Jon has worked in the local search industry for more than 30 years and has held numerous executive positions throughout Europe including Norway, Finland, Sweden, The Netherlands, Austria, Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary, Estonia, Slovakia, Ireland and Uruguay. Because of this varied background, he has a deep insight into the search industry, has experienced its changes first-hand over the past decades and knows its current challenges. Today, Jon is the CEO of FCR Media Belgium and of FCR Media Group, which has offices in Belgium, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Romania. Since the acquisition of Youvia in March 2022, he has also been Head of Supervisory Board of Youvia B.V. After the combined acquisition of Mono Solutions, an established SaaS provider of highly scalable white-label website building technology for reseller partners, by FCR Media, 1881 Group AS, the owner of Hjemmesidehuset AS, in Norway and heise in Germany, he was appointed Chairman of the Management Board of Mono Solutions in January 2025. In 2012, Jon became Member of the Board of EASDP, the European Association of Search and Database Publishing Board, formerly EADP. In 2014, EASDP was merged with EIDQ Association (Association for the Directory Information and Related Search Industry). The new association was named Siinda and Jon was appointed 1st Chairman resp. President – a task he still carries out today.

General Manager and Board SIINDA. Kimberli Lewis has 18 years experience as a CEO in the directory, search and online space and 22 years in executive management. She has managed or served on the boards of companies in Germany, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Poland, Gibraltar, Israel, United Kingdom, and the United States. Kimberli is recognized as an expert in the industry of search and information and has won over 29 International awards in marketing and product development. Kimberli has graduate degrees from Webster University, George Washington and Harvard Universities, as well as being a certified Executive and Systemic Team Coach with Graduate degrees from Henley Business School and London Academy of Executive Coaching. She is owner and partner of Global Business Therapy s.r.o. which provides leadership training, coaching and systemic team coaching. She is a member of the Forbes Coaches Council and the host of Leadership Beyond Borders, on VoiceAmerica Internet Radio and Podcasts.

Miha Lavrencic has explored many different professions. For the past 10 years, he has worked as a tour guide in Berlin. Originally, he is a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and also trained as an interior designer. He has worked in veterinary medicine, the pharmaceutical industry, and interior design. After moving to Berlin from Slovenia in 2016, he began working as a private tour guide—something that had always been his passion and a hobby since his student days. As his bookings quickly increased, he realized he could pursue this full-time and is recognized as one of Berlin’s top tour guides guiding thousands of people and groups each year. Miha loves exploring the incredible city of Berlin, rich in culture and history, and experiences it as a place unlike anything one has ever seen.  He not only explores history but talks about Berlin’s uniqueness today as a modern cultural capital.

Sam is VP of Global Solutions Engineering with nearly 20 years of SaaS experience, recognised for turning complex technology into clear business value. He brings deep expertise in Marketing Technology and is CIPD-qualified in Adult Learning. Outside of work, you’ll likely find him talking about F1, football, and technology—preferably all three at once.

Wendi is SVP of International Sales at Yext and a founding team member, bringing more than 25 years of leadership experience across global technology and marketing organizations. She has held senior roles at Oracle, Gartner, Right Media, and Yahoo!, and most recently served as CEO of Cleverbridge. A Georgia Tech graduate and board member of Sabre and the Georgia Tech Foundation, she recently completed MIT’s AI/ML program and is passionate about the future of AI for marketers and digital leaders.

With a degree in Telecommunications Engineering from the University of Pisa, Umberto began his career at Telecom Italia before moving to Bell Labs Lucent. He then worked first at Cisco and then at Microsoft. In 2010, he joined Google, contributing to the launch of the Google Cloud division in Italy, before moving on to the advertising business and eventually heading up the Search Advertising Sales, Privacy, Data and Business Insights division. He was an adjunct professor at the Politecnico di Milano from 2006 to 2010 and is currently an adjunct professor at the University of International Studies in Rome (UNINT), where he teaches a laboratory course in Digital Advertising.

Maxime Duclaux General Director at solocal+ Maxime Duclaux leads solocal+, a young, innovative company offering a unique solution combining data, media, and artificial intelligence. A subsidiary of solocal, solocal+ supports media agencies, major accounts, and the public sector with their communication needs. Its value proposition is based on targeted communication, focused on purchase intent, in both B2C and B2B markets, across various formats and distribution channels. Before being appointed CEO of solocal+, Maxime Duclaux was Public Sector & Partnerships Sales Director at solocal, where he developed a new division dedicated to the public sector. This division aims to digitize government agencies, hospitals, and local authorities through digital services and advertising solutions. Previously, he was the company's General Secretary, in charge of the Legal, Data Protection, Compliance, CSR, and Public Affairs departments. Specializing in digital marketing and political science, Maxime holds an Executive MBA from ESSEC Business School Paris and a master’s degree from Sciences Po Aix-en-Provence.

I have a track record of creating, developing and managing new businesses to deliver ROI to shareholders, and leading struggling business units in competitive markets to commercial success. I have acquired an uncommon combination of MD-Level skills and experience. I've led large business units in FTSE 100 FMCG and financial services companies, but also founded start-ups, meaning I'm as comfortable driving strategic planning as I am delivering the numbers. My early career focused on traditional sales, marketing & product development in multiple markets and geographies, but I've spent the last 10 years building digital businesses by combining that traditional experience with compelling user-facing and enterprise technology. For the last couple of years I've been driving a restructuring/transformation in several roles (CEO, CDO & CPO) at EDSA, a Triton Portfolio Company. I am a veteran company director and board member, with a desire to make decisions and move quickly.

Caroline De Cock, LL.M., is Head of Research at information labs and Senior Fellow at the Lisbon Council. A long-time strategist at the intersection of technology, law, and AI governance, she has spent over two decades shaping EU and global digital policy. She specializes in translating complex issues in AI, media, copyright, and Internet governance into accessible insights for policymakers and the public. Caroline is also the Founder of Square-up Agency and N-square Consulting, which advises global technology and civil society organizations. Having lived in 11 countries across four continents, she brings a uniquely global perspective to regulation. Her book, AI Tools, Not Gods, was published in January 2026.

Oded is the Chief Revenue Officer at Duda, where he champions customer advocacy and oversees growth and management for both new and existing accounts. In his role as CRO, Oded is instrumental in crafting and implementing revenue strategies, guiding sales, and leading customer success teams to ensure Duda's offerings align perfectly with client needs. Bringing over 20 years of leadership experience across Customers Growth, Technical Support, Professional Services, and global teams management, Oded excels in propelling operational excellence and revenue growth. His prior roles include Vice President of Professional Services at PreciseQ, focusing on Healthcare, Enterprise, and Mobile solutions, and leadership positions at startups like SANRAD and MonoSphere, emphasizing his adeptness in driving customer-centric success and strategic revenue generation.

Yassine Hachem is the Senior Vice President of E-Commerce & Customer Engagement at Accor, where he leads global teams to drive double-digit growth in Web Direct revenues. With over 20 years of experience as an intrapreneur and digital leader, Yassine oversees a massive digital ecosystem reaching hundreds of millions of visitors and generating billions in sales. His career is defined by a commitment to large-scale transformation and the implementation of customer-centric distribution strategies. Currently, he is spearheading the integration of cutting-edge AI and MarTech innovations —partnering with giants such as Google, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, and OpenAI —to redefine the omnichannel guest experience. At Accor, he is instrumental in establishing Direct Digital Channels as the preferred choice for both guests and hotels worldwide.

Itamar Shafir is a seasoned technology entrepreneur and the CEO of Umbrella, a premier MarTech platform powering thousands of marketing agencies and solopreneurs. A recognized innovator in the digital landscape, Itamar previously co-founded and led Appforma, an automated marketing solution that earned the first-ever Facebook Innovation Award before its acquisition by Algomizer. Itamar is currently focused on evolving the next-gen of autonomous AI marketing solutions. Itamar also developed Growbotik.com as an Umbrella project, a full White Label Autonomous AI led. Human Supervised Marketing Agency.

As Head of Partner Growth for Uberall, he is responsible for the overall success and growth of our North American reseller partners. Prior to joining Uberall, he served as Business Development Director for the Local Search Association (LSA), where he was responsible for new member acquisition strategy and retention. During his tenure at LSA, he developed high-profile strategic partnerships and brought in numerous brands as association members, including Facebook, Twitter, Toyota, Yelp, Yahoo, Waze, U-Haul & General Motors.He was also an integral part of the LSA events team and worked on conference programming, speaker outreach and event sponsorships.

Stephanie has B.A in Political Science from the Institute of Political Science of Grenoble and a Master in European Affairs from University of Paris. She has worked in the European Parliament at the Secretariat service of the EPP and was rewarded the Francois Fontaine prize for her work on the EU opening to the Visegrad countries. She began her work with EADP in 2000 and was the EU Affairs officer. She has more than 20 years of experience in digital industries, regulatory and Eu affairs oversight and in European conferences encompassing both legislative, strategic and organizational approaches to our industry. Stephanie is the owner of SVM Consult, which provides unique public affairs services intertwined the with event management to combine an accurate sector-specific package for the data industry. She manages the European and Regulatory affairs for Siinda, the Digital Marketing and Local Search Association.

Adam Jones leads the Channel Sales Partner Program at TikTok, building partner-led revenue ecosystems that drive SMB acquisition and monetization. He activates strategic channel and technology partners through scalable go-to marketmodels, aligning product, incentives, and enablement to deliver measurable results. Adam brings over 20 years of experience turning partnership strategy into execution. Prior to TikTok, he spent a decade at Google building global channel ecosystems that became foundational growth engines for the business, creating operational frameworks that moved from pilot to scale with discipline and speed. His focus is twofold: establishing TikTok as the most partner friendly  platform in the industry, and making it the platform where SMBs, working through trusted partners, achieve breakthrough growth.

Brendan King captivates sales, marketing, and software professionals with his humour, intensity, and imaginative thinking. He is the co-founder, CEO, and innovative force behind Vendasta. Brendan is passionate about upholding Vendasta’s core values of drive, innovation, respect, and agility while leading the company down a path of innovation.

Peter Urmson the CEO of Spotzer Digital. Spotzer Digital provides digital marketing solutions of the highest quality to small and medium businesses, in cooperation with some of the biggest media enterprises around the world. It also delivers digital solutions to mid tier and enterprise customers, including some of the biggest brands in the world. They have established themselves as leaders of the industry and are proudly innovating more and more sectors of it. Peter has rapidly increased the growth of Spotzer Digital by partnering with some of the world's leading enterprise brands, where Spotzer Digital provides a complete white-label end-to-end solution that includes technology, products, services and sales. With a strong background in managing mid-tier and enterprise businesses, Pete has developed the Spotzer Digital business to address the digital solutions needs of enterprise businesses for their small to medium-sized business clients. Pete has collaborated with multiple international enterprises and medium-sized organizations to launch digital marketing services across Europe, the United States, and Australia. A native of the UK, Pete has lived in Australia and Amsterdam and is passionate about delivering real results for partners and their SMB customers.

ADVANTAGO: advantago is specified on servicing larger customers, buying co-operations, franchise systems with solutions in the field of digital presence management, search and social marketing; digital advertising along with recruiting products which are distributed by an own sales force and those of partnering agencies, platforms, verticals and directory publishers to integrate into their existing portfolio. EXCELSEA: Excelsea GmbH & Co. KG, based in Nuremberg, is a provider of SaaS solutions for automated online marketing and digital platforms. Through Markee Solutions, Excelsea supports agencies, franchise companies and other influencers in the centralised management and optimisation of their clients’ online marketing activities. Part of the portfolio is Markee Jobs, a white-label recruitment technology that enables scalable recruitment services and high-performance job portals, including an applicant tracking system. Excelsea is headquartered in Nuremberg, whilst the international #TeaM works predominantly remotely across four different time zones. Joachim also co-ordinates international partnerships with major players such as Google, Microsoft, Apple and Yext for the Müller Medien group of companies and through his activities as moderator and ambassador for SIINDA, he is very present in the international directory community. Prior to his jobs at Müller , he headed the international product development and marketing department of the international advertising network at pepper media in Hamburg and Nuremberg for 5 years, and before that the online media unit of the multimedia agency ID-Media in Hamburg. He has a degree in Business and Management from the Fachhochschule in Mainz and the University of Ulster, Coleraine, Northern Ireland.

As a Solutions and Services Partnerships Manager, Bruno develops, coordinates and/or manages partnerships between Solocal and platforms, publishers and solution providers in the local digital space to grow the value proposition of Solocal products and services. Bruno has been part of Solocal since 2001. He has successively worked on Strategic Planning, Strategic Research and Intelligence, M&A, General Management for 123deal (a Solocal service) before moving to Business Development and Partnerships functions in 2011. In addition to these functions, he also launched Solocal UK subsidiary in 2013 and has been Solocal UK Country Manager until 2015. Prior to his tenure within Solocal, Bruno worked for Dafsa Wefa, a European research and consulting company, as a Project Manager for the Automotive vertical. Bruno graduated in Marketing and Strategy at Paris Dauphine University and Sciences Po Grenoble (Political Studies Institute)

Prof. Dr. Thomas Höppner is a partner with Geradin Partners. Before joining Geradin Partners in 2025, Thomas was a partner at Hausfeld for ten years. With over 20 years of experience, Thomas has advised clients on a broad range of contentious and non-contentious antitrust and regulatory matters. He has assisted clients on numerous high-stake investigations, including some of the most complex cases in the tech, media and network industries. Thomas is also a trusted litigator on matters of EU law and private enforcement of competition law and the Digital Markets Act, including large individual and collective damages cases. He has a particularly strong track record of securing preliminary injunctions in time-sensitive competition disputes. Naming Thomas as one of the top 10 advisors in antitrust law and the platform economy, according to the legal directory Juve “Höppner is considered one of the leading specialists in competition law and digital regulation – no one in Germany is as strongly associated with the fight against the abuse of market power by large tech companies such as Google and Apple as he is.” Thomas is also recognized as one of the top 10 lawyers in media competition law and as a Thought Leader in competition law and competition plaintiff litigation work in Germany by Lexology/Who’s Who Legal. Thomas holds a PhD and an LL.M., and he was awarded a professorship in business and IP law. He has published six books and over 100 articles, earning him seven nominations for the Concurrences Antitrust Writing Awards, of which he has won three.

Mitchell Leiman currently works as the Chief Executive Officer at iPromote. He has 25+ years of experience, focusing the last dozen years on digital marketing and advertising, particularly with small businesses. Mitchell has held leadership roles at Gannett/WordStream, Vistaprint, Constant Contact and was a partner at Bain & Company. He grew up in a small business family; his parents worked together to run a manufacturer of awards and plaques, for over 50 years. Mitchell has a MBA from Harvard Business School and also graduated from Georgetown University. He loves traveling, playing and watching sports along with spending time with his wife and two teenage children (most of the time).

Markus Müller-Hahnefeld combines 15+ years of professional film production experience with cuttingedge AI expertise. A graduate of HFF München (University of Television and Film Munich), he has been training international professionals in AI video production for three years. Under his Immersive AI label, he delivers corporate workshops and film production services, working with clients across Germany and internationally. His unique positioning (traditional film school training meets AI innovation) provides participants with both artistic foundation and technical mastery.