Meet the Judges

Sam began his career in experiential event production, working on international projects for brands as diverse as Samsung, Adidas and Google. However, following a course at the Cambridge Institute of Sustainable Leadership, he decided to refocus his efforts on fighting the climate crisis.

After helping the likes of Pernod Ricard and Booking.com to create sustainability strategies at the consultancy Futerra, he secured his current role at AEG Europe to oversee all of the company’s sustainability strategy and initiatives across its venues, festivals and tours.

Paul Dunstan, Ryder Cup Operations Director, has been working within the professional sport events industry for over 18 years delivering golf events on the DP World Tour in the UK & Ireland, across Europe and in the Middle East.

For the last eight years Pauls full time role has been to lead the operational delivery of the Ryder Cup when it has been played in Europe – played on the outskirts of Paris in 2018, Rome in 2023 and currently planning for the 2027 Ryder Cup which will take place in Ireland.

Roxy Robinson is an Event Director at From the Fields Ltd, the company behind the multi award-winning Kendal Calling, Bluedot, Christmas at Bute Park, Arts by the Sea and Northern Lights. Roxy leads on new business development at From the Fields, overseeing the company’s immersive and winter event portfolio.

Roxy is also an author, guest speaker and academic, having published her book Music Festivals and the Politics of Participation with Routledge in 2015. Roxy's book is an adaptation of her PhD thesis, which explored the influence of Burning Man on British festival culture.

Roxy continues to grow new events at From the Fields Ltd, having launched a further two large-scale light trails following record sales at Christmas at Bute Park (140,000) when launched in 2021. 

Liz Madden is co-owner of international award-winning staging and temporary structures company NoNonsense Group. A well-known figure in the live events industry who has more than thirty years of experience developing relationships with clients and brands whilst ensuring the smooth delivery of projects from the initial interaction with the client to the final sign-off of the project.

Her hands-on approach has ensured a good working knowledge of many aspects of the industry. She is Co-chair of the PSA and Production Manager for Production Futures to help give back to the industry that she is so passionate about.

Craig Mathie is the Managing Partner of Project 30, an event management consultancy providing professional event and project management services to festivals, sporting events and corporate clients. Our clients include Glastonbury Festival, London Marathon, We Out Here Festival, Vodafone, HSBC UK, Fuse International, Tramlines Festival and a host of other events of all shapes and sizes.

Formerly MD of the multi-award-winning Bournemouth 7s Festival, Craig is a regular contributor to events industry press, awards & campaigns. He founded the South Coast Events Forum and has represented the events industry on the Power of Events, Vision:2025, the National Outdoor Events Association, Association of Festival Organisers and now as Director of the Events Industry Forum, publisher of the Purple Guide.

Ben spent his early years touring with the Warner-signed alt-indie band Coasts, performing at prestigious events like Coachella and Glastonbury and achieving a top 20 album. After the band split in October 2018, Ben transitioned into event management, promotions, and festivals.

In 2019, Ben organised the first Wild Paths Festival, a city-wide event across 23 venues with over 230 acts. The 2020 festival was postponed due to COVID, but Ben and his team successfully hosted Wild Fields, a socially-distanced outdoor festival with 30 acts and ‘festival pods’.

In 2021, Wild Paths featured over 20 venues and prominent speakers, including Gilles Peterson. The 2022 festival saw Blue Lab Beats headline a medieval church. Ben is now working on Wild Fields 2024, featuring Ezra Collective, Kae Tempest, SBTRKT, and a solar-powered bus stage.

With decades of executive-level experience spanning independent, corporate, and public sectors, specialising in Marketing, Operations, Licensing, Logistics, and System Implementation. Holding significant positions at Luminar Leisure Plc, Rank, Northern, The Drinks Group, University of East Anglia, and currently as Chief Executive of the Night Time Industries Association, 

He has led high-level initiatives with local and national governments and key stakeholders, focusing on best practices for venues, bars, pubs, festivals, and live venues, swell as been a high level media advocate for the night time economy throughout the pandemic, featuring in central Government strategy and over 20,000 media interviews during this period.

Sian Morse, Sales & Marketing Manager for Live Nation at the Utilita Arena Cardiff, has over 20 years’ experience working in hotels, sports & leisure venues across the UK, Middle East & North America.

Via corporate & hospitality sales in venues, Sian has worked on a range of events & contracting for events up to 1,000+ attendees and contracts valued at over £1 million+. Highlights to date include working with Virgin/EMI, Apple, The Premier League, Neal Street Productions plus London 2012 Summer Olympics. Sian is also Head of Commercial & Finance for NOWIE – The Network of Women in Events

COO of AFEM; Finlay Johnson spent ten years in multiple venue production, artist liaison and curatorial roles at the world's largest arts festival, the Edinburgh International Festival Fringe.

He then moved to WME’s London office initially working on arena tours before becoming a responsible agent at WME representing DJs and live acts from underground clubs to festivals to arena tours.  Now leading AFEM he is seeking to amplify the best of the electronic music culture, and reduce the barriers to education and commerce within the industry.

Jasmine is a Senior Festival Recruitment and Ticketing Coordinator for Festival Republic. A previous Arts and Festivals Management student (De Montfort University), this year will mark her 10th year working in live music events, starting in 2014 at Wireless. She has worked with well-established companies including Big Green Coach, Live Nation, and MAMA & Company.

Her aim in working within this incredible industry is to create a compassionate working environment that supports staff with their mental health and personal goals.

Phoebe is the Membership & Operations Manager at the Association of Independent Festivals. Alongside managing all their membership processes, she also keeps on top of the general admin, AIF newsletter and membership events. Phoebe also leads of AIF's Safer Spaces at Festivals campaign and helped to launch their EDI policies and action plan in 2023. 

Phoebe was previously Membership & Projects Coordinator at AIF as well as the Festival Congress Event Manager between 2018-2020, returning to the organisation in 2022. Prior to this she'd worked in Membership at the Music Managers Forum, and on the Artist & Manager Awards.