Empowering the future of sports industry leadership

Melissa Soobratty is the Senior Media Director at World Table Tennis (WTT) and oversees all areas related to content to drive forward and further professionalise the organisation’s vastly expanding media operations. This includes overseeing commercial broadcast deals, live production and social and digital media.

She has accrued a wealth of experience in the fields of sports media, OTT, business development, strategy and production over the years both in Europe and Asia. Her previous roles include Vice President, Media at Football Marketing Asia (FMA), Business Development Director, APAC at Endeavor Streaming plus commercial roles at StarHub, Setanta Africa, Fox Sports and BBC Worldwide.

Sarah joined Six Nations Rugby in 2020 as a key hire to strengthen the executive team and support the implementation of the organisations strategic vision. A fundamental area of the strategy Sarah is responsible for delivering, is the creation of the most unmissable and engaging sporting experiences for fans through the organisations year-round offering of international rugby Championships and Series’.

Sarah has forged over 15 years’ experience in marketing and communications, within the sports and technology industries, prior to joining Six Nations Rugby. Sarah was VP of Marketing, Expansion at DAZN after her role as Global Director of Communications and PR within the business. Prior to this, Sarah held senior roles within brands such as telecoms business, Three, as Head of PR and Social, and Head of Employer Brand.

More information coming soon…

Victoria is a passionate sportswoman and dedicates most of her spare time to promoting sport across various sectors. She is Chief Executive for GB Snowsport; Board member for the British Olympic Association; Custodian for the Rugby Centurions, responsible for creating Social Impact on a global platform through the rollout of the Centurions Future Leaders Course for children aged between 11 and 18; Invictus Games Strategic Advisor for the UK Delegation Board; and she is a Board Director and Chief Strategy Officer for a flourishing FinTech Business with a mission to provide solutions at scale, for those who are underserved, overcharged or excluded by mainstream financial services.

Gabrielle Guedj is the Director of Commercial Rights Sales & New Business Development at ATP Media, previously at IMG and its subsidiary SNTV for 22 years as Senior Vice President in Media looking after various territories in Europe and MENA..

A sociologist by formation Gabrielle has lived in France, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco in her formative years. She has studied in the Czech Republic ( and is a fluent Czech speaker ) and lived in her native France before relocating to the UK where she has been based for most of her professional life.

Benny Bonsu is an award-winning industry leader and the Director of Daily Content at The International Olympic Committee (Olympics.com).

She was previously the Head of Editorial for Women’s Sports at GiveMeSport, where she led one of the most successful launches of the coverage of Women’s Sport in the UK. Upon starting this role in 2019, Benny historically became the UK’s first female sports editor. Before that, she undertook various high-profile on-air endeavours, working alongside broadcasting behemoths BBC, Sky Sports, BT Sport, Modern Times Group, LOCOG 2012, and Alibaba to cover and produce award-winning content on and around FAWSL, English Premier League, NBA, NFL, London 2012 Olympics to name a few.

Renowned for her charismatic, direct, and irrepressible approach in sport, she is one most respected leaders by her industry peers, athletes, and the new generation of future sport leaders. Her distinguished body of work has garnered plaudits far and wide; receiving nominations and awards for “Sports Leader Under 40 of the year,” “Sportswoman of the Year” at the 2018 Baton Awards, whilst also a finalist in the 2017 edition of the esteemed Women’s Trust Award “Best Media Individual of the Year” category, to name a few.

Bonsu is on the board of directors for Basketball England, the Sports Journalists Association, and African Health Now. An advocate for diverse newsrooms in the UK and developing future talents for the sports industry.

Johanna Faries serves as Senior Vice President/General Manager of Call of Duty, one of the biggest gaming and entertainment brands in the world and the #1 selling console gaming franchise in the U.S. for more than a decade. As SVP/General Manager, Faries oversees all aspects of the Call of Duty business, including live operations and franchise-wide strategy.

Since joining Activision Blizzard in 2018, Faries led the company’s esports leagues division, including the formation and management of the global city-based Call of Duty League, which includes professional teams in 12 cities across four countries featuring the best Call of Duty players in the world and dedicated amateur competition systems. In its inaugural season, the Call of Duty League hit several major milestones, including its Championship Weekend becoming the most-watched esports event in franchise history.

A graduate of Harvard University, Faries has been named Executive of the Year in 2022 by the Los Angeles Business Journal, one of the Most Powerful Women in Sports by both Sports Illustrated and Adweek, and one of FORTUNE’s 40 Under 40 most influential business leaders. She serves on the Los Angeles Sports & Entertainment Commission Advisory Board and speaks at a wide range of established conferences, summits, and other industry events.

Faries is a sports industry veteran, having served 12 years at the National Football League at its League Office Headquarters in New York City. While at the NFL, Faries held a number of leadership roles across marketing, league initiative strategy, fan and business development, sponsorship sales, and consumer products. As Vice President of Club Business Development at the National Football League, Faries interfaced closely with NFL team owners and presidents to bolster their local businesses year-round and played a key role in launching the NFL’s first-of-its-kind ticketing network.

Throughout her career, Faries has held executive positions in a broad range of diversity and inclusion and career development and mentorship programs and continues to do so as Executive Champion of Activision Blizzard’s Black Employee Network. Faries grew up a multisport athlete and currently resides with her husband and sons in Los Angeles, CA.

Sue Day became RFU Chief Financial Officer and a member of the RFU Board in April 2018. In October 2019, that role changed to Chief Operating and Financial Officer.

Sue is responsible for finance, legal and governance, technology, people, strategy and Twickenham Stadium, reporting to CEO Bill Sweeney.
She is a qualified chartered accounted with over 20 years’ experience in a variety of roles at KPMG, most recently as Deal Advisory Partner. Having been appointed partner in 2015, she worked as lead partner on a number of high profile mergers, acquisitions and corporate finance transactions before joining the RFU.

A former England rugby captain and prolific try scorer, Sue was also President of Wasps FC from 2013-18 following a distinguished 14-year playing career with the club. She was capped 59 times for England, winning three Grand Slams, and also captained the England Sevens team and coached the developmental team.

She is a founding trustee of the Women’s Sports Trust, and has been a rugby commentator for Sky Sports and World Rugby. Sue was awarded an MBE in 2020 for services to gender equality in sport.

Alexandra is a marketing, digital media and communications specialist, currently employed as Director of Digital Media and Audience Development at the Premier League. Formerly Communications & Marketing Director at Wimbledon and a former sports journalist, Alexandra’s role is to help sporting organisations appeal to the next generation of sports fans and event-goers through the development of content, products and direct to consumer offerings, while also demonstrating that sport can thrive on brand and tradition alongside innovation and new technology.

Fiona joined the global purpose-driven sports entertainment league SailGP last year with a mission to help make sustainability and inclusivity essential to the fabric of sport. Fiona is the mastermind of the SailGP Impact League – a world-first in sport which sees athletes race to win two podiums: one for sporting performance and one for the planet. The league champions authentic, committed and impactful initiatives and rewards positive sustainability and social actions.

Fiona has an exceptional track record of shaping social impact strategy, promoting gender equality and campaigns for some of the world’s most high-profile sports brands and talent. She was the driving force behind Sky’s corporate and social purpose team, The Bigger Picture, and led the Sky Ocean Rescue consumer campaign, which reached an awareness of over 50 million people across Europe and resulted in behavioural change among its customers towards plastics. Fiona is proud to be an Ambassador for Meaningful Business, an advisory board member at 17 Sport and a Non-Executive Board Member of the Manchester Originals a team in the new Hundred tournament shaking up and growing the game of cricket.

Raven Jemison is a sports business executive with 14 years of experience managing multi-million business operations and generating revenue across both teams and leagues. She currently serves as Executive Vice President, Business Operations for the Milwaukee Bucks and is responsible for managing the organization’s foundational and entrepreneurial business units, including ticketing, marketing, technology, analytics, corporate social responsibility and the G-League’s Wisconsin Herd.

Previously, Jemison served as Vice President in the NBA’s Team Marketing and Business Operations, an in-house group consulting on all aspects of business operations, including ticket and sponsorship sales, marketing, digital, customer retention, arena operations, staffing, analytics and expense control. Prior to the NBA, she served in several sales, marketing and business operations leadership roles with the San Francisco 49ers, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Florida Panthers.

Born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Raven is a proud graduate of Auburn University, where she earned both B.S and M.Ed degrees.

Andi Chu is Tennis Channel’s Vice President and Editor-in-Chief and oversees the network’s non-linear and operations activity, including its Tennis.com, lifestyle website Baseline, OTT streaming-service Tennis Channel Plus, print Tennis Magazine, a Podcast Network, and all social media endeavours.

In 2020 Chu was recognized as one of Broadcasting & Cable’s Women in the Game. In 2019 Chu was honoured with the Cynopsis’ Top Women in Media award.

Prior to Tennis Channel, Chu spent six years at the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) overseeing digital content. Before that, she served as Director of Development at Paramount Pictures’ Alphaville Productions and Director of Distribution for ManiaTV and held television production posts at Fox Television Studios and NMA Entertainment (now Branded Entertainment Network).

Jenny Mitton is a Director and Women’s Sport Lead at M&C Saatchi Sport and Entertainment.

Over her 15+ year career, Jenny has worked on some of the UK’s biggest sport sponsorships including O2 and England Rugby, NatWest and England Cricket, BMW and the Olympics and Virgin Media for the Paralympics.

This summer she worked with the FA and UEFA to deliver the PR and Comms for the Women’s EUROs and is working with O2 on their long-term women’s rugby strategy.

Outside M&C Jenny sits on the RFU Sub Growth Committee and is an Independent Advisor for the Sport and Recreation Alliance.

Sharon Fuller is Founder of Rational Collective, a specialist consultancy to support clients across the sports industry in Content Creation & Strategy, Media, Rights, Innovation and Digital Product Development.

She is the former Chief Content Officer at the eSkootr Championship and was previously Global Head of Central Content at Red Bull Media House and Editor at BBC Sport. She has been involved in innovation and tech-driven development in sports broadcasting throughout her career and she and teams she has overseen have won multiple awards for innovation in sports coverage.