The 2021 Judges

LinkedIn

Ante joined digidip in 2014 with the goal of making digidip international. Having successfully launched digidip in Germany and France, he continued the company’s expansion to the other European markets followed by the USA, for which digidip won multiple awards for being one of the fastest growing companies in Europe. Having worked with a great number of networks, agencies, advertisers, publishers and an endless number of campaigns nearly across all global markets, Ante has a significant amount of affiliate marketing knowledge from all angles on a global scale.

LinkedIn

I am a highly passionate, creative, systematic and insight driven marketer with 20 years of work experience across retail, travel, airline, fashion and telco verticals. Currently, i work at Hostelworld which has some 36,000 properties across 178 countries on its platform that enables travellers to experience new places and meet new people in a fun, memorable and safe way; empowered by travel know-how curated by a passionate community of like-minded travellers and hosts.

LinkedIn

Brook been involved in the performance marketing space since 2000, having started out at Zappos.com. He is co-founder of two companies, Schaaf-PartnerCentric (founded 2006, sold 2017) and FMTC.co (founded 2007). He is an active member of Entrepreneurs’ Organization and lives outside Austin, Texas.

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Chris’s tenure working within affiliate and performance marketing companies spans 16 years and is an advocate for the channel. During this time his roles have resided within the events and publishing, client services and operational areas of these industry businesses.

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Christoph Kastenholz is Co-Founder & CEO of Pulse Advertising, a market leader in influencer marketing. Pulse Advertising operates a team of 100+ people across offices in London, Hamburg, Milan and New York City.

Chris is a FORBES 30 under 30, a member of the Forbes Agency Council, and a regular speaker at events including TEDx, Transformamus, Online Marketing Rockstars, Fashion Weeks, NYU, Bocconi, LBS, Imperial College, EBS.

LinkedIn

Chris Tradgett is CMO of Publisher Discovery, bringing 18 years in affiliates to helping advertisers find their most relevant new affiliate partners. The back story includes being part of the launch team of buy.at affiliate network, which sold to AOL, then Awin. Chris then launched the Easyspace Hosting affiliate program in 2010 – and realised how tough finding new affiliates is. First started digging into affiliate tracking via Linkdex and founded Publisher Discovery – to make recruiting easier for everyone else.

LinkedIn

Director of Partnerships at Honey, a smart shopping assistant, creating seamless shopping experiences for our 29M+ members globally. I have been with Honey for over 3 years and have been responsible for the partner-facing team, dedicated to onboarding merchants and building strong relationships with our network partners in each of the markets we’re present. Prior to Honey, I was Performance Marketing Manager at The Hut Group heading up a small team responsible for affiliate and influencer marketing globally.

LinkedIn

A native of Minsk, Belarus, Elena Potoupa earned two degrees by the age of 20, a B.S. in Physics and a J.D. in International Law. She came to the United States as an international student and earned her M.B.A. from Fairleigh Dickinson University by 22. She has more than 25 years of Digital Marketing and Strategic planning experience. More than 15 years of Affiliate Marketing experience starting in 2002.

AWARDS: LinkShare Golden Link “Innovative Affiliate of the Year” (2005); Affiliate Summit Advisory Board (2006-2007); Finalist 2007 Stevie Awards for Women in Business “Best Entrepreneur – Service Businesses – Up to 100 Employees” and “Best Turnaround of the Year”; Google Affiliate Network “Rising Star” (2008) & “VIP” (2010); Commission Junction Affiliate Network “CJ Performer” (2009); LinkShare Affiliate Network “Platinum Publisher” (2009); Finalist 2009 Stevie Awards “Best Turnaround of the Year”, “Fastest-Growing Company of the Year – All Service Industries”, “Best Entrepreneur – Service Businesses – Up to 100 Employees”. Winner of “Outstanding Young Alumni” award. Fairleigh Dickinson University (2006). Honoree “20th Anniversary Celebration of the Rothman Institute of Entrepreneurship” (2010).

Elena is currently is consulting in Affiliate Marketing on Client and Publisher Development Strategy.

LinkedIn

With over 15 years of experience in the digital marketing space, Elena is currently Global Sales Director at Bravo Savings Network, an international affiliate publisher specialised in the offers and promotions vertical with dedicated portals in the UK, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Poland, and in the US. 

Elena manages a multilingual team of Sales Account Managers and is responsible for hiring, training, and managing performance and KPIs globally. Prior to working at Bravo Savings Network Elena has lived in many European cities including Milan, Leipzig, Paris, and Barcelona before moving to London, where she worked as Head of Partnerships and Key Account Director at Coupons.com for over 6 years.

LinkedIn

Emily has worked in the Online Marketing growth space, largely within Affiliates/Online Partnerships for nearly 8 years, and joined HelloFresh, the largest international meal kit company, 3 years ago. Emily is the Global Head of Affiliate Marketing, leading a team who oversee all affiliate and strategic partnerships activity for 13 markets and 18 programs across APAC and EMEA. Emily has a detailed insight on global growth strategy and pushing industry boundaries.

LinkedIn

With half a decade of performance marketing experience spread across the UK’s leading brands, Emily is a well-rounded expert. She has driven award-winning strategies in the UK and Europe. She is motivated by a passion for innovation and changing the industry for the better. Emily currently occupies a newly created role at Domino’s Pizza UK & Ireland where she leads the Display and Affiliate Marketing channels.

LinkedIn

Ecommerce, digital marketing specialist and guest lecturer at universities and speaker at business events.

LinkedIn

Gala Grigoreva, an evangelist of integrated communication strategy, has twelve years of successful experience in marketing brands internationally. She has worked as a CMO for global IT companies LoyaltyPlant (mobile apps), Changelly (crypto exchange), Adsterra (advertising network). Gala built several strong marketing teams and launched IT products with current bln $ turnovers, ran marketing campaigns that delivered x9 ROI within a quarter, grew x6 the base of active users, and many more. She was a member of the Forbes Communication Council.

LinkedIn

A highly valued digital marketing specialist and business strategist with over 20 years’ experience working with the world’s biggest tech platforms now offering strategic insight into how marketers can work with AI to blend the power of machines with the skills of a human to deliver campaigns that are more relevant, trustworthy, user friendly and ultimately, more effective.

LinkedIn

Heather manages a global Affiliate Partnerships team at Reward Gateway, the leading employee engagement platform which gives the world’s most innovative HR people beautiful products and tools to attract, engage and retain their people. She co-founded the Publisher Board in 2019, with the mission to improve standards within the affiliate industry and promote best practices.

LinkedIn

Iain is currently an affiliates manager across both mobile and broadband at one of the UK’s largest networks, Three. With approximately eight years’ experience in the affiliate and digital marketing space, he manages some of Three’s largest affiliate relationships alongside driving exclusive offers for their customers to support sales. Before joining Three and the telco world, Iain worked in the energy team at uSwitch as also as a freelance consultant that specialised in PCW strategies & regulation.

LinkedIn

Jeremy Aaronson is the Vice President of Sales at UpSellit and is responsible for the strategic direction and global growth of UpSellit. As a seasoned professional with over 20 years of experience, Jeremy is a proven leader with a breadth of industry experience and a true passion for building global partnerships.

Under Aaronson’s leadership, UpSellit has consistently received recognition from clients, partners, and other industry-leading organizations. In addition to receiving two Pinnacle Awards for Technology of the Year and Best Performance Marketing Campaign, UpSellit was also named a Best Workplace in 2021 by Inc. Magazine.

Aaronson’s continued thirst for knowledge has led him to complete specialized training programs in Executive Leadership and Sales Management. Outside of the office, Aaronson’s personal background is deeply rooted in family values and purpose-driven work. He enjoys adventuring with his family and currently sits on the Board of Directors for local nonprofits, Faceoff With Cancer and the Yarrow Family YMCA.

LinkedIn

Jodi has over fifteen years of experience in performance marketing on both the network and agency sides. She has built and honed her skills working with brands like Saks Fifth Avenue, Zipcar, Bass Pro Shops, Unbounce, Extended Stay America and The Wall Street Journal.

Besides being passionate about digital marketing, Jodi is also passionate about her coffee, her friends, her book club, and spending time at home with her family; where you can almost always find a pajama-dance-party in progress.

LinkedIn

Julia oversees commercial and growth strategy for Genie Ventures, the high-growth performance marketing group. Julia draws on 15 years of experience in affiliate marketing with varied previous roles that take in every side of the industry. These include publisher-side as Commercial Director of uSwitch, client-side as the first in-house Affiliate Manager at Vodafone, network-side in client strategy at Awin, agency-side as advisor to ForwardPMX and founding member of the IAB Affiliate Marketing Council.

Julia is a strategy consultant and board advisor, and over the last 6 years has developed commercial and growth plans for 25+ companies of every size from incubator startups in the UK Sports Tech Hub to major PLCs like uSwitch and Comparethemarket.

LinkedIn

Kaleesha has over a decade of global performance marketing experience, spanning N. America, S. Asia, and Europe. With a particular focus on e-commerce, she has worked across agencies, in-house, and as a consultant spanning the FMCG, Retail, Supermarkets, Fashion, Banking, and Travel. Kaleesha holds a Bachelors degree in Economics and Government from Lawrence University (USA) and a Master’s in Digital Asset & Media Management from King’s College London (UK). She is currently pursuing a PhD exploring the relationship between regulation and digital payments innovation.

LinkedIn

Kristina has meteorically risen to the position of Vice President of Affiliate at DMi Partners, a full service digital marketing agency that represents some of the largest brands in advertising, on the merits of her ability to craft and execute transformational digital strategies. A technological determinist who believes that digital methods of communication allow us to be faster and more versatile, Kristina leads one of the most ambitious, forward-thinking Affiliate Marketing teams in the industry. Her efforts in fostering collaboration and developing all-inclusive marketing strategies have culminated in DMi doubling their affiliate growth year over year for the last 3 years.

LinkedIn

Luis is Head of Global eCommerce Marketing at The LEGO Group, and defines the strategy globally for the iconic toy company. On these years in the company, Luis has managed to create a global organization that reaches both children and parents with engaging content in more than 140 markets. He is a regular writer and speaker about Search Marketing and business leadership and plays an active role in the search community. He is a fellow member of the Marketing Society, member of the advisory board of The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising and participates actively at conferences and specialized publications. He is also member of the judging panels of industry leading awards, as the DMA Awards, the UK and US Search Awards, The Drum and The Biddable Media awards. Luis has a technical background on computer science and has more than 20 years’ experience in Digital Marketing with cross-functional expertise in technology and business management and leadership.

LinkedIn

Matt Wilke is an experienced Performance Media Marketer, earning his stripes working for agency groups such as WPP’s Neo Media World and Omnicom’s PHD Media where he responsibly saw the rollout and building of Programmatic Teams on behalf of both respectively in Cape Town, South Africa. He has experienced the other side of the same coin of vendor and buyer relationships, by having led the Programmatic and Performance offering of South Africa’s largest digital publisher; 24.com during an exciting time when the revenue-focus was shifting from traditional “Premium Buys” to Ad Exchange selling.

LinkedIn

He has more than 10 years of experience in digital marketing and currently directs the Customer Acquisition department of the Grupo Xcaret that aims to merge the B2B and B2C digital strategies. Within Grupo Xcaret, he directs the digital strategy for eight parks, five archaeological tours and three hotels in Cancun & Riviera Maya with the all-fun-inclusive concept, successfully generating sales in 75 countries.

LinkedIn

Michelle Kalinowski is a seasoned digital marketing strategist bringing over 15 years of e-commerce experience to the Acceleration Partners team with an expertise in PPC and Affiliate marketing, spanning globally in markets for APAC and North America. As Senior Account Manager, she oversees teams that successfully manage and execute strategy for Key account programmes. Michelle is responsible for the continued growth and innovation of affiliate accounts and has been part of leading a successful team in the past to win the International Performance Marketing Award for Best Managed APAC Affiliate Programme.

LinkedIn

Neguin is the Head of Affiliate and Partnerships at GrowthOps Digital. She’s a performance marketing advocate who enjoys strategic thinking to help brands achieve their goals more cost efficiently, via partnerships, technology and digital marketing tactics.

With 12 years in Digital Marketing, Neguin has worked with leading brands worldwide in network, agency and advertiser roles and has experience across multiple industries including retail, fashion, travel, entertainment, market research and finance.

LinkedIn

Passionate about changing mentalities, Pedro loves to face challenges and solve them with creative and unexpected solutions. After working with Microsoft, Unilever, Sainsbury´s, HM Government and Specsavers, Pedro is now the Director of Performance for SAP at OMD EMEA. Pedro has already contributed to multiple awards wins for his clients with Innovative and Creative work – Campaign Media Awards, Media Week Awards, Campaign Tech Awards, Festival of Media Global and a Grand Prix at WARC Media Awards.

LinkedIn

With over 15 years of experience in Telco & Media, Pierre leads Marketing for Sky Mobile, the fastest growing mobile network in the UK. Prior to his current role, Pierre started his career in Consulting then held commercial and propositions responsibilities leading him to successfully launch Sky Mobile.

LinkedIn

After spending a decade at affiliate networks in the UK (CJ) and Australia (dgm/APD/GrowthOps), Roger currently uses the wealth of experience gained from helping large retailers, travel merchants and financial institutions to create new innovative partnerships for Candlefox in the education space and to improve the ongoing engagement of the learners that have visited. Candlefox operates education marketplaces both in the UK and Australia including coursesonline.co.uk and training.com.au, helping learners find their next course primarily to assist them to achieve their career goals. Leading a team to win the IPMA for best run affiliate campaign in APAC in 2018 for the Dell campaign ranks as one of Roger’s career highlights.

LinkedIn

Award winning marketer with 16 years experience in Financial Services in Asia and UK. Have led teams to drive Brand Building, Customer Acquisition and Customer Engagement. Passionate about provide mentoring and platforms to individuals keen to make a career in marketing, but do not have the right guidance and resources.

LinkedIn

With 16 years of experience in the affiliate and partnership marketing space, Sarah currently oversees the US operations for the global affiliate & partner marketing agency, Silverbean. She helps brands achieve their revenue goals and grow their business in North America, UK, Europe, Australia, and APAC. Prior to joining Silverbean, Sarah served as VP of ShareASale, responsible for the operations and revenue of the platform. Sarah speaks regularly on the topic of Performance Marketing, contributing to several industry publications, and has sat on the Board of Directors for the Performance Marketing Association.

LinkedIn

I am an experienced manager and marketing growth expert with an entrepreneurial spirit and a passion for helping clients meet their sales and marketing objectives and helping team members discover their purpose and achieve their potential. With over 20 years of experience I have led customer acquisition, lead generation and e-commerce growth strategies for both small and fortune 100 businesses, through a variety of digital marketing tactics, such as inbound marketing (including content and SEO), affiliate marketing, paid media (display/retargeting/AdWords), email marketing and social media marketing. As a manager and business owner, I have owned P & L statements, organized team structure, recruited team members, created and managed employee retention programs, revamped performance reviews and have been trained in coaching. I recently received my MBA from Western Colorado University, with a specialty in the outdoor industry.