RAVENSBECK - Key Persons
Amira is a senior lawyer who trained and qualified at Clifford Chance and subsequently worked at Disney, Discovery and BBC Worldwide. Amira has established a proven track record by devising and delivering strategic, commercial and legal solutions with dedication and integrity to clients in the broadcasting industry.
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder / London, UK
David is an extremely experienced businessman and general manager with a long track record of creating value for shareholders. He co-founded Ravensbeck in 1986.
In 2005, David established and led Sparrowhawk Media, an equity-backed buy-out of Crown Media's international TV assets, including the Hallmark Channel international. As CEO, David launched a number of successful television and new media ventures. After less than 2½ years he took a leading role in negotiating the sale of Sparrowhawk to NBC Universal, delivering over 30% IRR to investors.
From 1995, David spent 10 years with Walt Disney TV International, leading the team which established the Disney Channel in all major markets and which was responsible for overseeing all of Disney's programme and movie distribution and television investments outside America. When David left as President in 2005, the company had a turnover of $1.6 billion with operating profits of over $0.5 billion.
Previously, David spent 6 years with McKinsey and Company, where he focused on international strategy, post-merger integration and pricing strategy. David co-authored the algorithms and software underpinning unique approach to segmentation used exclusively by Ravensbeck's sister company, Clusters (www.clusters.uk.com) .
David has a degree in Pure Mathematics from Cambridge University and is a Founder of the Court of Benefactors of Gonville and Caius College. He has an MBA from Stanford Business School, where he was a Harkness Fellow, is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, a member of the Kirch Media Creditors Committee, and a non-executive director of Basildon Hospital Trust.
Jonathan is an established media, entertainment and broadcast industry professional, specialising in leading and supporting transformations which embrace commercial, technological, process and people change. His commercial and consulting experience has spanned multiple business functions, from Strategy to HR, Finance, Technology, Sales & Marketing, and Operations.
Over the last ten years he has worked with clients of varying sizes in the creative industries, and as a managing consultant or interim director for four global media technology and service providers. His engagements include broadcasters and networks in the US, Middle East, and Europe, and he has also operated in India and Africa. His experience of other media sectors includes book/ print publishing, and specialist financial software and services providers for film and TV production.
From 1999 to 2006 he was an internal project manager and project director for a major UK and global broadcaster, the BBC.
His entire career has been in the creative industries, from 1989 to 1999 as a TV production manager and line producer, and his operational experience also includes radio and theatre management.
Jonathan speaks French and German, and has chaired conferences and written industry papers. His skills and methodologies include project and programme management as well as business and change management. He has business training from the (UK) Open University Business School and Ashridge Business School.
Keith has over 25 years of media experience and is a specialist in technical workflow & systems architecture as well as being a highly experienced programme director for large scale projects. He is able to provide innovative solutions to complex problems and issues while contributing directly to business development activities, he consistently delivers projects on time and to budget.
Keith has vast amounts of experience in designing technical solutions for unique circumstances ensuring an efficient and accurate match to workflow needs from MAM all the way through to Play-out automation. He has been instrumental in the design, build and operation of technical facilities around the world for Disney, HBO, Discovery SBS, Pro Sieben, MTV, TwoFour54, BBC and Sky.
Keith has significant experience of working on major live events as well as managing large scale Playout facilities.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Founder and Chairman of the Kreisky Media Consultancy, LLC
Peter Kreisky, Founder and Chairman of The Kreisky Media Consultancy, LLC, is a recognized expert on the media industry, who specializes in strategy at the intersection of technology with traditional media. He is both a senior strategy consultant and an expert advisor to major organizations. A great deal of his work has focused on traditional media companies seeking to develop new digital business models beyond their present expertise.
Peter founded The Kreisky Media Consultancy, LLC in 2002, based in New York, after ten years at Mercer Management Consulting (since renamed Oliver Wyman) where he founded and headed its global media practice, six years at McKinsey & Company, and three years at CBS Inc.'s Publishing Group. In 2008, he was recruited to be a Senior Advisor of The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), and in 2010 he joined Time Inc. as Senior Advisor, in essence its chief strategy officer. He has served more than 40 clients across hundreds of strategy assignments, most of them leading companies in media and entertainment sectors that include Consumer Magazines, Newspapers, B2B Media, Internet/Digital Media, Television, Radio and Music.
An internationally-recognized industry expert, Peter speaks often at media industry conferences, and is quoted frequently in publications such as The Economist, Business Week, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, AdWeek, LA Times, New York Post, USA Today, Advertising Age, Folio, National Journal and Bloomberg.
Peter grew up in Great Britain, is a graduate of Cambridge University and holds an MBA from Stanford Business School. He sat on the Board of The New England Journal of Medicine for 10 years and is a 25-year member of the Paley Center's Media Council. He is an Academic Advisor to Yale University's international publishing program, and has taught at Stanford University, NYU and Columbia. Kreisky Media is an Associate Member of MPA-The Association of Magazine Media
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Manager
- Software Engineer
Simon is an accomplished software engineer and manager with 20 years' experience, working in both small start-up and large established companies.
He has a track record of developing innovative concepts into effective business applications and is named on numerous patents in mathematical modelling, software engineering and business processes. Simon has extensive project management experience, most recently helping a major Ravensbeck client to restructure its core product development and management organisation and systems so as to survive and compete effectively in a rapidly changing marketplace.
Simon was Technical Director of Right Information Systems until it was acquired by Cognos Inc. of Canada. He went on to work for Cognos for 10 years, leading a number of successful development teams, both in Canada and the UK.
He co-developed and programmed the mathematical and software concepts and algorithms which underpin the innovative segmentation techniques used by Clusters Limited, and is working on Ravensbeck's new media and technology venture developments.
Simon is an astrophysicist, having graduated from King's College, London in 1988.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Co - Owner / London, UK
Tim is an acknowledged world expert on digital media operations and business practices. He is a flexible and effective manager, with a history of delivering results on time and on budget, and has a flair for negotiating complex relationships which maximise value delivery and cost effectiveness.
A technologist with more than 30 years' global media experience, he has launched and run media businesses all over the world, in markets as diverse as Saudi Arabia, Poland, Japan, India and South America. Tim understands the complex workflows, systems, technologies and practices required to run today's ever more complicated media businesses, and has worked to restructure the business operations of several Ravensbeck clients, helping them to achieve dramatic improvements in cost-effectiveness while increasing their focus on competing successfully in diverse multi-media environments. Tim has demonstrated hands-on expertise in managing clients' transitions to digital workflows, establishing more efficient multi-language content localisation (dubbing & subtitling) processes, and migrating from single to multi-channel working practices.
In January 2015 Tim was appointed Chairman, IBC (www.ibc.org) the world's largest trade forum for the exhibition, discussion and development of media. IBC unites the technologies and business models powering the creation, management and delivery of all forms of digital media content to consumers in a world where content is everywhere. IBC sits at the forefront of all the recent major changes in the industry from OTT delivery, mobile TV and Cloud production to the economics of Ultra HD, digital cinema innovation and the rise of social television.
Tim is also Chairman, Clusters (www.clusters.uk.com) a quantitative analysis and research business whose focus is on helping clients grow by targeting their resources more effectively.
From 2005 to 2007, Tim was COO of Sparrowhawk Media, which employed more than 200 people in 8 cities around the world. He was responsible for all business operations, systems and processes, logistics, technology, IT, European programming, business development initiatives, HR, foreign language dubbing and broadcasting operations.
Between 1995 and 2005, Tim worked for Walt Disney Television International, latterly as Executive Vice President, Operations. He sat on the boards of a number of Disney's international media investments (e.g. HBO CE & Cinenova) and was Chairman of Disney's Global Media Technology Board. As Head of Broadcasting for QVC, Tim was instrumental in establishing home shopping in the UK in 1993. Tim began his career as an independent producer and has worked extensively in the TV News business.