Meet the FIPP World Congress View from the Top panel

The FIPP World Congress takes place from 13-15 October 2015, and the View from the Top panel is on 15 October, at 17:30 (see the programme, subject to minor changes, here).

The participants are Aroon Purie (India), Frederic Kachar (Brazil), Gary Knell (USA) and Pierre Lamunière (Switzerland). They will discuss forces impacting the industry, consider key challenges and share what their companies are doing about these, and look at the short, medium and longer term opportunities for magazine media in the modern media world.

Below is a little more about each one of them, as well as a list of some of the other business leaders who will speak at the Congress.

Aroon Purie, founding chairman & editor-in-chief, India Today Group

 Aroon ()

Aroon Purie is the founding chairman & editor-in-chief of the India Today Group, India’s most respected and diversified media conglomerate. The group publishes more than 36 magazine media brands, including leading international titles. Its flagship news weekly, India Today, and other group publications are all market leaders. 

The group also has four leading 24-hour news channels including the largest Hindi news channel, 7 radio stations, a newspaper and a consumer e-commerce shopping portal and strong digital, mobile and social media presence. 

Through its multiple media brands and platforms, the India Today Group reaches more than 100 million people every month.

An alumnus of the London School of Economics and a qualified chartered accountant, Aroon has served on the board of many prestigious institutions in India and abroad. He was chairman of FIPP from 2009 to 2011 and was the first Asian to be given this honour.  

A true pioneer, Aroon has been instrumental in changing the face of journalism in India and was awarded the Padma Bhushan – amongst India’s highest civilian honours – by the president of India in 2001.

Read our Q&A with Aroon here.

Frederic Kachar, CEO, Editora Globo, Brazil

Frederic ()

Frederic began his professional career at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, where he worked for three years. In 1997, he joined Grupo Globo, as a financial analyst for Infoglobo, the newspaper company of Grupo Globo. With the acquisition of the Diário Popular newspaper in 2001, he became CFO of the publication in April of that year.  

In 2002, he joined Editora Globo – the magazine media company of Grupo Globo, also as CFO in order to drive the company’s turnaround. In January 2008, he took over as company CEO and since then has been working on the transformation of its digital business and increasing the overall brand portfolio with new magazine launches. 

In July 2010, he oversaw the creation of Edições Globo Condé Nast, a joint venture between Editora Globo and Condé Nast. 

In December 2012, Frederic was also appointed as the president of the Brazilian Association of Magazine Publishers (ANER). 

He holds a degree in Economics from UFRJ (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro), an MBA in Finance by IBMEC and a PGA from Insead.

Read our Q&A with Frederic here.

Gary E. Knell, president and CEO, National Geographic Society, USA

Gary ()

Gary is president and CEO of the National Geographic Society, one of the world’s largest nonprofit scientific and educational organisations, with a global reach of more than 700 million people a month through its media platforms, products and events. 

Before joining National Geographic in January 2014, Gary was president and CEO of National Public Radio from 2011 to 2013. Under his leadership, the organisation solidified its position in a rapidly changing media environment as Gary leveraged NPR’s network of member stations, drove cross-platform journalism and cultural programming, and grew philanthropic and corporate underwriting support.

Gary’s media career spans nearly three decades, including 22 years at Sesame Workshop, where he was appointed CEO in 2000. During his 12-year tenure as CEO, Sesame expanded its revenue base, worldwide audience and global recognition. 

Prior to Sesame Workshop, Gary was managing director of the multimedia publishing company Manager Media International. He also served as senior vice president and general counsel at WNET/Channel 13 in New York.

Gary, who is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, has a J.D. from Loyola University School of Law in Los Angeles and a B.A. in political science from UCLA.

Pierre Lamunière, group chairman and publisher, Edipresse, Switzerland

Pierre ()

Pierre Lamunière is a Swiss citizen. Upon completion of his graduate studies in the USA (MBA Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania), he joined Edipresse, a family publishing group based in Lausanne, Switzerland. 

He is currently Edipresse Group’s chairman, publisher and majority shareholder. 

During his long career he has developed the group internationally, launching more than 40 new magazines, 4 newspapers and numerous digital platforms. 

Amongst several of his past directorships, Pierre was a director of La Poste, the largest Swiss company, and chairman of the management board of FIPP. 

He is also a member of the board of the Banque Cantonale Vaudoise, one of the largest banks in Switzerland, and a director of Tamedia, the leading Swiss media group and one of the most profitable in Europe.

Read about the Edipresse story here.

Other business leaders who will speak at the Congress, include:

• Duncan Edwards, president and CEO, Hearst Magazines International, USA

• Gerrit Klein, CEO, Ebner Media Group, Germany (read the Q&A)

• Jacob Weisberg, chairman, The Slate Group (slate.com), USA

• Joe Ripp, Chairman and CEO, Time Inc., USA (read the Q&A)

• Julie Hansen, President, Business Insider, USA (read the Q&A)

• Katie Vanneck-Smith, Chief Customer Officer and Global MD International, Dow Jones, UK

• Kevin Costello, Group CEO, Haymarket Media Group, UK

• Lena Yang, CEO, Hearst Magazines International, China

• Lynda Reeves, founder, president and publisher, House & Home Media, Canada (read the Q&A)

• Marcus Rich, CEO, Time Inc., UK

• Natasha Christie-Miller, CEO, EMAP, UK

• Phil Thomas, CEO, Lions Festivals (read the Q&A)

• Scott Button, founder and CEO, Unruly, UK

• Scott Schulman, President, Rodale, USA

• Tom Bureau, CEO, Immediate Media, UK

• Tsuguhiko Kadokawa, Chairman, Kadokawa Corp, Japan (read the Q&A)

And more…

The FIPP World Congress takes place from 13-15 October 2015 in Toronto, Canada. It includes the Worldwide Media Marketplace on 13 October and FIPP Mobile and FIPP Innovation on 14 and 15 October.

Close to 80 speakers from around the world will be on stage at the Congress.

Join them in Toronto.

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