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As Head of Strategic Partnerships at ESL, Kristina is leading relationships with global brand and entertainment partners such as Mercedes-Benz, DHL, Vodafone and Universal Music. Before that, she has been working as Senior Manager in the Digital Strategy Department of ProSiebenSat.1 SE and has also gathered further experience in the fields of Digital Sales, Video Production and Project Management. Kristina holds an MBA in Media Management since 2013.
Alexander Graf (*1980) is one of Germany’s leading experts and speaker for online retail and digitalization. He’s an entrepreneur with more than 10 years experiences within the digital market. His blog (www.kassenzone.de) is the „Go-to“ destination when it comes to insightful discussions around business models within an Amazon-dominated world. Since 2014 he also CEO of the company Spryker Systems, a company that offers an agile shop-technology. He founded the company together with the Berlin-based Early-Stage Investor Project A.
Eyal is an AI expert and published sports science researcher. Prior to Zone7, Eyal was a data scientist with Salesforce and a sports science researcher with Wingate Institute and several football franchises. Eyal began his career in the IDF’s Intelligence Corps and was an accomplished officer and big data expert.
In his 25 years in banking, Rick has held finance roles in corporate lending, investment banking, and private wealth management. Rick’s experience in the sports industry spans over 20 years, when he was a founding member of a Sports Lending Group at Societe Generale in 1997.
Having specialized in sports lending & M&A for the past 20 years, Rick brings deep transactional experience and high-level relationships across all major North American professional sports leagues such as MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS, and NFL as well as international leagues such as the EPL, Serie A, Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga.
In 2006, Rick moved to Citigroup, where he served as Director in the Sports Finance & Advisory Group and focused solely on traditional investment banking services including buy-side and sell-side representation, debt financings, and capital raises within the sports industry. At Citigroup, he oversaw and was responsible for transacting all advisory assignments for nearly 9 years and received the Chairman’s Award for ranking as one of the top 20 bankers in North America.
Rick, a recognized Sports Business Journal Power Player in Sports Advisory in 2016, has been closely involved with and led some of the most notable transactions in the market, working with teams such as the Detroit Pistons (sell-side), Fulham FC (buy-side), Minnesota Wild (buy-side), Los Angeles Dodgers (buy-side), AS Roma (equity raise), Bologna FC (buy-side), the Nashville Predators (sell-side), and many others, aggregating billions in transaction value
Since June 2015, Andreas Heyden is serving as CEO of the DFL Digital Sports GmbH being responsible for digital platforms & production and distribution of national and international media content. Before Andreas was the Managing Director of maxdome GmbH since July 1st, 2013.
Previously, Andreas was COO as part the management of ProSiebenSat.1 Game GmbH from December 2011 on. Before this Andreas was a managing director of the startup sevenload. Before joining sevenload, Heyden was head of the innovation and production unit at RTL Interactive, where he established new internet business models in the games industry and other segments. Heyden began his career at Metronet AG in 1996, where he worked in the Subscriber Marketing Department.
In 1997, Heyden became a Key Account Manager for I-D Media AG. Following his professional work in Singapore in 1999, he began working with Microsoft GmbH as part of the Product Marketing team for MSN.de.
Rich is a 20-year entertainment, consumer products, and sports marketing veteran who has conceptualized and executed award-winning product launch campaigns. As the Executive Vice President of Brand & Community at the Los Angeles Football Club, he oversees Grassroots Outreach, Digital, Content, Creative, Communications, Community Relations, Merchandise, Sponsorship Activation, and Events. He is the winner of the 2018 Major League Soccer Marketing Executive of the Year Award. Prior to LAFC, he co-founded American-made menswear brand Exley based in New Bedford, MA. From 2010-2012 he served as the Co-General Manager of the Los Angeles Matadors, in the World Series of Boxing and an Executive Producer of the „World Series of Boxing“ TV series on Fox Sports West.
As Chief Commercial of 443, Floris Weisz is responsible for leading and growing the 433 business across the globe. His role involves managing and developing relationships with all key football stakeholders (players, teams, leagues and federations), as well as extending the social reach towards new digital platforms and traditional broadcasting. Lastly, he oversees the licensing of the 433 brand, as well as commercial & branded content sales, that involve the 433 platform.
During his ten years with IMG Media, Floris Weisz was responsible for leading and growing IMG´s business development activities across the Benelux, Greece & Cyprus from 2008 – 2015. From mid-2015 – end 2018 he was responsible for IMG’s South East Asian pan regional media sales, business development and special projects. His role involved managing and developing relationships with all IMG Media distribution clients and local broadcasters, developing sales and visibility for all programming, as well as developing global partnerships between existing and potential clients and other areas of IMG’s business.
In his time at IMG, Weisz has been involved in the representation of a number of important clients, mostly in Football, Fight Sports and Golf. Relationships he managed on a daily basis, such as the Royal Belgian Football Federation/KBVB, the Belgian Pro League, the Dutch Eredivisie, AFC AJAX, but also the Flanders Classics, UFC and Asian Tour Golf. He has also overseen the business development and rights sales of the IMG Media Cycling portfolio and the IMG Media general sports portfolio, which includes programming from over 200 clients and events, brokering ground breaking deals, for premium sports properties, such as the Diamond League, NFL and MotoGP, The R&A (governing body and organiser of The Open Championship) International Rugby Board (IRB).
Floris Weisz joined IMG in 2008 from Essel Sports Management where he represented the commercial rights for various celebrities and international football players, such as Wesley Sneijder, Rafael Van Der Vaart and John Heitinga. In this role, Weisz brokered various commercial deals, such as Sneijder’s and Heitinga’s NIKE endorsement contracts and Van Der Vaart’s Global PEPSI partnership. He also managed the international partnerships and relations with international club teams as Ajax, HSV Hamburg and Real Madrid.
Floris Weisz received his Masters Degree from University of Amsterdam (Business Economics) followed by a M.B.A at the University of Massachusetts – Amherst where he majored in Sports Management and Marketing.
Rich is a 20-year entertainment, consumer products, and sports marketing veteran who has conceptualized and executed award-winning product launch campaigns. As the Executive Vice President of Brand & Community at the Los Angeles Football Club, he oversees Grassroots Outreach, Digital, Content, Creative, Communications, Community Relations, Merchandise, Sponsorship Activation, and Events. He is the winner of the 2018 Major League Soccer Marketing Executive of the Year Award. Prior to LAFC, he co-founded American-made menswear brand Exley based in New Bedford, MA. From 2010-2012 he served as the Co-General Manager of the Los Angeles Matadors, in the World Series of Boxing and an Executive Producer of the „World Series of Boxing“ TV series on Fox Sports West.
