Profiles page

Martin Freeth

The field of interactive digital technology is changing fast and threatens to turn the media upside down – creating new markets and opportunities, but also eroding established businesses. For several years now Martin has been looking ahead (on behalf of the BBC, NESTA and most recently Futurelab in Bristol) and he sees a bright creative future for small and large companies – but it will also be a scary future where you are unlikely to get rich quick.

Martin's television experience includes science documentaries and drama, and popular studio shows – and he has delivered short films and major series to the BBC, Sky and others. He founded the BBC's Multimedia Centre which first put BBC Online on the map. Through setting up NESTA's Futurelab, he became very familiar with the world of media for training and education,.and of markets for learning software.

His current personal projects include a TV show based on mobile videophones and a young children's interactive game. He is also a consultant to NESTA, RDA's and others – and he is in demand as a lecturer covering the convergence of television, telephony, computing and games. Martin is good at asking telling questions about the future, helping companies and organisations look ahead – he focusses on content and audiences, rather than on technology as such.

Martin is married to Averil, who is a senior manager at Age Concern, and has two daughters. The family's narrowboat is a major spare-time passion.

For more, see www.mfreeth.com/mfreeth_com_data.html.

David Mellor

David is currently consulting to a diverse range of UK Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME's) on topics related to strategic and business planning, funding and relationship management. Within this range of activities most of his time is allocated to helping the owners of SME's set and achieve their strategic objectives.

He has proven relationship management and teambuilding skills developed in the international arena, together with extensive experience of managing major corporate and financial institution relationships on a genuinely worldwide basis. He also has both national and international experience as a non-executive director of SME's.

Prior to establishing his own consultancy in 2001 he worked for Deutsche Bank, where he served as Managing Director of the Bank's corporate venture capital unit; he also fulfilled the roles of Regional Head of Global Cash Management, Head of Transaction Services (cash management/trade finance/securities services), Head of Financial Institutions, and Head of Investment Banking Operations.

He is married and lives in Horsham with his wife, Anne, who is a schoolteacher locally. They have 2 children – James (18) and Louisa (16).

Fiona Shafer

Fiona Shafer is a professional and innovative business adviser who works with businesses to achieve outstanding excellence within their industry sector.

She is able to offer all clients a sound, analytical and considered approach to all projects undertaken, whilst ensuring client confidentiality, integrity and complete objectivity at all times. Key specialisms include: business planning, performance coaching for directors and employee motivation and communications.

Fiona is Managing Director of Omega Blue, an organisation that offers contemporary business development solutions based upon proven business models. Following an 18-year career in business management, latterly as senior adviser with the Business Link network Fiona established Omega Blue in 2002. The company works throughout the south east of England with both the SME sector – in particular with new media and creative industries – and the Business Link Network.

Winner of the 2002 Small Firms Enterprise Development Initiative for Business Advice in England.

Born in Sussex, Fiona lives in Hurstpierpoint with her partner Owen – an International IT specialist. When not running Omega Blue, Fiona works as a mentor for The Princes Trust and enjoys league netball, swimming and climbing mountains.

Ciarán Fenton

Ciarán (43) has 18 years commercial experience in managing director, commercial director and finance roles at Hachette, ITN, Pearson and The Guardian Media Group.

He turned around the loss making Intellectual Property (IP) business at ITN; rescued a 'dot bomb'; negotiated a major IP deal with Reuters; managed international joint ventures and start-ups at the FT (TV) including a relationship with The World Economic Forum. He ran Business Daily and The Business Programme for Channel 4 and worked on several films including John Houston's last – The Dead.

He has delivered several large scale change management programmes and restructures; has extensive marketing and PR experience; is a mentor on The London Business School Entrepreneurship Summer School and has had exposure to a broad range of coaching, mentoring and therapy based personal development approaches.

Currently he runs his own consultancy which specialises in IP audit, management and exploitation and has recently launched an executive talent management business – Executive Equity (see www.execequity.com).

Ciarán is a trained management accountant and has an honours business degree from the National University of Ireland. He is also a father of two children aged eight and five and is married to Marian Garvey their mother, also a writer and trained counsellor and they live in Brighton.

René Moolenaar

René is a highly accomplished and successful senior executive who has worked in a number of senior positions at companies including LineOne (now Tiscali) as Commercial and Marketing Director, United News and Media (now United Business Media) as Commercial Director of their New Media division and Philips Media as European – Head–of–Marketing.

As founding member and CEO of xchangegroup, a specialist finance and marketing support services company, he currently provides strategic and operational sales and marketing and business development support to management teams of a wide range of SMEs.

His key skills and extensive experience include business planning, marketing, commercial and business development, international expansion, investor relations and general management.

René holds a Masters degree in marketing and lives with his wife and two children in Haywards Heath, West Sussex. In his native Holland, he once played against England in a rugby friendly, but don't ask him about the score!