Judges

Aseem, a dog lover, is currently the Chief Executive Officer at Impact Research & Measurement Pvt. Ltd. in India. He is also the Chairman of The International Association of Measurement and Evaluation of Communication. In 2017 he was honoured with the AMEC Lifetime Fellowship Award for his contribution to the Industry. Prior to Impact, Aseem worked with McKinsey & Co. as an analyst. At McKinsey he worked with clients in Europe, US and China, helping them improve their operations’ effectiveness in the domain of purchasing and supply management. He also worked in McKinsey & Co.’s Business Technology Office (BTO) practice, a special initiative of McKinsey & Co. that offers technology consulting services.Aseem holds a Post Graduate Degree in Business Administration from International Management Institute, India and a Bachelors Degree in Business Studies from University of Delhi, India. Aseem spends his free time playing with new electronic gadgets/ softwares; helping friends choose the right gadgets; listening to music; or connecting with old friends.

Richard is the global co-managing partner for CARMA International a leading provider of communications evaluation services and held the Chair position from 2016-2022 of the industry’s global trade association, AMEC. Richard has advised international clients on the best ways to measure the effectiveness of their PR and prove its value to the organisation for more than 25 years. During this time, he has built and led some of the world’s foremost communications measurement consultancies including Metrica, Gorkana and PRIME Research. Prior to his career in measurement and insights. Richard was a PR himself, having worked both in house and in agencies.

He has contributed to several published business books on measuring communications and is an active long-term member of the UK Government’s GCS / Cabinet Office Evaluation Council. In 2013 he co-authored the UK government’s Capability Review of Digital Communications.

Richard is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations. a Fellow of PRCA and member of the PRCA’s PR & Communications Council, an Honorary Lifetime Fellow of AMEC and was inducted Into PR News Measurement Hall of Fame in 2017.

Maxim Behar is a globally renowned PR expert, entrepreneur, journalist, diplomat, and Harvard Kennedy School graduate. He is the founder and CEO of the Bulgarian leading PR company, M3 Communication Group, Inc., former ICCO President, currently serving as ICCO International Growth Chair. He is also the President of the World Communications Forum Association in Davos, Switzerland. He has been inducted into the Global PR Hall of Fame in London and awarded many titles, among them Best PR Professional in Europe for 2020 and 2022 by PR Week, Global CEO of the Year by The International Stevie Awards, and Communicator of the Decade by the Indian Association of Business Communications. His book The Global PR Revolution was ranked among the Top 100 Best PR Books of All Time by Book Authority and also made a bestselling record among new PR books on Amazon. Bulgarian born he considers himself a global citizen.

AMEC Board Director and Chair of AMEC Academics and Educators Special Interest Group (SIG) Steph Bridgeman is Measurement evangelist, keen supporter of AMEC and co-creator of its foundation course in measurement. Leader of a collective of freelance experienced media analysts coding thousands of items of content, producing media evaluation reports and curating insight data from tools such as Facebook Insights, Twitter Analytics and Google Analytics to give you a rounded picture of your paid, earned, shared and owned media. #PRmeasurement speaker and consultant.

Karan is a digital content and marketing leader at a global consulting firm. He previously managed online reputation, content, and social media for one of UK’s largest insurance companies. Karan formerly founded Evolving Influence, a digital and brand consultancy, providing strategic advice and building digital and messaging frameworks for a range of corporate clients.

He sits on the Socially Mobile steering group and is a Media for All role model.

Dianne is an award-winning communications professional with decades of experience working successfully with leaders who want to elevate their personal, professional, and business communication skills. She is an Accredited GENIUS Business Storytelling Partner© in the Gabrielle Dolan methodology; one of only two in the world. Her driving purpose is helping business professionals become authentic and impactful communicators so that they may attain their personal and professional aspirations.

Dianne founded her boutique communications consulting, training, and media relations firm, Chase Media, in 2000 after a distinguished career in broadcast journalism as a news director, anchor, and reporter. Her areas of expertise and services include crisis communication, media training, presentation skills training, message development, strategic internal and external communication, and executive communication consulting and coaching.

She is a past global chair of the International Association of Business Communicators and currently serves at the local level as president of the IABC Charlotte chapter.

She is a founding member of the 20/20 Visionaries in Charlotte and serves on several philanthropic and professional boards in her mission to always find ways to add value, provide support, and give back.

Tony Cheevers is the Customer Success Officer for Researchscape. Tony has extensive experience developing custom-research service solutions to meet organizations’ needs for quantitative and qualitative information. Prior to his work in market research, Tony held executive sales and marketing roles at brands like Virgin Aviation Services, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Schlumberger. He has also worked in marketing and technology at the U.S. Postal Service and the U.S. Department of Defense.

Jenna Clark is the global lead for Measurement & Insights for Google’s communications organization, where she advises her colleagues on measurement strategy for internal and external communications. Before Google, Jenna held consulting and analytics positions at Raytheon, Crimson Hexagon (acquired by Cision through Brandwatch) and Edelman. It was at Crimson Hexagon that Jenna found her passion for consumer insights and began her self-taught journey into marketing and communications data analytics.  Jenna holds a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and a Master’s degree in Criminal Justice, specializing in behavioral trends analysis.

Alison has more than 25 years‘ experience working with some of the world’s best known global corporations.

Following a successful UK consultancy career she was appointed CEO of  Weber Shandwick Asia Pacific where she was responsible for 12 markets across the region .

Alison then joined Huntsworth PLC as Business Development Director followed by four years as CEO of Grayling UK & Ireland

Alison now runs her own consulting business working as a board advisor and mentor to a range of companies helping them grow and develop a more successful and profitable business.

Alison is a Fellow and former Chairman of the PRCA and a Fellow and former President of the CIPR. She was awarded the prestigious PRCA Mark Mellor Award in 2017 for outstanding contribution to the PR and communications industry.

www.alisonclarke.co.uk

@pitchwitch

John Croll has worked in the communications and media intelligence industries his whole career, including his most notable role as Chief Executive Officer of Media Monitors Pty Ltd and subsequently Isentia for almost two decades.
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John drove Media Monitors buyout with Quadrant Private Equity, to accelerate growth across Asia and harness social media capabilities. He subsequently led Isentia to its listing on the Australian Stock Exchange and through his leadership, the company became Asia Pacific’s leading media intelligence company

Carlos has over 10 years of experience in information gathering, measurement and evaluation services. He has helped acquire and develop the methodologies, tools and skills necessary to extract meaningful information from huge amounts of structured & unstructured data at GlobalNews group.
He also has a background in IT entrepreneurship, having founded three different startups related to the media and information sectors (the last one resulting in a successful acqui-hire by GlobalNews Group) since the age of 18.

In his current position, he has spearheaded two Major acquisitions in 2017 (Reporte Informativo and ManagementPress) and has re-structured GlobalNews’ insights department as part of the current strategical growth objectives of the company, as well as entered into the Ecuatorian and Chilean Markets, becoming the second largest player in each market in less than a year. He has championed the re-organization of an industry that is more than one hundred years old from manual, human intensive processes into specialized high value-added human processes that are helped by heavy investment in artificial intelligence and allow the live monitoring and analysis of thousands of media outlets and millions of social media posts.

With more than three decades of experience, Pauline is a seasoned measurement and analytics expert working with some of the world’s leading organizations and brands to provide strategic counsel, design measurement and research programs and deliver insights. She is a past chair of the Institute for Public Relations (IPR) Measurement Commission and has been inducted into the PR News Measurement Hall of Fame. With Abacus Insights Partners, she is working with corporate communicators — media relations, analyst relations (AR) and employee communications teams as well as public relations agencies — to develop better systems of measuring earned media performance and success.

Gregory Galant is the co-founder and CEO of Muck Rack, the software platform that enables thousands of organizations including Google, International Rescue Committee, Golin and Duolingo to find the right journalists to pitch, report on media coverage and prove the value of their work. He is also the co-creator and executive producer of The Shorty Awards, which honor the best of social media. In 2021, Greg founded The Work Remotely Forever Pledge, a commitment by business leaders who promise not to force their employees to work from an office. Since launching, more than 75 companies have signed on.

Simon Gebauer has been a leader in the media intelligence industry for more than 10 years. He is Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at Vienna based brand intelligence firm »OBSERVER« as well as Board Director and head of the European Chapter at AMEC. Simon helps PR-professionals improving their performance by evaluating, managing and analysing their media activities.  As Chief Commercial Officer Simon is responsible for the growth strategy and expansion of the company. He has over 10 years of experience serving as an executive in marketing, sales, product development and client services on an international level. He holds a master in political science and has a passion for journalism and writing.

Carmella Glover is President and CEO of the Diversity Action Alliance (DAA) and Vice President, Head of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) at Page. The DAA is a cross-industry coalition led by communications trade organizations with a mission of accelerating progress in meaningful and tangible achievement in diversity, equity, and inclusion in the field for people of color. In partnership with the DAA Board, Glover oversees the organization’s operations, programs, budget, and strategic plan.

In her role at Page, Glover provides strategic direction for the organization’s employee and member DE&I initiatives. Previously, Glover was the first-ever Executive Director of the PRSA Foundation, where she oversaw budget, compliance, programs, and operations for the diversity-focused charitable arm of the PRSA. Glover is currently a professor and lecturer at Georgetown University and Baruch College, teaching ‘Power, Privilege, and Difference’ and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Communications to working professional students.

Justin is an accomplished research executive and innovative leader advising research and communications clients across a variety of industries. He has more than 30 years of experience in market research, including both quantitative and qualitative research methods. Justin currently serves as the Primary Research Leader at RSM, the leading U.S. provider of audit, tax, and consulting services focused on the middle market.

Justin has expertise in public affairs and policy issues, non-profit branding and development, financial services, communications measurement and strategy, public health, campaign evaluation, and industry issues management.

Justin is on the Institute for Public Relations measurement commission. He is a native of Washington, DC and lives in Reston VA with his wife and two teens.

Sophia has been active in the media industry for over 25 years and she currently holds the position of Chief Communications Officer at DataScouting, a leading software research and development company in Greece. In the past she was a news correspondent for the Czech TV for over 15 years, and worked as a journalist at the Czech News Agency. Sophia is experienced in providing expert consulting, content analysis, and media intelligence solutions. She has a PhD in Mass Communication and Journalism from the Charles University in Prague. Sophia is currently a member of the AMEC International Board of Directors and chair of the Tech Hub Special Interest Group, and Vice President of FIBEP, leading the Tech Portfolio.

David has been in the measurement and evaluation industry for the last 15 years working across 6 continents and multiple former AMEC award winning cases.  He is part of the LexisNexis global analytics team, leading projects across a diverse set of business sectors planning and implementing measurement programmes for many of the world’s leading brands.

Maya Koleva, PhD

Maya Koleva is the Head of Research and Insight at Commetric and has been on the International Board of Directors of AMEC since 2019. In 2022 she is joining the AMEC Awards judging panel for third year in a row. Maya is an expert research methodologist and an all-round measurement geek. She has been in the communications measurement and evaluation industry for 13 years now, and prior to this, she was working in media policy analysis and as a foreign news editor in a large newsroom.

An Expert Witness in Reputation and cited as ‘among the 100 most influential people in PR’, Sandra is Group CEO of Echo Research which provides brand and reputation research for clients globally and Director of Reputation Dividend, valuing reputation for listed companies.  Sandra is an Independent Non Executive on the Governance & Sustainability Board of Geneva-based Richemont SA.

From an early career at PA Management Consultants, Sandra set up the first international franchise for media analysis in 1989 before launching Echo.

Ambassador to the International Integrated Reporting Council <IR>, Sandra is a Chartered Manager and Companion of the Chartered Institute of Management, member of the McKinsey Women as Leaders’ Forum and Visiting Professor on Reputation at NYU.  Co-founder amec, and Fellow of the CIPR, Sandra is also co-chair of judge of the CIPR and MCA Awards.  Former Trustee and Board Member of the Arthur Page Society and the Institute of Public Relations, Sandra and is recipient of the Page Distinguished Service Award for 2018 and AMEC’s Don Bartholomew Award in 2020 for her contribution to reputation management and measurement internationally.

Jon has more than 25 years’ public relations experience, encompassing consumer, corporate, and business-to-business communications, and crisis and issues management. His career to date has seen Jon work for a number of small, independent agencies as well as international networks.

Jon is a regular judge of PR and creative industry awards, a speaker at international conferences, and has run crisis simulation exercises for clients and conference delegates the world over.

Jon has been a Board member of the International Association for the Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC) since 2018, and is the founding Chair of that body’s Agency Group, where his focus is on embedding measurement and evaluation best practice throughout the PR agency world.

British born, Jon is currently resident in the US.

Mary S. Miller, CEO of Miller Comms, Inc., is a specialist in organization-wide alignment supporting change management that delivers measurable business results.  Her groundbreaking work developing communication dashboards that substantiate the connection between communications and business results have been adopted by Public Affairs organizations in multiple Fortune 100 companies.  Prior to forming her consulting firm, Mary led Employee and Executive communications for three global health care companies.  An Abbott Nutrition Executive Vice President cited Mary’s communications strategy as “the single most influential factor in the success of the margin improvement program,” which delivered margin gains 22% greater than committed to in the annual plan.

Recently retired from the Institute for Public Relations’ Measurement Commission, Mary guides C-level executives toward “Performance Communications” – a core communications system driving operating and financial gains greater than the cost of creating the gains.  She measures outcomes in meaningful ways to calculate the increase in an organization’s top and bottom line.

Nicole is an experienced communications analytics leader with an expertise in translating advanced analytics to communications strategy, building martech stacks, and developing and optimizing kpi frameworks. My main focus is on integrated and holistic analysis– bridging insights across all channels to campaigns and strategies.

Additionally, I am a board member and North America Chapter Chair of AMEC (The International Association for the Measurement and Evaluation of Communications) working to support the global education and innovation mission.

Core to my work and dedication to the industry, I am also a frequent conference and webinar speaker where I discuss the latest innovations and evolution in the analytics space and how best to tie those changes into a communications and marketing strategy.

Rachel Rowlinson heads research and insight at PR and public affairs agency, Grayling, where she is currently focussed on developing a new approach to integrating primary research and data to back strategy with evidence. She is passionate about integrating research into the communications process at every stage from understanding to development and testing to measurement and evaluation.

Her background is in market research with a particular focus on communications, policy and behaviour change for government and regulatory organisations. Rachel’s research for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on retail investors won in the Financial Services Research category of the 2021 MRS Awards.

Allison Spray is the Managing Director of Data + Analytics for H+K. She is responsible for measurement, insight development and innovating new data strategies for our clients, as well as the integration of the agency’s behavioural science offering.

Allison brings a new and innovative approach to bringing data into PR strategy. She is responsible for the development of agency solutions for key client problems, from connecting PR to measurable business outcomes to the identification of brand white space.

She brings over a decade of experience in integrated measurement and creative brand strategy, overseeing global measurement and research programmes for Fortune 500 brands. Allison is a well-respected industry figure and International Board Director for the International Association for the Measurement and Evaluation of Communications (AMEC). She has spoken on data and insights at numerous conferences, including PR Week’s PR360, the ICCO Global Summit and the AMEC Global Summit.

Francois van Dyk runs Operations at Ornico, the South African Brand Intelligence research company. He studied and taught public relations in the early 1990’s and worked in some challenging corporate communications environments during South Africa’s transition to a democracy.

Being passionate about the advertising, journalism and public relations fields, he joined Ornico in 2002 where he oversees all advertising, editorial and social media monitoring and analysis functions.

He was elected an AMEC International Board Director – starting 2019 – as the first ever representative from Africa, and continues to serve on the AMEC Board. He further serves on AMEC’s Education Group as well as the IAB South Africa’s Measurement Council.

He has been a guest speaker, moderator and panellist at conferences and workshops in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Spain, Thailand, The Czech Republic, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Namibia and Botswana.

A closet journalist, he regularly writes articles where he discusses issues ranging from public relations and marketing to measurement and evaluation best practices.

Mark Weiner is a data-informed strategic communications advisor who provides clients with analytics, analysis, insights, and guidance to enhance the return on their communications investments. Public Relay is an international research-based communications consultancy which combines talent with technology to deliver actionable insights and strategic guidance.

Mark is one of the leading and most respected experts in the world on public relations research, measurement, and evaluation. He has over four decades of experience conducting high quality, actionable research for scores of Fortune 1000 companies with deep expertise in the technology, automotive, financial services, healthcare, and professional services sectors.

Since 1993, Mark has devoted his career to helping many of the world’s most respected organizations and brands to demonstrate and generate a positive return on their investment in corporate and brand communications.  His new book, “Public Relations Technology, Data and Insights: Igniting your Communications Return on Investment,” was published by Kogan Page 2021 which, along with his first book, “Unleashing the Power of PR” by John Wiley & Sons, was named by BookAuthority as one of the 100 most important PR books in history. He is a columnist for PR News and Ragan’s PR Daily.

Mark Weiner received the 2018 Jack Felton Medal for Lifetime Achievement from the Institute for Public Relations (IPR) for whom he serves as a board member.

Mark is a member of the Page Society and serves on the Advisory Board at the University of Florida’s School of Public Relations.

Mary Beth West, FPRCA, delivers competitive impact for organizations through the power of strategic communications, helping senior management teams build credible, trust-driven relationships and brand reputations with diverse stakeholders who are critical to mission-driven and financial success.

Her commentary has been included in The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, the USA Today Network, Business Insider, PRweek, PR News, The Public Relations Strategist and other business publications.

Mary Beth has served as a founding member of the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) Global Ethics Council, of which she is now co-chair. She also serves on the PRCA’s Global Advisory Board.

Koichi Yamamura (Ph.D., University of Miami) is a communication consultant with extensive experience in corporate communication, crisis management, and global public relations. He is a member of the International Public Relations Research Conference Advisory Committee and the Institute for Public Relations Measurement Commission. He has written several case studies and written book chapters including “Public Relations in Japan: Evolution in a Culture of Lifetime Employment” which he co-edited. While he serves clients including a bio-startup and environmental NPO, he teaches global public relations at Akita International University in winter.