4th BACC Argentina UK Business Networking Day
Creative Industries: Opportunities - Programme
6th November 2012 - London
Speakers in order of appearance
Alicia Castro, Argentine Ambassador
Alicia Castro was born in Bahía Blanca, Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has a daughter, Miranda Castro.
In 1970 she started working as a Cabin Crew Member for Aerolíneas Argentinas and was later designated as Representative
for her sector. She was then elected General Secretary of the Asociación Argentina de Aeronavegantes [Argentine Flight
Crew Members Association] for four successive periods from 1991 to 2000. In 1994, she founded the Movimiento de los
Trabajadores Argentinos (MTA) [Argentine Workers’ Union], which lead to the rescue of the Argentine airline companies
Aerolíneas Argentinas and Austral and prevented mass dismissals of the companies’ employees.
She also held the position of Representative of the Employment Policies, International and Institutional Relations
Commission of the Asociación Argentina de Aeronavegantes until she was appointed as Argentine Ambassador to the
Republic of Venezuela. In 1997 she was elected as Diputada Nacional [MP] for the Province of Buenos Aires for the period
1997-2000, and she was re-elected for the 2001-2005 mandate. In 2003, the lower chamber of the Argentine Congress
[Cámara de Diputados de la República Argentina] passed a bill she had introduced which proposed the inclusion of
Venezuela to MERCOSUR.
In 2006 she was appointed Argentine Ambassador in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, consolidating strategic
relationships between Argentina and Venezuela at all levels. She was Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group with
Venezuela. She was also a member of the Joint Parliamentary Commission of MERCOSUR (CPC), drafter of the
Parliamentary Protocol of the MERCOSUR, Vice-president of the Transport Committee, and Member of the Committees on
Energy and Fuel and on Employment Legislation.
Ms. Castro was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Argentine Republic to the Court of St.
James’s in January 2012.
Zeev Godik, Chairman BACC
Zeev Godik opened the first Gaucho restaurant in 1976 as a sideline whilst studying at film school in Amsterdam.
He always had a passion for South America because he had family there, spoke Spanish and knew the region well. Coupled,
of course, with a huge love for beef. Argentina and beef are synonymous; whenever he visited he was left with a lasting
impression – on the way Argentineans raised their cattle, the grazing and the vastness of the country’s open spaces on
which the cattle lived.
So it was this inspiration that guided his first opening. It was intended to be a temporary adventure, not a life-long career,
but then as the restaurant became successful and Zeev’s staff started to depend on him, he made the decision to leave film
school – the restaurant was a commitment he couldn’t ignore. He’s never looked back.
Having opened twenty such restaurants in Holland, he then decided to turn his attention to London and in 1990 bought the
Swallow Street restaurant “Down Mexico Way” from the receivers. Four years later the first Gaucho Grill (now Gaucho
Piccadilly) was born. Today there are fifteen, with twelve in London, one in Manchester, in Leeds and Beirut, one more is
planned to open later this year. To mention the new joined adventure, Freggo, a little of the Buenos Aires ice cream
delicacy at the popular West End location, next to Gaucho Piccadilly.
As to the future, the plan is to grow steadily and invest in staff. The company has a successful training academy so that the
staffs are trained for a week before they even have contact with people. The result is passionate, knowledgeable
employees and a level of staff retention that is twice that of the industry norm.
Rodolfo Hamawi, National Director for Creative Industries
Rodolfo Hamawi was born in Buenos on October 9, 1954. He specializes in publishing, cultural management, contemporary
philosophy, strategic marketing and export consortia.
Between 1987 and 1992 Mr. Hamawi was a marketing manager at Ruiball Hnos S.A.
From 1992 to 1995 he headed DC (Distribuyendo Cultura) cultural magazine distribution company and was a
representative for ARCE (Spanish Cultural Magazine Association).
He has been El Porteño magazine publisher and general manager at Editorial ACME –Robin Hood Collection.
From 1999 to date, as part of his professional activity, he is the head of Editorial Altamira. From 2001 to 2003 he chaired
the Argentine Book Chamber’s Foreign Trade Committee and between 2005 and 2009 was the Secretary General of the
CAL, Argentine Book Chamber. From 2007 to 2009 he chaired the Argentine Book Chamber’s (CAL) Committee for Social
and Political Books and was in charge of organizing the Social and Political Book Fair of the City of Buenos Aires.
In 2009 he became the National Secretariat of Culture’s, National Director of Creative Industries. Among various significant
policies implemented by Mr. Hamawi, the most relevant are the setting up of the National Reading Council, the “Argentina
Diseña” label, the publishing of the Bicentennial book, and the MICA – THE ARGENTINE CULTURAL INDUSTRIES MARKET
Ricardo Moral, VP EMEA, Globant
With more than twelve years of experience in product development, Ricardo has a proven track record in the successful
delivery of large-scale software projects for world-class organizations. Born in Argentina, Ricardo joined Globant in 2004
and immediately relocated to London to work on the architecture of a mission-critical system at Lastminute.com. In 2006,
Ricardo relocated to California and managed Google’s first out-source software development project, leading a team
responsible for the design and implementation of a financial application. Between 2008 and 2009, he built
the engagement between Globant and Electronic Arts, creating a successful offshore operation of more than
160 engineers. Since he joined Globant, Ricardo has executed projects and delivered products for many clients
including Google, Electronic Arts, SAC Capital, Santander Group, Gulf Oil and Lastminute. As Globant´s VP for EMEA,
Ricardo is responsible for Globant’s operation in the region. Before joining Globant, Ricardo worked as software architect
and project leader at IBM,Sony, Ford Motor Company and BBVA Group.
Andres Martinez Ortiz, Developer Programme Manager, Telefonica Digital
With almost 15 year of experience in R&D+i at telecommunication and software engineering sector, he has always worked
developing, transferring technology and promoting innovative technologies. For the last five years, he has been part of
Telefonica R&D (now Telefonica PDI) and Telefonica Digital, working in innovative projects such as Morfeo Project, BlueVia
and Firefox O. He has worked in most of the stages of R&D+i, including software development, project management
(medium size projects), product definition, marketing and business development at several R&D departments of the
Telecommunications and Software Engineering industries.
As part of his activities he has created partnership with
enterprises, big industrial association, developers communities and universities in Spain, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil,
Mexico and Chile but also Canada, USA, Europe and Israel.
Currently, based in London, he is a Developer Program
Engineer and Marketing Manager in Telefonica Digital. He is deeply interested in mobile platforms, cloud computing, PaaS
and big data technologies.
Gustavo Giorgi – Director- Ultrabrit
Gustavo Giorgi, 42 years old, argentine, works in the insurance market since the last 22 years, having a successful carrier
occupying important managing charges in international companies. Great music fan, channelized his passion through a
radio program, and from that point on he figured a project that brings together several ways to reach a large consumers
portion. With the creation of the UltraBrit.com web in 2010 that daily reflects British musical scene, he started to develop a
complementary way to fill up an empty space in the world of the argentine graphic media. Shown up in August 2012, the
bimonthly printed magazine ULTRABRIT MAG was warmly celebrated by a qualified public who feels a great sense of
membership with the project. His next step aims to cross the local borders and to penetrate other Spanish speaking
markets
Juan Pablo Cortés - UBS Wealth Management
Juan Pablo works for UBS Wealth Management and Swiss Bank as Director, Client Advisor for the Latin America &
Caribbean Desk in London, United Kingdom, where he provides Wealth Management services to High Net Worth clients in
the region. Juan Pablo is a Colombian national and banking professional with 16 years of international experience in
Wealth Management, Retail and Commercial Banking in Colombia, Panama, USA and the UK. Juan Pablo holds an MBA
with concentration in Finance from the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration, University of
Rochester, Rochester New York, USA; a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, and an associate’s degree in Latin
American Studies; both from Universidad de los Andes in Bogota, Colombia.
Linda Roberts – Senior Business Manager – London College of Fashion
Senior Business Manager, London Artscom Ltd at London College of Fashion. In her role as Senior Business Manager Linda
is responsible for the short courses, Study Abroad and professional training programmes offered by London College of
Fashion. These short programmes attract over 5000 students to the College each year, and provide in-house training for
corporate clients worldwide including Arcadia Group, ASOS.com, Burberry, Debenhams, Harrods, Aimer (China), Chalhoub
(UAE), Footwear & Recreation Technology Research Institute (Taiwan), TaFT.tc (Singapore) and Falabella, Alto Palermo
Group and Givenchy in Argentina. Linda gained a wide ranging knowledge of the fashion business from many years of
experience in fashion retailing, marketing and product development, working for international brands including Jaeger, The
Woolmark Company and Tencel, prior to joining the University of the Arts London in 2003.
Alanah Cullen – Head of Enterprise – Chelsea College of Art & Design
A marketing and business professional whose career began in the fashion and textile industry. Alanah worked for a
succession of well known high street businesses including Marks and Spencer, Wallis, Jaeger and the International Wool
Secretariat (the Woolmark company).
A succession of roles across the university, including working in the highly
successful enterprise business unit at London College of Fashion, and revitalising the commercial unit running training
courses at Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon (CCW) colleges has led to her appointment as Head of Enterprise for the
Enterprise Collective, a new development for CCW designed to collaborate and connect with the creative industries.
Lauren McKirdy – Project Manager – International Showcases
Lauren McKirdy works in the Architecture, Design and Fashion team within the Arts department at British Council
headquarters in London. She the Project Manager for the British Council’s annual International Showcases in fashion and
architecture which this year ran as part of the London 2012 festival in collaboration with the British Fashion Council and
London Festival of Architecture. Lauren assisted with the publication and exhibition for the UK Pavilion at Shanghai Expo
2010 legacy project, and project managed the installation Home from Home, part of the New Architects UK_Portugal
international exchange programme. Lauren graduated from Brighton University with a BA in architecture and then joined
the RIBA's think tank, Building Futures where she coordinated public debates addressing social and political factors
affecting architecture. Following this she worked on the Architecture Foundation's public programme of events before
joining the British Council in January 2011.
Adrianne Foglia – Branding Latin America
Adrianne Foglia began working in journalism at the age of 18, and was hired directly out of college by NBC News in the US
and worked in Miami in 1975 covering Florida, the Caribbean and Latin America. In 1982 she moved to Colombia.
After spending a year at Harvard University as an adjunct to the Nieman Fellowship program for journalists, she returned
to Colombia to establish the first English language news radio program in Latin America and helped found DINERO
magazine, now the most widely read financial publication in Colombia.
In 1998 Andres Pastrana was elected President of Colombia and asked Adrianne to create an office for the international
press. She crafted the President’s international communications strategy which successfully explained Colombia’s
complicated internal conflict to the outside world and helped the Colombian government obtain billions in US aid.
Adrianne came to the Colombian Embassy in London in 2001. In 2006 she left the embassy to join Branding Latin America,
a public relations company specializing in exchange between the UK and Latin American. They currently represent the
governments of Panama, Argentina, Ecuador and private clients across the continent.
Carlos Bayala – Creative Director – Madre Buenos Aires
Carlos Bayala is Creative Director and founding partner of Madre, the Latin American office from Mother. He began his
career in Buenos Aires where he worked for different agencies such as Y&R and DMB&B winning the most important
regional awards as well as international prizes such as Clios, Gold Pencils at One Show and Cannes Lions. In 1998 he moved
to London and enrolled at Slade School of Fine Arts where he earned his Master in Art degree with honours. In 2000 Carlos
joined Mother London where he worked as a copywriter together with his wife and partner Gabriela Scardaccione. They
worked for Coca Cola, Unilever Super Noodles, KISS FM and TV, Costa Coffee, among other clients. In 2002 he left Mother
to become Creative Director of Nike US at Wieden + Kennedy Portland. After a year and a half he was promoted to the
Executive Creative Director position at Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam where he leaded the most important global
campaign Nike has ever done: Eurocup 2004.In Amsterdam he was responsible for different pan European campaigns for
Vodafone, Siemens and Heineken.
In 2006 Carlos founded Madre Buenos Aires together with Alejandro Dominguez and Gabriela Scardaccione. Konex named
him as one of the five most influential advertising personalities of the decade. He was chosen by Boards Magazine as one
of the five most successful creative directors in the world. Ad latina entitled him as one of the most influential advertising
creatives of the decade in Latin America.
Nicola Mendelsohn – President IPA
Nicola is the Executive Chairman and partner at the advertising agency Karmarama which she joined in April 2008.
Karmarama is the fastest growing agency in the UK (currently the 25th largest) and last year came 11th in The Sunday
Times Best Companies to work for. Karmarama's clients include Nintendo, The BBC, Unilever, Costa Coffee, Nationwide,
Age UK, BT and Kerrygold.
She is also the current (and first woman to hold the post) President of the IPA (the UK advertising industry trade body).
In May 2011, Nicola was named an International Woman to Watch by Advertising Age. Prior to Karmarama, Nicola was the
Deputy Chairman of Grey London and a Board Director at BBH.
In 2005, she featured in Management Today's list of the 'Top 35 Women Under 35’. Nicola's other responsibilities include:
Creative Industries Council member; Chair of the Corporate Board of Women's Aid; Trustee of The White Ribbon
Alliance.Her greatest joy in life comes from her husband Jon and four children Gabi, Danny, Sam and Zac.
Ignacio Diez – Managing Director - Santo
Ignacio Diez (31) was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, twin in a family of 7 male brothers. He has been breathing the
advertising industry basically since he was born, as his father was a high profile adman in the 80s and 90s in LatAm.
Ignacio's CV shows, despite his young age, more than 10 years working experience in advertising, 4 of which he has done
overseas to his home country. Has worked for JWT, McCann Erickson and was then transferred to London in 2008 as
Account Director to Santo, one of WPP's creative jewels. He has vast experience in communications to several categories
and markets working with clients such as British American Tobacco, Coca-Cola, Diesel, Nestle, Vodafone, Volkswagen and
Telecom Italia. Lives in Milan currently, as partner and managing director of the same agency.
Julieta Camarda – J Group TV
Julieta Camarda is an audiovisual producer that has been working on the market for the last 16 years, not only in Argentina
but in many countries around Latin America and the UK
She has extensive expertise in Production Services.
Among the different experiences she had had, she has been involved in productions like Fear Factor, wife Swap, survivor,
I'm a Celebrity, get me out of here! And broadcast of events like Footbal world cups, volleyball world championships and
two Olympic Games.
Together with a group of colleagues she founded the Argentine audiovisual exporters chamber. She was the president
since 2009 until late last year.
Andrew Morris Trade Director British Embassy Buenos Aires
Fabiana Cabral – British Embassy Buenos Aires
Javier Alvarez, Overseas Director, BACC
Javier was a member of the Board and Executive Director of the British Argentine Chamber of Commerce from April 2007
to April 2011 and is now Overseas Director of the BACC in Argentina. He holds an agricultural engineering degree from the
Universidad Nacional del Litoral (Argentina) and an MA in Environmental Politics and Globalization from King’s College
London. He was also Chairman of the Environmental Commission of the Argentine Chamber of Commerce (CAC) in Buenos
Aires. Javier is a non Executive Director of Andes Energía PlC
Vanina Rudaeff - Ponce Client Services Director. Ponce Buenos Aires
Vanina is responsible for both Account and Planning Department at the agency. Joined the agency when it was just a start
up till today. She is 15 responsible for both Account and Planning Departments and acts as the Axe/Lynx Global Account
Director.
Hernán Berdichevsky – Director – imagenHB- Nobrand
Hernan Berdichevsky was born 43 years ago in the City of Buenos Aires, Argentina, is a graphic designer from the University
of Buenos Aires. Founding partner with Gustavo Stecher of imagenHB in 1995, where he developed different brand
strategies for clients in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela and USA. He served as professor at the University of Buenos
Aires between 1990 until1999. Currently divides his time between conferences and design work. Since more than seven
years Hernán Berdichevsky is part of the faculty of the University of Buenos Aires in the careers of Graphic Design and
Architecture, specializing in research projects in post graduate programmes. In recent years, was invited by the
Universidad ORT in Montevideo to participate in the evaluation panel for the final year works of Graphic Design students.
Jose Levy - Film and TV Producer
Jose M. Levy was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He studied at the School of Exact and Natural Sciences of the University
of Buenos Aires. In 1997, he produced the miniseries El Garante, which won four Martin Fierro awards (of seven
nominations), a Fund-TV, and three International Broadcasting awards, as well as international recognition, including
nominations for an International EMMY, the New York Film & TV festival, and the MIDIA in Spain. A year later, he produced
La Condena de Gabriel Doyle and other pilots for television. Levy is the creator of several sitcom and comedy projects,
which include Agencia Matrimonial, Barrio Privado, Agarrate Catalina, and Gloria & Tango. He's developing the Sitcom
Agencia Matrimonial for Latin TV to be aired on 2009, and pre-producing his own film screenplay "CLIPEADO", that will be
his first feature film. Levy also has experience in Internet marketing and the US Hispanic market. He lives in Buenos Aires.
Santiago Oyarzabal – PHD (Pending) Film and Television – Warwich University
Santiago Oyarzabal has recently submitted his PhD Thesis in Film and Television Studies at Warwick University, and is now
waiting for his final examination. His research is focused on representations of social crisis in recent Argentine fiction
cinema. Previously, he studied media and journalism at the University of La Plata (Argentina) and later also held there a
teaching and research position. Santiago has also worked as a journalist. He is now looking at several projects in relation
to filmmaking the media, both within and outside the academic world.
Paula Vaccaro – Director – Pinball London
Paula Vaccaro has been working for printed media and audiovisual platforms for almost two decades. She started as a
journalist in the early 90's and has worked in radio, newspapers, magazines, mobile, TV and cinema. Some of the highlights
of her career as a feature producer include her work alongside well known auteurs such as Emir Kusturica, Guillermo
Arriaga, Oliver Stone, Sally Potter and Amos Gitai. Besides her career as long feature films producer, she has also produced
award winning music videos such as The 80’s for Robbie Williams and worked in the creation of many TV programmes such
as Guns, Germs and Steel with Pulitzer Prize winner Jared Diamond for National Geographic, The last Nazi Hunter for BBC
or the popular series MTV Bedroom Diaries. She was the recipient of the British Council Chevening Award.. She has been
an Emmy Juror in the UK since 2009 and is one of the founders of production house Pinball London, a company committed
to feature films with an auteur zeal. Within Pinball London, she is launching a new division of films as apps for online
distribution. She produced the 1st film in the world created exclusively for iPad and her films have been selected in Cannes,
Berlin, Toronto and Sundance Film festivals among others.
Sofia Serbin de Skalon – Director – London Film Festival
Sofia Serbin de Skalon has a long-standing history with Argentine cinema. She was part of the production teams for Tristan
Bauer's internationally acclaimed films Evita, La Tumba Sin Paz (Evita, The Unquiet Grave, 1997 - produced and broadcast
by Channel 4) and Iluminados por el fuego (Blessed by Fire, 2005 – winner of the Spanish Goya for Best Latin-American Film
and the Gran Coral at Havana Film Festival 2005-6).
In 2006 she set up De Skalon Public Relations, a boutique agency specialising in cultural promotion with a particular
emphasis on media relations, publicity and branding solutions for the film industry. To date she has publicised more than
100 titles including films by directors such as Oliver Stone, Cédric Klapisch, Manoel de Oliveira, Nuri Bilge Ceylan and
Richard Linklater. Having also worked with some of Argentina's most exciting new filmmaking talent, she was inspired to
set up London's first Argentine Film Festival, and thus bring Argentine cinema to a wider audience.
Juan Manuel Biaiñ – Director – Junco Films
Juan Manuel Biaiñ is a director, producer and scriptwriter developing film productions for Docfactory and Junco Films. He
initiates and designs film projects, which interweave his passion and expertise in films, arts, media and computer
technology. For his work, he has successfully collaborated with NGOs and companies such as Schlumberger, The Mill,
Nikon, Telefónica and Exxon and brought together multi-awarded teams, prominent cultural figures, and leading
academics from a variety of fields and backgrounds to develop and shape ideas from inception to release.
Liz Merchant, Executive Director, BACC
Liz was born and brought up in Buenos Aires. She trained both in Argentina and in the UK. She ran her English Language
Training School in Buenos Aires until 1989. In 1990 she moved to London. She worked at International House London for 6
years in their central department recruiting English Language Teachers to send to International House schools all over the
world.
In 1997 Liz set up her own corporate language training business, Succeed In Languages, which she has been running for 14
years. Currently with courses in around twenty companies and employing 30 teachers. She has been an active member of
the BACC since 2001. Liz became the new Executive Director of the BACC in April 2011.