While the CEOs of the world’s largest companies have been quick to grasp the power of social media for their organisations, they are yet to be convinced of the benefits of their own personal use. This session will explore the opportunities for leaders to build and benefit from a social presence and whether this means that the charismatic (and social) CEO is now here to stay.
Moderator: Andy Rivett-Carnac, Partner Brunswick Group
Panel:
Founder and Chief Executive, Ariadne Capital.
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Ian Shepherd has spent the last 20 years leading businesses as they wrestle with digital transitions. For nearly a decade he led the customer marketing, insight and interactive TV divisions of BSkyB and he was Consumer Director of Vodafone in UK during the rise of the smartphone and the mobile internet. Most recently he was CEO of Game Group, meaning he understands more than most the challenge of taking a traditional consumer retail business and getting it to embrace digital. Throughout that period he has been an active consumer and contributor to social media, particularly on twitter @ianashepherd – one of the first FTSE CEOs to communicate in that way. Ian is now leading the creation of a specialist Digital Division for Barracuda, the retail and consumer focussed search firm. In this role he is advising CEOs and Chairmen of a range of consumer businesses on the challenges posed by the digital world. He is also co-founder of Crowdsource, an e-commerce startup of his own.
Tim is the founder and Group Chief Executive of Incisive Media and extensively experienced within the media and Internet sector. He began his career at VNU Business Publications in 1982, and founded Incisive Media in 1994. He oversaw five years of rapid organic growth before successfully floating Incisive Media in 2000 on the main market of the LSE for £75m. In 2006 he led the £275m management buyout that took the company private again. Tim was Non-Executive Director and Chairman of RDF Media from 2005-2010 until it was sold to Zodiak Media and also Non-Executive Chairman of Polestar from 2009-2011. Tim is currently Chairman of TrustPilot the leading provider of trusted company reviews and Chairman of AIM listed InternetQ one of the world’s most successful Mobile, Social & APP-based service providers . He was a member of the Shadow Cabinet New Enterprise Council, which advised George Osborne on business and enterprise. Tim was voted PPA Publisher of the Year in 1997 and 1998 and Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year – London in 2001. In 2005, he received the publishing industry’s top honour – the Marcus Morris Award.
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