SPONSORSHIP - Key Persons
Anna joined ESA in 2022 with 15 years' experience in sponsorship from agencies including brandRapport, CAA and Fuse. She has worked across sport and music sponsorships for brands including Vodafone, Samsung, Santander, Jaguar, E.ON and Prudential.
Job Titles:
- Specialist and Founder of the Brand Fans
Daragh Persse is a sponsorship specialist and Founder of The Brand Fans, an international independent sponsorship and cause marketing consultancy based in Dublin. Daragh was previously Global Sponsorship Director at Vodafone working with UEFA Champions League, Formula 1, Manchester United, England Cricket and numerous music artists, festivals and events. Daragh pioneered the development of a proprietary model for the evaluation of sponsorship properties on behalf of brands and rights holders. The Brand Fans work with numerous partners including Heineken, Santa Rita, Virgin Media, Energia, Barclays, AIG, Live Nation, Betway, Bacardi, IRFU, FAI and Leinster Rugby, working across strategy, planning, rights negotiation, activation and evaluation.
Job Titles:
- ESA Vice - Chair & Company Secretary
Job Titles:
- Marketing, Communications and Events Manager
Jonathan joined ESA in 2021 having worked for five years at sport scotland, alongside a consultancy role with the International Modern Pentathlon Union. Prior to pivoting into marketing, communications and events, he had a 17-year career in sports journalism in the UK, Australia and Ireland.
Job Titles:
- General Manager
- ESA General Manager
Karen joined ESA in 2017 following 19 years' experience working in sponsorship market research for the likes of City Football Group, The Ocean Race, Standard Chartered Bank, Bank of Ireland and Nissan. Karen also worked on compliance monitoring for the IOC and FIFA for three Olympic Games and one FIFA World Cup.
Khadeen was previously Head of Corporate & Strategic Partnerships at English National Ballet and Southbank Centre, working with clients as diverse as CHANEL, Cunard, NatWest, Diageo, Burberry, Heineken, Unilever and MasterCard. Khadeen is also a Board Director at b.supreme, a female street dance charity and has an MSc in CSR & Sustainability.
Job Titles:
- Martin Prendergast Communications
Matt is Head of Sponsorship, Hospitality and Ticketing, and Talent at BT (covering both BT and EE). He has over 20 years of brand and comms experience including 14 years dedicated to sponsorship and partnership activations, which has seen him work across brands such as Nike, O2, Orange and now BT and EE.
Before joining EE, Matt played a pivotal part in the launch of NikeTown London during his four years at the iconic brand. He then moved to O2, where he spent eight years leading the brand's music sponsorship programme, which included the successful launch of the O2 Wireless Festival (now in its 15 th year).
Job Titles:
- Pearl & Dean ( Media / Rights Holder Representative )
Mike has worked in the media industry for +25 years, 23 of which have had a core focus on sponsorship, promotions and creative commercial partnerships. He has worked on both the agency and media owner side in that time and developed a deep and well-rounded knowledge of media sponsorship.
He has been an active member of ESA's Media Working Committee for the last 13 years and took on the role of Chair just under two years ago.
He currently works at Pearl & Dean as Enterprise Director - ultimately responsible for all revenue generation for the company, but with a specific focus on developing their commercial partnerships and developing new revenue streams.
Job Titles:
- Global Head of Sport, Entertainment and Culture at Essence
Misha Sher is Global Head of Sport, Entertainment and Culture at EssenceMediacom and has been at the forefront of the sponsorship industry for more than 15 years.
He has negotiated and advised on more than £1B in sponsorship investments with major sport & entertainment properties, including UEFA, IOC, NFL and F1 in more than 25 countries.
At MediaCom, he has built and scaled an award-winning global sport & entertainment business that sits at the intersection of sport, media, lifestyle and culture, with clients that include some of the biggest blue-chip brands like Toyota, Shell, Richemont, American Airlines and Allianz as well as top talent such as Pelé, Brian Lara, Mesut Özil and Eniola Aluko, to name a few.
Misha is a published author and his opinions are regularly featured in leading media outlets including The New York Times, BBC Radio4, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, CNN, Sky, CMO, The Drum, Marketing Magazine and Sport Business International.
Nigel has been an ESA Board Director for 16 years. He holds the position of Company Secretary, and brings a depth of knowledge and commitment to the Board, utilising his wealth of experience of people and techniques. Nigel was appointed Vice-Chairman of ESA in June 2013.
Rebecca (Becks) Martin has over 14 years' experience in the brand, marketing and partnerships industry having worked for both fast-paced agencies, such as Fuse Sport & Entertainment and Pitch Marketing Group, as well as for blue-chip brands, such as Barclays and O2.
Risto is a passionate voice for sponsorship and events. He was Chair of the Board of the Finnish Sponsorship & Events Association (spot.fi) for a long time. He is CEO and partner in sponsorship agency Red Carpet Brand Alliances Oy (rcba.fi), working with both Brands and Right Holders in the Sports, Events, Culture and Movie sectors.
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder and Director of Sponsor View
Sophie Morris is Co-Founder and Director of Sponsor View (formerly Millharbour Marketing). Sponsor View is the first-of-its-kind independent sponsor satisfaction research and measurement service helping rights holders identify how they can evolve their offering, improve their service and increase the value they provide to their sponsors.
Sophie has worked in marketing and sponsorship for over 20 years. She is a Chartered Marketer, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and a member of the Market Research Society.
Sophie also sits on the Board of the Institute for Sport Business at Loughborough University and the Danish sponsorship group ‘SPOT:ON' and judges sponsorship awards in the UK, Belgium, Slovenia and for ESA.