Thomas Gensemer has more than a decade’s experience building some of the best-known political, corporate and non-profit campaigns in recent history. He most recently served as CEO of Blue State Digital (BSD), a position he held since the firm's founding in 2004, and he negotiated the acquisition of BSD by WPP in 2010.

Thomas is best known for his political work in the US and around the world and for marketing and fundraising campaigns with corporate and NGO brands including Ford, Google, Unilever, Sundance Institute, American Red Cross, United Way, The It Gets Better Project, and Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation.

Thomas has been personally honored with industry recognitions including Crain's 40 Under 40 (2009) and AdAge's 40 Under 40 (2013) and his work has earned awards including four Webbys, two Reed Awards, an EMEA Sabre Award, and more than 25 AAPC Pollies.
In 2012, Thomas was featured in the book Pioneers of Digital by Paul Singer along with a dozen other leading entrepreneurs, investors and technologists.

From 1999 to 2004, Thomas was Managing Director of The Accelerator Group, a venture capital fund and business incubator with offices in New York, Los Angeles, and London. The fund developed and funded a broad portfolio of early-stage technology and marketing businesses including Pyra-Blogger (acquired by Google), Openwave (OPWV), 24/7 Media, and Meetup.com.

Thomas currently serves on the World Economic Forum councils on Future of Government and Technology (2011, 2012), on the advisory board of the YMCA of NYC, and is a board member of the It Gets Better Project which he co-founded in 2010.

Originally from the rural outskirts of Pittsburgh, PA, Thomas is a graduate of New York University and currently lives in New York City.

Jonathan Mildenhall joined The Coca-Cola Company in December 2006 and is responsible for leading global creative vision and strategy for the Company’s portfolio of global brands.In his role, Jonathan oversees marketing communications strategies, core creative idea development and content production.
Under Jonathan’s leadership, his team has achieved a tremendous amount during his time at the Company, including the development and launch of global campaigns across four of the Company's most valuable brands.

Most recently Jonathan's team co-led the development of the FIFA World Cup 2010 program, which was The Coca-Cola Company’s largest ever marketing activation, launching in over 160 markets and contributing to Coca-Cola becoming one of the most globally recalled tournament sponsors.

Prior to joining The Coca-Cola Company, Jonathan enjoyed an impressive career in London where he worked at some of the world’s leading agencies including BBH, Lowe, TBWA and Mother. During his career in London he worked on some of the world’s most recognized, creatively driven brands including Playstation, Smirnoff, Audi, Sony, Nescafe, Nissan, and Coca-Cola.

In 2004, he was elected as a fellow of the British American project, an initiative designed to establish stronger trans-Atlantic relationship across both the public and private sectors. In this year, he was also made a Trustee of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales’ Arts and Business Trust.

In 2007, Jonathan was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration from Manchester Metropolitan University in recognition of his significant contribution to the British advertising industry.

Most recently, in 2010, Jonathan was appointed to the board of Howard University’s Center of Excellence in Advertising.
A self-proclaimed "diagonal" thinker - someone who excels at both left and right brain thinking - Jonathan has a big passion for popular culture including music, art, design and fashion.
He also has a passion for business strategy and studied the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School in 2005. He is currently in training to complete his first ever half marathon.

Robbie joined Google in July 2010 through Google’s acquisition of AdMob, In Dec 11, Robbie became the Head of Mobile Product Solutions for Google across South & Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Robbie’s team is tasked with driving product adoption of mobile throughout the region and helping drive Mobile solutions across search and display.

He was previously Head of mobile sales and operations for Google France. Working with Google’s client base to provide deep product expertise and sales support, helping French businesses deliver ROI-focused campaigns and measurable results.

Prior to joining Google, Robbie was in charge of Sales for AdMob in Southern Europe. From 2007-2009, he headed Digital Sales for euronews, piloting their online strategy throughout Europe.

Robbie is a graduate of French and Politics from Leeds University.

Rolf Meakin is a Partner in PwC’s Telecommunications, Media and Technology (TMT) Consulting Group based in London. He has worked in the TMT industries for the last 24 years and is currently PwC’s Global Telecoms Advisory Leader. During his career he has worked with France Telecom Orange, AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, Telstra, British Telecom and NTT amongst others. He has worked for carriers in over 60 countries and has published many articles on management issues in the sector.

Rolf has advised fixed and mobile telecoms operators in Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Americas.During the 1990s he worked on 10 incumbent operator privatisations and over the last 10 years he has successfully helped fixed and mobile operators enter new markets, improve their profitability and implement organisational change and transformation programmes.

In the B2C segment, he recently led a project to create a JV between mobile operators to pursue a one stop shop for businesses wanting to leverage mobile payments, mobile commerce and data analytics for the mass market.

In the B2B segment, he has led many projects aimed at improving profitability and effectiveness in this very competitive segment.This work has included innovating operating models for legacy services, developing international partnership strategies and addressing new Cloud-enabled service opportunities.

Harvey Leeds is a well known record and entertainment guru with a career in the music industry for more than four decades. He began his music career in 1973 while working for CBS Records in college promoting shows for artists such as Miles Davis, The Byrds, Janice Ian, and Herbie Hancock.

By 1976, Harvey ran the East Coast Album Promotion division for Epic Records and within one year went on to lead Epic’s radio promotion department. Additionally, Harvey exercised his innovative talents by developing Sony’s first video promotion department and the first artist development/touring department which resulted in successfully establishing many Sony recording artists from the likes of Michael Jackson, Cyndi Lauper, Gloria Estefan, and Pearl Jam, and many many others (all of which he has worked with personally).

In 2008 he was hired by Live Nation New York as a concert consultant. At Live Nation, he created the Monday Night New Music Club, and the House Of Kids program where he partnered up with Big Apple Circus and sold the program to Parent’s Magazine.

In his spare time, Harvey is dedicated to charitable work for organizations such as New York AHRC, International Rett Syndrome Foundation, Austism Speaks, and Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Foundation.

He speak on various university campuses several times a year including at the Bandier program at Syracuse University, the Paterson State University Music Management Program and NYU’s Department of Music.

Harvey runs his own management company, Headquarters Media, where he works with acts such asSandra Bernhard, Stephanie Mills, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Marky Ramone and other emerging artists.

Jeremy is considered one of the leading experts on Israeli music culture today. He established Israel's first and only Israeli Music Development & Export Organization, Oleh! Records R.A.

Jeremy, was an executive at Sony Music (US) & Columbia Records, specifically dealing with developing artists. Upon relocating permanently to Tel Aviv in 2003, Jeremy has pursued supporting the sustainable development of Israeli music culture both at home & abroad.

Jeremy founded Oleh! Records RA. with the support of the Bronfman Foundation, Pratt Foundation, & Schusterman Foundation in 2007. Oleh! Records- Israel's Music Export & Development artists has an 'open door' policy dedicated to support all genres of artists in various ways.

The organization has worked with various government and non governmental bodies including but not limited to: The Prime Ministers Office, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Tourism, and Export Institute.

Oleh! RA has supported well over 2,000 Israeli musical artists/groups including Classical, World, Ensembles, and contemporary artists.

The success of Mr. Hulsh is based on a models of empowerment of both musicians and the music sector which supports them. In recent years, Jeremy has orchestrated financial deals resulting in over 5 million USD investment in the Israeli music and film industry, including major motion pictures, music productions and cultural events-all revenues focused on the local Israeli workforce.

Malcolm Haynes (DJ Baby Malc Selector) has been promoting since his teens and has spent most of his life promoting some of the best acts in the world in his home town of Bristol and various UK festivals. He has worked at Glastonbury Festival since 1990 when he started booking for the then: Jazz-world stage.

He works directly with Michael Eavis, Emily and her husband Nick Dewy and is part of their inner core team. In 2005 Malcolm created and programmed the Dance Village at Glastonbury, which has 7 venues covering live bands as well as DJs.

In 2010 Malcolm joined the new owners of the Big Chill Festival and currently books for the Revellers and Starburst stages. Malcolm has been production manager on all of the UK Film Premiers and Rally Launch parties since 2000 for the Gumball Rally 3000.

Along with his partner (Sally Gamble) he created in 2005 a unique and new successful festival cabaret and cocktail bar ‘The World Famous Pussy Parlure’.

The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, takes place near Pilton, Somerset, England, best known for its contemporary music, but also for dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret and other arts. The festival organiser Michael Eavis, a farmer in a Somerset valley. The size and nature of the festival, held over three or four days in theopen air, with performers, crew and paying festival goers staying in tents, caravans and motorhomes. It is now attended by around 150,000 people

Allan B Beaton is a social media "scientist", speaker and trainer from the UK. He has developed and managed innovative and successful social campaigns for large companies, public sector organizations and SMEs and is currently a UK Ambassador for HootSuite.

By putting the ‘social’ back into his client’s social media campaigns, Allan is able to dramatically increase their visibility and engagement in the social sphere. Allan’s innovative, focused approach has quickly made him one of the leading social media consultants in the UK.

Allan has always been a connector of people. He has committed his whole life to helping people connect, engage and increase the value they get from human relationships.

The label ‘social media scientist’ was originally given to Allan by one of his long term clients. This describes Allan perfectly. By combining his natural affinity for creating relationships and human conversations with his in depth understanding of the latest technological developments, he’s able to offer something quite unique.

He’s not interested in inventing the next big social platform or app, he’d much rather experiment and test new and existing apps and channels to further harness the connective power of the social web.

Inspired by French nouvelle vague movies and new wave music from Britain and America, Duval began promoting multimedia events at famous Brussels venue Plan K in 1979. The following year he set up his first record label, Factory Benelux, in partnership with Factory Records, home of Joy Division and New Order, and his mentor Tony Wilson.

Hoping to establish a new art movement, in 1981 Duval founded his own auteur label, Les Disques du Crיpuscule (Twilight Records). Over the next two decades Crיpuscule developed a boutique, cosmopolitan catalogue by artists such as Antena, Anna Domino, Paul Haig, Tuxedomoon and John Cale, as well as film soundtracks and spoken word.

Duval then branched out into the world of music publishing. Working with Paris-based company Delabel Editions from 1993, he found huge success with Air, Daft Punk, Cheb Mami, Doc Gyneco and Louise Attaque, and in 1996 was named publisher of the year.

In 2005 Duval moved on to Because Music, publishing a diverse song portfolio which now includes Justice, Claude Francois, Amadou and Mariam, Stromae, Daft punk and sexion d’assaut.

Duval currently divides his time between Paris and Brussels. ‘Longevity is all about talent,’ he says, ‘and putting the right people together. Fashions and technology may change, but creative DNA remains the same.’

Parag soon joined Sony Music as the local NJ College Rep, working artists including Pearl Jam, Incubus, Sade, Oasis and Korn. After graduating, Parag went on to Epic Records as Executive Assistant to Mr. Harvey Leeds, further expanding his experience in artist development, concert booking, and tour management, as well as Cornerstone Promotion, where he worked artists including Slum Village and DJ Shadow, as well as major brands such as Coca-Cola, Microsoft XBOX, and Adidas.

Seeing a growing need for merging artist development with lifestyle brand marketing, Parag launched UG Strategies in March of 2003, with JetBlue Airways as his first client. UG quickly grew to become a key player in the U.S. brand marketing and entertainment industries, in particular throughout the music festival and convention circuit.

UG quickly signed on additional clients including 20th Century Fox Television, Paramount Pictures, Armani Exchange, ASICS/Onitsuka Tiger, Nintendo, and many others, and has since operated major activations and events on behalf of it’s clients at virtually every major music, film, gaming, or technology event in the U.S.

When not on the phone planning the next thing for UG, Parag also tours the world as an accomplished EDM DJ and producer, as well as vocalist for New York electro-rock act FIGO. Parag has released music via labels including Mute Records, Octone/Universal Records, and Calcium Records, while sharing the stages with artists including The Crystal Method, Ladytron, The Faint, MSTRKRFT, and many others.

Company info: Founded in 2003, UG STRATEGIES is a U.S. entertainment lifestyle marketing and promotions company headquartered in New York City, with a comprehensive and influential network that spans the globe. UG creates creative marketing, advertising, and PR synergies for clients in the music, film, television, fashion, technology, and philanthropy industries. Clients include Sony Music, Warner Music, ASICS, JetBlue Airways, Universal Music Group, 20th Century Fox, Live Nation, Paramount Pictures, Toyota, Nintendo, Heineken, Red Bull, Armani Exchange, and many others.

Shain Shapiro is the founder and MD of Sound Diplomacy, an events and music export consultancy, working in more then 10 countries and 4 continents. It produces events and coordinates export research, activity and market intelligence for the Canadian Independent Music Association, HootSuite, Circulart Colombia, Osheaga Festival, Canadian Music Week, Polaris Music Prize and over a dozen others.

Shain has worked in the music industry for over fifteen years, including the past three as the UK and European Representative of the Canadian Independent Music Association. He has helped develop the Canadian Blast brand in the UK and Europe, worked with over 300 bands and developed networks with export entities from over thirty countries. He has sat on advisory boards, consulted with UK Music, Arts Council England, South Australia Arts Council and staged workshops with over a dozen Canadian industry associations.

Shain has also coordinated and moderated panels on funding, state involvement in popular music and export development at SXSW, WOMEX, Liverpool Soundcity, Canadian Music Week and 10 others. Before all this, he was a music journalist, publishing internationally for titles including Timeout, Relix, Toronto Star and others.

Marek Szpendowski is the co-founder of Viva Art Music, a leading global concert & production. The company is dedicated to international live music entertainment and operating as tour producers, coordinators and agents.

Viva Art Music specializes in producing tours and events in Eastern & Western Europe, as well as in Australia, the United States, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa for mainstream and contemporary music arena tours, along with theatre and exhibition projects.

Viva Art Music has promoted a wide variety of international artists (International Tours or Single Concerts) including: Michael Jackson, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Elton John, Roger Waters, Bob Dylan, Keith Richards, Brian May (Queen) as well as classical acts such as Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Jos Carreras, and favorites like Stevie Wonder, Steve Vai, Les Paul, BB King, Julio Iglesias, Art Garfunkel, Bo Didly, Joe Satriani, and Joe Cocker.

Other top name acts George Michael, David Copperfield, Prodigy, Bryan Adams, Gary Moore, Sarah Brightman,Take 6, Lord of the Dance, The Original Blues Brothers, Amy Grant, Jay Graydon, Michael McDonald, Tower of Power, and many more. Signature Productions.

Viva Art Music has produced some of the most historic live concert events in the world broadcasting live by over 40 syndicated television networks the epic 1991 Guitar Legends Festival in Sevilla, Spain with the budget of 7.500.000 USD, 1993 Hendel's Messiah, The Soulful Celebration for The United Nations in Paris, France with the budget of 4.000.000 USD, to name just a few..

Richard Zijlma is the GM of Amsterdam Dance Event. ADE Started in 1996 as a three-day conference and attended by 300 delegates with thirty DJs performing, the ADE was initially based in De Balie for the daytime conference and at night featured shows in three venues: Paradiso, Melkweg and Club Escape.

The event starts off on Wednesday with ADE Pro and ADE University, the Music & Bits conference program, plus the DJ Cook-Off, which was won for a second time by Seth Troxler in 2012. Alongside that, ADE also now includes the awards ceremony of the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs Poll.

The nighttime line-up features over 800 DJs and artists as well as a selection of the upcoming local and international talent, playing to a total of more than 200,000 clubbers. According to the Dutch Daily News, artists who have appeared at ADE in the past include "Armin van Buuren NL), David Guetta (FR), Laidback Luke (NL), Fatboy Slim (GB), Richie Hawtin (CA), Afrojack(NL), Paul van Dyk (DE), Junkie XL (NL) and Chase & Status (GB)".