Peer to Peer Action Group Events

Exclusive CEO Session (In Person Event)

Hosted by Alliance of Media Independents

Join a select group of media industry leaders for our regular & exclusive in person CEO Meet. This confidential, CEO-only gathering will provide a strategic forum to discuss the challenges and opportunities shaping the future of independent media.

Participation is by invitation only.

This 90-minute session will explore:

• How AI is transforming early-career roles in creative and agency settings
• What this shift could mean for DEI, especially for those relying on junior hires to diversify
• The hidden commercial benefits of reimagining entry-level talent — from boosting profitability to creating resilient, future-ready teams
• New, inclusive design ideas for creating on-ramps to your business
• Reimagining entry-level roles on your org chart
• Practical tips and real-world insights from fellow agency leaders

We will also be joined by Leo Young, from our Alliance Inclusion Pipeline Partners Good Nugget- (A non for profit who support those currently under represented to break into the industry through a variety of programmes).

Whether your team has a dedicated DEI function or you’re leading the business yourself, this is a space to connect, learn, and shape action together.

Let’s make sure we don’t lose the next generation of diverse, cost-effective, and future-ready talent just when businesses need them most.

The exact topic for this session will be released soon, meanwhile please secure the date & sign up below.

If you haven’t already participated we would also appreciate your input into our Talent survey HERE, which will help shape this & future sessions.

About the group: When we ask our member CEOs what are the biggest challenges they face invariably the subject of talent is high on their list. No wonder there is always lots to talk about when the Talent Group meet every quarter. How do we attract new talent to the industry, how do we retain and develop this talent, how do we manage and get peak performance from our teams? Collectively we aim to find solutions and the sharing of knowledge accelerates the process. We also look at practical aspects like best practice & current challenges faced by Talent professionals within our member agencies.

Join a Q&A session that will be led by our Group Lead – Andrew Reeves, Fractional CFO – who will be joined by a panel of Finance Leaders and advisors.

They will provide answers to the following questions and more besides. You can join face-to face (limited space – first come first served) or remotely.

– What are the fundamental financial pillars in an independent agency?

– How is the success of the function measured?

– How does a CEO critically appraise if it is working or not?

Our Panellists:

Greg Broadbent – ACA, Partner at VisionFR

Greg was born in Leeds and moved from Yorkshire to London to do a Mechanical Engineering degree at Queen Mary College, London University, thinking he might be down south for maybe 5 years or so – he’s still here!

He qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Deloitte after which he moved into various Finance Director roles in the marketing/creative services sector, most notably with Lexis PR. He spent 15 years with Lexis being part of its MBO and onward sale to Next15 Group plc before supporting VisionFR’s fractional FD consultancy offer. He joined the Board of healthcare marketing agency, Pegasus, as it became one of the country’s leading healthcare marcomms agencies and subsequently sold to UDG Healthcare plc.

In 2018, Greg joined Deborah Broadbent ACA, his wife and founder of the business, at VisionFR where they help SMEs in the marcomms sector hire finance, HR & operations talent.

Shelley Watkin – Client Finance Director at Redfin | Chief Financial Officer

Shelley is a qualified Chartered Accountant with 20+ years of experience in the marketing services sector. During her 5+ years at Redfin, she served as Client Finance Director offering invaluable insights into strategic and commercial matters. Shelley has also assumed the role of Finance Director for various creative agencies, guiding them through successful sales processes.

Alexi Walsh – Chief Financial Officer at ZEAL Creative

Alexi is an experienced CFO with a 20-year career spanning SaaS, technology, and creative industries. She has led finance functions through growth, transformation, and M&A, launched and scaled digital platforms internationally, and delivered sustained revenue and margin improvement through strategic pricing and operational excellence.  Since joining Zeal Creative, Alexi has brought this experience into the agency world, reshaping finance to drive commercial insight, operational efficiency, and sustainable growth. 

Please note this is a Hybrid session, in person attendees are invited to join for breakfast from 9am with the online session beginning at 9.30am.

Hosted by our Member Lead, Isabel Odlin (Chief People Person at Hub), the Wellbeing group meet quarterly to remain constantly informed of the latest tools and resources to assist them in their vital work of maintaining the wellbeing of their agency people. They share, discreetly, the issues they face and mentor each other in best practice. They provide vital input our the Alliance programme of support which includes the annual Festival of Happiness.

The exact topic for this session will be released closer to the time, meanwhile please secure the date & sign up below.

The CEO Summits are one of the key events in the calendar for the Alliance that are both targeted at agency CEOs and are by invitation only.

The CEO Summits, that take place every quarter, are restricted to 20 invited guests for each event, who get together along with an invited expert in their topic, sit around one table and hold a single conversation/discussion for 60 minutes.

Previous topics have included Scaling Your Business at Speed, an International Special, Is the Current Agency Model Fit for Purpose, amongst many others that are relevant to that specific moment in time.

It is an open conversation, under Chatham House rules, and provides the opportunity for CEOs to discuss openly with their peers the big issues not only across the industry for independent agencies but also for those matters that are significant in the CEOs own agency. We look forward to inviting you to our next CEO Summits. Closer to the time we will update you on the specific topic for this session.

We prefer to call this group the Diversity & Inclusion Action Group because they are committed to taking actions that make a difference. They meet regularly to help us fulfil the vision that our Member Agencies have workforces that are truly representative of all sections of society and each employee feels respected and able to give their best. Previous sessions have covered neurodiversity, how classism impacts our workplaces, inclusion of deaf & hard of hearing talent & so on.

The Alliance is committed to optimising diversity and inclusion in our Member Agencies. We expect all member agencies to be fully committed to the D&I journey because we know it makes great business sense too. The exact topic for this session will be released closer to the time, meanwhile please save the date & register below.

Exclusive CEO Session

Hosted by Alliance of Media Independents

Join a select group of media industry leaders for our regular & exclusive virtual CEO Meet. This confidential, CEO-only gathering will provide a strategic forum to discuss the challenges and opportunities shaping the future of independent media.

Participation is by invitation only.