficiency. He is a regular guest speaker on the subject at seminars and conferences such as Internet World. Alex was a judge of the 2011 BIMA awards and is delighted to have been invited to represent BIMA as their representative in Sussex.▲ Return