Previous BlackBook Speakers

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.

speakers
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.

speakers
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.

speakers
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.

speakers
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.

speakers
John Beasley

Global Head of Brand Building

John Beasley is the Global Head of Brand Building at BAT, Digital and eCommerce 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.

speakers
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.

speakers
James Taylor

Chief Championship Officer

James Taylor is Chief Championship Officer at Extreme E, a new global electric motorsports series. Extreme E’s mission is to showcase electric SUV performance in extreme conditions, whilst providing a platform to encourage global action to combat environmental issues.

Prior to joining Extreme E, James was Vice President, Rallycross at IMG. James has experience in creating and promoting new sports properties, having worked for IMG to develop a number of its motorsports, cricket, and football businesses across the world.

speakers
Robby Yung

CEO

Robby is the CEO of Animoca Brands, one of the leaders in blockchain gaming and the creators of titles like Phantom Galaxies, The Sandbox, REVV Racing, MotoGP Ignition, F1 Deltatime, Crazy Defense Heroes, as well as tokens like SAND, REVV, GAMEE, TOWER, and QUIDD. Before Animoca Brands, Robby co-founded One Media Group and Redgate Media, both of which he took public on the HK Stock Exchange. Robby first tried to create a metaverse when he invested in Muse Communications in 1997 after reading Snow Crash.

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