Events

Adriene Russell is an experienced Learning and Development leader with 25 years of expertise in training, curriculum design, and operational efficiency. Throughout her career, she has led large-scale transformation initiatives, specializing in the integration of technology and AI into training strategies. Adriene has a proven track record in designing and optimizing training operations, driving performance, and fostering team growth. She has managed multi-million-dollar budgets and built centralized training departments that deliver impactful learning experiences for large organizations.

Kathleen has been organizing assets be it analog, digital, or analog to digital for discovery and reuse since 1989. She embraces usability challenges and appreciates it is not enough to find an asset but to also know if an asset can readily be reused.

Kathleen’s team is currently managing the DAM program for the entire Google Marketing org and promoting discovery, rights management, reuse, and reporting. Conveying that DAM is more than just an archive and a key piece of infrastructure has allowed the program to evolve with DAM becoming an integral part of end-to-end workflows.

Creighton McEwen has 20 years of relationship, account, resource, program, and production management experience. He’s known for having expertise and a passion for creating order out of chaos, being proficient in building and prioritizing cross-functional programs, teams, processes, and multi-million-dollar budgets — including on complex technology projects. And he has a solid track record of orchestrating multiple marketing functions in the high-tech space, both on agency- and client-side.

Manuel is an experienced content and DAM professional with a proven track record of driving business success through effective content strategies and technologies. As the Head of Content at lastminute.com, he manages a multicultural team of 10 people across various European offices, overseeing the company's extensive web presence of 114 websites and hundreds of thousands of manual and automated landing pages.

Josiah Koons is a distinguished creative operations leader renowned for his ability to tackle and resolve complex creative challenges. With over 15 years of experience in enhancing creativity and operational efficiency in roles such as Creative Director for Bandai Namco, Josiah has consistently demonstrated an exceptional aptitude for fostering environments where innovation and productivity can thrive.

As the Senior Director of Studios at Quad, Devin represents 12 global content studios, transforming high-volume operations into well-oiled machines that drive creativity and collaboration. With over 25 years in creative services, Devin is a master at building supportive studio cultures, streamlining workflows, and leveraging technology to maximize efficiency and innovation.

Dave has spent two decades in publishing, creative and technology companies developing operating models. Recently, he has been working with Canva, the design technology unicorn, where he is the creative and production operations partner responsible for developing the in-house agency, the agency partner network and assisting with the rollout of international creative development.

Previous to this, he worked with agencies, governments and brands to develop their own creative processes that focussed on each businesses unique operating environment and offering to the market.

Stephen Deshong is a Senior Sales Manager at Acquia, specializing in Digital Asset Management (DAM) and Product Information Management (PIM). With a wealth of experience from Widen, now part of Acquia, Stephen excels in addressing clients’ DAM needs and guiding them through the adoption of Acquia’s industry-leading content solutions, enhancing marketing workflows and ROI.

Karen Sobel is a Professor and a Teaching & Learning Librarian at the University of Colorado Denver (US). She also directs her university’s Center for Faculty Development & Advancement. She holds a Doctor of Education (University of Colorado Denver), a Master of Science in Library Science and a Master of Arts in English (both from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), and a Bachelor of Arts in English (Penn State University).