Speakers

Julian Boulding

President, thenetworkone

Julian began his career in advertising sales, before working in independent agencies in London. He then joined the DMB&B Group, now part of Publicis, where he spent fourteen years in a succession of senior roles. While with DMB&B, he lived and worked in UK, Europe, USA and Latin America, where he spent 3 years as Regional Client Service Director for Salles DMB&B in Brazil.’ During this time, he directed global advertising campaigns for companies like Procter & Gamble, M&M Mars, Avon and Philips Electronics, rising to be President, International for DMB&B’s sister network, NW Ayer.

In 2003, Julian left the world of traditional agency networks, to co-found thenetworkone.

Paul Holmes

Founder & Chair, PRovoke Media

Paul Holmes, founder and chair of PRovoke Media, has been writing about public relations for more than 25 years. Paul began his career in local newspapers in the north of England and also worked for a newspaper group in South London before joining PR Week as news editor in 1985.

In 1987 he moved to New York to launch the short-lived US edition of that publication, and after that project came to an inglorious end worked with Adweek and Adweek’s Marketing Week for a year.

In 1989, he launched his own company, initially publishing Inside PR, and later Reputation Management magazine, both focused on providing analysis of critical trends and issues in the public relations industry. He created the annual Public Relations Agency Report Card, which included profiles of the leading PR firms in the US, and the Creativity in Public Relations Awards, which grew to become the largest in North America.

Early in 2000, Holmes launched The Holmes Group, which provides knowledge and insight to public relations professionals across a variety of platforms, including a website, an e-newsletter, events, printed reports, research and consulting assignments, and the SABRE Awards competition. The group’s flagship title, PRovoke Media (p/k/a The Holmes Report), covers the public relations business in the Americas, EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) and the Asia-Pacific region. In 2011, Paul was inducted into the ICCO Hall of Fame.

Diana Marszalek

Senior Reporter, PRovoke Media

Maja Pawinska Sims

Associate Editor, PRovoke Media

Maja Pawinska Sims has been the EMEA editor of PRovoke Media since January 2018. She has been writing about public relations and communications for 22 years, first as features editor of PRWeek and then as a freelance writer and editor for PR agencies and their clients around the world, including three years as Weber Shandwick’s EMEA editor. She was named Journalist of the Year at the Global Women in Marketing Awards in 2019, where the judges noted: “Maja proves how empathy can drive brilliant editorial thinking. She is clearly an absolute expert in her field and proves that you can challenge an industry while also championing it.”

Marian Salzman

Communications Professional, Author

A globally recognized communications pro, Marian Salzman has built a career on ferreting out trends—from metrosexualism to local as the new global—and helping brands optimize their impact through strategic planning and newscrafting. In 2018, she left the agency world and her position as CEO of the Havas PR Global Collective to help Philip Morris International deliver a smoke-free future.

Arun Sudhaman

CEO/Editor-in-Chief, Provoke Media

Arun Sudhaman is CEO and editor-in-chief at PRovoke Media.

In this role Arun oversees PRovoke Media's global content offering, including its analysis and insight into reputation, public relations and communications trends and issues. Since joining PRovoke Media in 2010, Arun has comprehensively redefined the title’s content platform, which includes its digital presence and new products such as the Influence 100 compendium of key global influencers, the Global PR Agency Rankings, the Global Creative Index, and the PRovoke Media podcast. He also led the rebrand of the Holmes Report to PRovoke Media in 2020.

Arun has also played a pivotal role expanding PRovoke Media's coverage into Asia-Pacific and other emerging markets, and has helped steer the company’s international events programme, particularly the Global Public Relations Summit — which has featured such luminaries as Sir Martin Sorrell, P&G’s Marc Pritchard, Chuck Porter and IBM’s Jon Iwata. 

He brings to the position more than a decade’s experience as a journalist and digital content specialist, most of which has been spent analysing the media, marketing and communications industries. His career has encompassed coverage and analysis of reputation and leadership issues in numerous countries across the world, including the US and UK, Russia, China, India and South Africa. 

Prior to joining the Holmes Report, Arun spent more than seven years with Haymarket Media in Hong Kong, Singapore and London. He joined Haymarket title PRWeek UK in January 2009, after covering Asia’s media and marketing landscape at sister Haymarket title Campaign Asia-Pacific in Hong Kong and Singapore. 

Before Haymarket, Arun spent one year at public relations firm Weber Shandwick during its tumultuous mergers with Weber and BSMG. During his career as a journalist he has appeared on BBC News and has also contributed to The Guardian and the South China Morning Post, where he began his career as a business reporter.

In 2015, Arun became the youngest-ever inductee into the ICCO Hall of Fame.

James Wright

Global Chairman, Havas PR Global Collective, CEO of Red Havas Group

James Wright is one of the most recognized agency heads in the world, and today serves as global chairman of the Havas PR Global Collective and CEO of Red Havas Group, a global Merged Media agency network within the Havas Group. He has advised brands including AWS, Capgemini, Coca-Cola, Heineken, Jaguar Land Rover, ManpowerGroup, Mondelez, Novartis, Toyota and the UK And Australian governments. James has won numerous awards, including PR Asia 2017 Agency Head of Year, PR Awards Asia 2017 Asia-Pacific PR Agency Head of the Year, PRCA’s 2008 Consultant of the Year (at age 28), and PR News USA 2008 International CSR Leader. In 2016, he was inducted as a Fellow of the Public Relations Institute of Australia, one of the youngest ever admitted.