Melissa Wasserman, Head of Marketing, Samsung Ads: Melissa Wasserman is a highly creative and innovative marketing leader with a successful history of elevating brands and driving revenue growth in media, entertainment, lifestyle, and technology companies. As the Head of Strategic Marketing at Samsung Ads, she leads in-market engagement in North America, inclusive of integrated go-to-market strategy, positioning, branding, demand-gen, PR, and media. Previously, Melissa served as the Senior Vice President of Marketing at Cadent, where she led end-to-end marketing efforts for advertising technology solutions. During her tenure at AMC Networks, Melissa held various positions, most notably, Senior Vice President of Client Solutions and Integrated Marketing where her role in B2B brand development, go-to-market strategy, and branded content was pivotal to the success of the network's content expansion and revenue growth. Melissa holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications and Media Studies from Cornell University. She actively serves on the advisory board for the Department of Communication and the Cornell Council. In addition to her professional endeavors, Melissa dedicates her time to volunteer work, focusing on charities that support first-generation students and promote neurodiversity, particularly dyslexia.

Tony Marlow is the Chief Marketing Officer for LG Ad Solutions, where he uses data-driven insights to lead all aspects of marketing and communications. Previously, Tony was CMO at Integral Ad Science (IAS), where he helped transform the brand into a recognized and trusted partner, and took the company public through an IPO in 2021. Before IAS, he was the CMO at Data Axle, Global Head and Vice President of B2B Marketing at Yahoo, and consulted on a range of media and technology-related projects at Nielsen Online (APAC). He is also the co-founder of a mobile app development company called Appy Dragon (creators of RacerTracer).

Ashan Khan is Uber’s Head of Agency Partnerships and is responsible for establishing strategic relationships with key holding companies in service to our mutual advertisers. Ashan’s affinity for agencies traces back to his roots where he spent the first 12 years of his professional career within Publicis and GroupM operating companies, respectively. For the past 10 years he’s focused on establishing and managing agency partnerships at both Apple and Meta, prior to joining Uber. Ashan is a graduate of Baruch College, City University of New York, where he still guest lectures. Ashan resides in New York, where he and his wife are busy raising three creative, curious and strong-minded daughters.

Ira Rubenstein,Chief Digital and Marketing Officer, PBS: As Chief Digital and Marketing Officer, Ira Rubenstein leads digital consumer experiences and marketing for PBS. In this role, Rubenstein focuses on continuing PBS’ digital evolution through the development, implementation and scaling of world-class digital services and marketing content strategies. He also oversees the business intelligence group and leads comprehensive marketing programs to acquire, retain and engage audiences across platforms for the benefit of member stations. Rubenstein joined PBS in 2014 as Senior Vice President and General Manager, PBS Digital, and led the expansion of PBS’ general audience and children’s content to mobile devices, over-the-top (OTT) services and other digital platforms. His accomplishments include an updated PBS.org, which yielded dramatic growth in traffic to station websites and online station donations. He spearheaded the development of Passport, a video offering available through member stations that provides donors on- demand access to a rich library of public television programming. He also led the expansion of PBS Digital Studios, PBS’ network of online-original content. Rubenstein has more than 20 years of experience leading digital entertainment businesses. Prior to PBS, he was Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors for mobile media company MeeMee Media. Rubenstein also served as Executive Vice President, Digital Marketing for 20th Century Fox where he established the Digital Marketing organization and led the team behind ground breaking social and mobile campaigns for Prometheus, Chronicle, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, X-Men: First Class, and other major motion pictures.

Sarah Ivey, Chief Strategy Officer, Havas Media Network: As Chief Strategy Officer, Sarah Ivey is responsible for furthering Havas Media’s mission of making a meaningful difference to brands, businesses, and consumers. Most recently, Sarah served as founder and head strategist for Agents of Necessity, a global strategy agency dedicated to the voice of the consumer, which provided companies with creative strategy development, go-to-market comprehensive planning, communication plan guidance, brand strategies, customer journeys, and more. Having spent more than 25 years on the agency side that span all categories, Sarah previously served as Global Chief Strategy Officer for Initiative, part of the Interpublic Group (IPG), where she worked with top brands across the world including Mars, Unilever, Amazon, Hyundai Kia, HSBC, The Home Depot, and many more.

René Santaella serves as Chief Operating Officer for Estrella MediaCo. Santaella was previously EVP, Digital & Streaming Media, and is credited with launching the company’s successful streaming and AVOD platforms and leading the digital transformation of Estrella MediaCo’s content and distribution strategy, operations, and new revenue initiatives. Under his guidance, Estrella MediaCo has quickly become a leader in multi-platform, Spanish-language, ad-supported content distribution, with a digital content reach of more than 4 billion minutes per month, viewed across its multiplatform media portfolio, including its FAST, AVOD, and streaming audio platforms. Among the platforms that have launched under his guidance are: the EstrellaTV APP available on Roku, Fire TV, Android TV, Samsung, Vizio, iOS and Android mobile; four Estrella Media curated live streaming T.V. networks - EstrellaTV, Estrella News, CineEstrellaTV and Estrella Games – seen across The Roku Channel, Samsung TV Plus, LG Channels, Vizio WatchFree, Xumo, Xfinity Flex, PlutoTV, Amazon News, Tubi and FuboTV. Estrella Media is a top 20 leader in streaming audio with stations like Que Buena Los Angeles, QB Underground, La Raza and El Norte – all available on TuneIn, the EstrellaTV APP and EstrellaTV.com. 

Matt Rivet leads Media & Entertainment at Altman Solon, a boutique Telecom, Media and Technology ("TMT") focused strategy and advisory firm. Matt serves CEOs, CFOs, Chief Strategy Officers, and/or division heads at a variety of M&E companies, including content creators and studios, cable and broadcast networks, traditional and digital distributors and publishers (across a variety of mediums and business models), DTC services – and the myriad of supply chain technology companies that service the media space. Matt’s work is focused on several key functions: board-level / company growth strategy where he helps to identify revenue and profit pools within new LOBs, detailed GTM strategy (i.e., 4 Ps), and operational / transformational projects. Additionally, Matt also provides diligence on the buy- and sell-side for Private Equity and Corporate Development / M&A teams.