IIC UK Chapter – Media plurality in an ad funded world?

Ali-Abbas Ali leads Ofcom’s work on Media Plurality and Competition. Over the last ten years he has worked across Ofcom’s competition portfolio, including Post, Telecoms as well as the Media sector. Prior to joining Ofcom he held senior finance posts at BT Group. His career also spans the motor industry, consulting and private equity.

Johan Keetelaar joined Oxera in 2022, and is a member of its senior digital leadership team. He has spent most of his career working in the digital, telecoms and transport sectors, including more than 15 years as a strategic leader in competition and sector-specific regulation. More recently, he worked as a digital practitioner at Meta Inc.

Mr Keetelaar spent more than 15 years at the Authority for Consumers & Markets (the Dutch competition and regulatory authority), as well as one of its predecessors (OPTA) where he was Director Markets, Director of Transport, Telecoms and Post, and Director Competition. He was also a member of BEREC, the group of EU telecom and digital regulators.

Prior to joining Oxera, Mr Keetelaar was the Director of Economic Policy and Head of Connectivity and Access Policy in the EMEA region at Meta Inc. for four years.

Mr Keetelaar holds an MSc. in Econometrics from the University of Amsterdam.

Lynn Robinson became Director General of the International Institute of Communications (IIC), in March 2020.

Lynn is an experienced senior director and trustee / non exec-director, having held key senior leadership positions in the technology, built environment, regulation, accreditation and dental industries. She has extensive experience of professional membership bodies working within the full spectrum including, Regulatory bodies, Industry associations and Chambers of Commerce. Lynn is a well-known and established ambassador in these areas having led on many strategic programmes to aid engagement, growth, retention, change management, stakeholder and political engagement.

An experienced Trustee / Non-Executive Director as Vice Chair at Arnos Vale Cemetery Trust, a unique heritage site in the heart of Bristol (UK), Lynn is also a Trustee / Non-Executive Director at The Bristol and Bath (UK), Parks Foundation.

Reflecting on becoming Director General at the IIC at the outbreak of a pandemic, Lynn said, ‘these last two years have been like no other we have known, with many challenges coming our way. In 2020 we successfully pivoted the organisation through a digital transformation programme to maintain a full schedule of events and by increasing the outputs delivered. Transforming the programme enabled us to continue to deliver the professional service and increase our engagement with IIC members and stakeholder community to remain connected to them through such a difficult time.

As we move through 2022, I am delighted to return to a combined in-person and online programme and to continue to evolve the IIC in to the next phase, with the vision and strategic focus to deliver our objectives and to build on our growth, engagement and retention’.

Sebastian is the Parliamentary and Campaigns Manager at the News Media Association (NMA), the organisation representing over 800 national, regional and local news media publishers in the UK. The NMA has been highly engaged in the development of the new pro-competition regime for digital markets. Sebastian previously led the policy and public affairs work for the Professional Publishers Association, the UK trade association for specialist and magazine publishers. He has also worked on political campaigns and a devolution-focused advocacy group in the North of England.

Chair of the Antitrust practice at Preiskel & Co LLP, Tim Cowen is independently recognised as one of the UK’s leading regulatory and competition lawyers focusing on the Technology Media and Tech sectors. He has vast experience of both in-house and private practice, having been a General Counsel at BT, a former Partner at Sidley Austin, and a member of the Competition Appeal Tribunal. He now specialises in complex second phase merger cases and competition cases in the courts.