FEED: Tell me about your background. How did you end up in the media-tech industry? SALEHA WILLIAMS: I always knew that I wanted to be in media, and I always loved technology. While I was at school, I went to work for my local newspaper on Saturdays as a runner, which was somebody who ran the ads between the art department and the printing presses. Media has always been incredibly important, whether it’s news, communication or the art of storytelling, and so it was something I knew I wanted to be a part of from a young age. I also loved computer science. I tried at one stage to get into the Navy as a Wren – WRNS being the female group of the Navy. Having started as a Saturday runner, I went on to work with News International, just as News Corp was launching Sky (then BSkyB) and was part of the team that ran the very first direct response TV ads in the United Kingdom. That was incredibly exciting. I went on to work with British Telecom in their advanced technologies area, which covered all of their R&D, looking at network architecture for distribution and monetisation of media and content. Over the last 30 years, I’ve been lucky enough to live and work all over the world. I’ve been based in Singapore, India, the US and all over Europe, having worked for some amazing broadcasters, media, film companies, but also on the tech side with Google, Cognizant, Siemens and Cisco, bringing all of that together in the media-tech industry. It’s been a phenomenal journey, and something I’m thrilled to have done. I still enjoy it as much today as I did when I first started at 15 years old. You ΄ ve recently taken over as CEO of the IABM. First, can you explain – in your own words – what the IABM does? What excites you about this job? IABM stands for the International Trade Association of Broadcast and Media, and effectively it is a
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