Rise adds to leadership team and announces UK cohort for 2023 mentoring scheme 

Donna Smith has been named managing director of Rise

Rise, an advocacy group for gender diversity in broadcast media technology, has appointed Donna Smith as its managing director. She will also be responsible for Rise Up activities. The organisation also welcomes Carla Maroussas as its new mentoring manager for UK and Europe.

Smith has over two decades of success in blue-chip and multi-billion dollar companies, including NBC Universal and TiVO. Renowned for her entrepreneurial spirit and ability to lead teams towards strategic goals, she has been a driving force behind organisational and geographical growth. She has a proven track record in board-level decision-making and possesses diverse skills in sales, crisis management, start-ups, growth strategy, technology, leadership, fundraising, company culture and communication. Her pragmatism, creativity, and resourcefulness have consistently propelled businesses from concept to success and will drive her forward into her new role as managing director of Rise.

With over 25 years of experience in the entertainment industry and a successful transition to life coach and NLP practitioner, Maroussas has built a career specialising in delivering training to a diverse range of clients. Her expertise lies in helping individuals rediscover their values and supporting them on their personal development journey.

“The goal of Rise has always been to help foster a diverse and gender balanced workforce in the media and entertainment technology space and we are delighted to have Donna and Carla working with us towards this future,” said Sadie Groom, founder of Rise.

Rise has also announced the pairings for its sixth annual mentoring scheme in the UK. This year’s mentoring programme caters to more UK participants than ever before and includes industry leaders from all areas of the media and entertainment technology industry, with a range of experience levels, ready to offer their expertise and guidance to 27 women.

Acceptance to the programme grants members entry to a range of benefits, including face-to-face networking events, workshops and seminars throughout the six-month programme. Additionally, each mentor-mentee pairing provides a minimum of 12 hours of one-to-one time and personalised guidance. This diverse group of mentees from the UK was chosen from over 200 applications.

Smith said: “We are excited to announce the first instalment of this year’s Rise mentor and mentee pairings. We have received an astounding level of interest for the 2023 programme and are excited to reveal final pairings in the coming weeks.”

The mentor and mentee pairings for the 2023 UK programme are as follows:

• Alice Rose, events marketing assistant, Media Business Insights (MBI) will be mentored by Louise Wells, managing director, Bubble Agency
• Aoife Daly, senior media coordinator, UKTV will be mentored by Sue Farrell, technologist, Channel 4
• Chrissy Agius, junior broadcast engineer, Limitless Broadcast will be mentored by Purminder Gandu, lead for BBC Edge Forum, BBC
• Cloe Wood, technical operations engineer, ITV Content Services will be mentored by Elaine Sampson, broadcast engineering manager, Timeline TV
• Deanna O’Brien, satellite systems and IP engineer, Arqiva will be mentored by Camilla James, director, TechEx
• Emma Weeks, senior account executive, Bubble Agency will be mentored by Amisa Saari-Stout, PR and external comms lead, Vizrt Group
• Hannah Wells, bookings coordinator, Timeline TV will be mentored by John Griffiths, chief commercial officer, Spicy Mango
• Hitomi Hamaba, head of product, Sony will be mentored by Stephen Tallamy, CTO, EditShare
• Iwona Czardybon, project manager, base media cloud will be mentored by Catriona Tate, sales director, UK & MEA, Accedo TV
• Jessica Horst, network director (broadcast services – ITV), Red Bee Media will be mentored by Morwen Williams, director of operations, BBC News
• Kavita Dill, head of scale programmes – EMEA license manager, Adobe will be mentored by Laurissa Yeung Shea, business analyst, Warner Media
• Kerry Freeman, head of sales UKI, IMES will be mentored by Margaret Davies, head of market area operations UK, IE & APAC, Red Bee Media
• Leila Ghazzawi, rental coordinator, Gravity Media will be mentored by Liz Clarke, VP client operations, Mirriad
• Lorraine Panman, programme manager, Pulselive will be mentored by Rebecca Moore, director of technical operations, Warner Media
• Louise Jones, content operations and previewing supervisor, WBD will be mentored by Charlotte Wheeler, event director, Media and Production Show (MPTS)
• Madeleine Chappell, digital marketing assistant, Object Matrix will be mentored by Lauren Carter Jones, marketing manager, Media Business Insights (MBI)
• Marina Cantabrana, head of product marketing, disguise will be mentored by Heidi Shakespeare, CEO, Memmon
• May Coughlan, video technician, Universal Pixel will be mentored by Stephen Stewart, media consultant
• Michelle Kegg, sales lead – media, Endava will be mentored by Claire Butler, VP marketing, Grabyo
• Rebecca Hodgson, workflow consultant, Avid Technology will be mentored by Kerry Shreeve, vice president of technology operations, Discovery Inc
• Sam Stafford, engineer, Evolutions Post Production will be mentored by Jackie Howes, director media infrastructure architect, Discovery Inc
• Sophie Glaas, delivery manager, Hawk-Eye Innovations will be mentored by Nic Kemp, senior workflow consultant, Adobe
• Tazmin Ercen, innovation designer, Adobe will be mentored by Mike Ward, head of marketing, Singular.live
• Tia Shenton, broadcast engineer apprentice, Channel 4 will be mentored by Carys Hughes, senior PQ engineer, Sky
• Toria Farrell, operational lead, DAZN will be mentored by Gabby Redfern, group content services director, Sky
• Zoe Mumba, senior manager, PR & comms, Bitmovin will be mentored by Katie Tweedle, head of communications, Whisper TV
• Zoë Kennedy, senior business analyst, BBC Studios will be mentored by Dee Davison, director of sustainability, Deluxe

The mentoring scheme is made possible due incredible support from industry sponsors for 2023/24, including BT Sport, Warner Brothers Discovery, ITV, Avid, BBC News, Blackmagic Design, AE Live, Clear-Com, DPP, Deluxe, Grass Valley, Iron Mountain Entertainment Services, SKY, DAZN, Ross Video, SDVI, Gravity Media, Eluv.io, Calrec, Dalet, CVP, disguise, EVS, Moov, Google Cloud, Red Bee, Vubiquity, netsight, Sony, Timeline TV, Pixotope, Brightcove, EMS Broadcast, ENVY, Broadfield, M2A Media, Pixelogic, Skyline, Tential and Splice.