Gaming Upfronts 2024

Greg Wester, SVP Marketing, leads Consumer Research, PR, Content Marketing and Digital Marketing functions at Digital Turbine. Greg has worked in mobile and digital/interactive media for +30 years, bringing a penchant for numerical storytelling to sales enablement and market awareness building efforts. Prior to Digital Turbine, Greg was CMO at Mobile Posse and has held leadership positions at the Yankee Group and Organic Online. As a prior Internet analyst, his insights on market trends have been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, NBC Nightly News, and CNNfn. He has spoken at more than 50 conferences.

As Head of Insights & Measurement at Activision Blizzard Media, Melinda Spence oversees a global team, delivering industry-leading thought leadership, research, and measurement solutions. Prior to Activision Blizzard Media, Melinda spent six years at PepsiCo, most recently leading its Rapid Delivery and eAway From Home commercial team across Europe. She has also held roles at Apple, where she identified strategic opportunities for the Apple online store utilizing customer insights, and BSkyB where she was focused on analyzing and improving customer satisfaction in Sky's online business unit. Originally from the United States, Melinda now resides in the United Kingdom and holds an MBA from London Business School.

With over 15 years’ experience in digital, Greg has a wealth of expertise working with a variety of ad tech companies, agencies and media owners. As Global Head of Revenue at Activision Blizzard Media he is responsible for overseeing all ads revenue for the business globally, helping brands better understand the opportunities in the gaming space. Prior to joining Activision Blizzard Media in 2016, Greg was UK Country Manager at StickyADS.tv, a leading European SSP before its acquisition by Comcast in 2017, where he oversaw broadcaster, publisher and agency partner teams in the UK.

Ben has worked across various roles within the marketing industry, with experience in campaign management. Ben started his marketing career agency-side working across big brand campaigns to smaller-scale but effective social media activations in both the UK and Canada. Ben now works within the railway industry, starting at Great Western Railway and now leading the industry wide national multi-channel campaign, Nothing beats being there at Rail Delivery Group (National Rail). Ben led on the Student Railcard 2023 campaign, which used Roblox as an activation to promote awareness and sales of Railcards across the country.

Michael is an experienced Media Planner, skilled in cross-channel planning across a range of brand and performance marketing. Michael has spent his entire media career working his way up at Spark Foundry, and has a breadth of experience working across big brands such as Meta, Rail Delivery Group and Taco Bell, securing a number of awards along the way (Drum Marketing, Campaign Media Awards). Michael was notably a key member of the Spark Foundry team which launched Publicis Play (Publicis' gaming offering) back in 2020 to help navigate clients through the ever-evolving gaming Industry.

Originally from New Zealand but London based for nearly a decade, for the past 2 years Annabel’s been the Creative Services Lead for Brand Partnership Studio at Twitch. Prior to this she ran the European account at Apple’s Creative Agency, Media Arts Lab.

In his four years at Amazon Ads, Julian has served as the UK Twitch Gaming Lead, helping brands to connect with gaming culture and its vibrant communities. A passionate gamer himself, he leverages his industry expertise to deliver innovative solutions to his customers.

After a successful stint co-presenting Capital Breakfast alongside Jordan North, Kemi now commands one of the most prestigious slots on the Capital network, hosting the mid-morning show (10 am-1 pm, Monday to Friday). Her versatility has seen her present across various Capital platforms, including Capital Xtra and Capital Dance, solidifying her reputation as a multi-talented personality with broad appeal.
Kemi’s passion for music extends beyond radio. She fronts her own music series, Moxi Mixtape, for Universal Music and her expertise led her to produce a documentary for Warner Music. She’s also a familiar face at festivals and events, where she frequently DJs.

Natalie started her audio career at Global where she spent seven years. She then moved to Australia where she lived for four years working for digital audio brands including Spotify. She has recently returned to the UK to join Global as Head of DAX Audio Sales.

Christian is a film school graduate and former columnist now working as an AV specialist at MGOMD.
Previous clients include the Mars Corporation, Premier Inn and Barbie.
He plans and buys media campaigns across the Government such as Violence Against Women and Girls, Universal Credit and the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

Max has worked in Government communications and marketing for over 9 years, specialising in planning and delivering multi-channel campaigns to educate, motivate and encourage behaviour change amongst a wide range of audiences.
He is currently Marketing Team Lead at the Department for Transport, responsible for delivering the long-running THINK! road safety campaign. Previous to this he was at the Department for Work and Pensions where he led on marketing campaigns to boost workforce participation following the Covid pandemic.

Kristina Fleming has been working in a media industry for over 8 years after completing Advertising, PR and Media degree in London. Majority of those years she has been working with government agencies - delivering all government communication campaigns. She feels very passionately about this account, supporting citizens with behaviour change and championing innovation.