The South East Media Network Board
Nigel Hartnell
Nigel Hartnell has over 35 years experience in the IT industry. He is currently a Director of FFastFill plc, a City-based application services company. Prior to this he had a wide-ranging career in ICL (now Fujitsu Services), holding a number of senior posts including Director of Services and subsequently of Corporate Development.
Nigel has been President of the CSSA (now Intellect, the trade association for the high-tech industries) and served on Government Committees considering the impact of IT on UK competitiveness and the development of e-commerce. Nigel is currently non - executive Chairman of the South East Media Network, the Digital Content Sector Group for the South East England Development Agency. He is also a non-executive director of Screen South and serves on a number of Intellect committees including the Intellect Digital Convergence Council and the Software group. He is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists and has an MA in Mathematics from Trinity College, Dublin
Andrew Brook-Holmes
Andrew Brook-Holmes has over two decades experience working in Information Technology. Andrew combines strategic technical thinking with the pragmatic application of technology for the UK's leading media and telecommunications corporations. In his 10 years at Microsoft, Andrew has managed the architecture and successful launch of many of Microsoft's cutting edge software development projects in the Public and Private sector including high profile systems such as the UK's Government Gateway.
Andrew is also a director of the South East Media Network. A role which brings his unique insight into media technology and strategy within Microsoft to new media enterprises in the UK's south east.
John Hazell
John Hazell is Jack Brand's Commercial Director and a founding shareholder. He is absolutely positively the biggest single consumer of music on the planet! Unable to write or perform anything John came up with the idea for Jack Brand. John previously worked for Unilever and Johnson & Johnson, but he always had the music bug. The beginning of the '90s saw John's passion for music secure him a senior role with EMI Records. Then in a three-year tenure as Managing Director of HMV Australia he sold over 20 million CDs. Keen to find new ways of bringing music to the masses John upped sticks and returned to the UK to create Jack Brand.
Gina Fegan
Gina took on the role of setting up South East Media Network following three years as the founding Chief Executive of the lottery backed regional screen agency Screen South.
Prior to Screen South she spent two years as Director of the Kent International Film Festival (October 2000 and 2001) and Manager of Cinema 3 in Canterbury. During this time she also set up Kent Hothouse - a media development agency. With a background in construction, structural engineering and project management Gina has produced low budget drama, was the co-ordinator of the first LA Shorts Fest and subsequently spent a year in Los Angeles developing two feature films. Her production experience and six years in the North of France led her to be instrumental in forming the Nord-Pas de Calais Film Commission based in Lille. She also has experience in education as Head of Languages for SUPTERCOM in Arras, and examiner for the Franco-British Chamber of Commerce, Lille.
Gina is a trustee of the arts based regeneration programme the Creative Foundation in Folkestone is on the artistic advisory board of TAPS (Television Arts Performance Showcase) and is a member of BAFTA and Women in Film and Television.
Karl Schneider
Karl Schneider is Executive Editor of New Scientist, the world's biggest weekly science magazine with a global readership of more than 700,000 people. New Scientist's website, www.newscientist.com, is the world's most popular science publishing website, with approaching 2 million people visiting the site each month.
Karl is also chairman of the Content Trends Working Group at the Association of Online Publishers, the UK trade association for online publishers. The remit of the working group is to track the latest trends and issues affecting the content delivered by online publishers, including legal issues, technology innovations and changing user behaviour.
Before joining New Scientist, Karl was Editor-in-Chief of Computer Weekly, the world's oldest weekly IT publication and the best-read IT magazine in the UK, and its online service computerweekly.com.
Karl has been a business and technology journalist for 17 years, covering sectors ranging from utilities to electronics and computing.
Before becoming a journalist Karl was a research physicist, working on nuclear fusion at the UK Atomic Energy Authority's Culham Laboratory in Oxfordshire.
Karl is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists and a Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce (FRSA). He is married with three boys.
Linda James
Linda was only 23 when she co-founded Red Rooster Film and Television Entertainment with film-maker, Stephen Bayly. She headed up the company from 1982 to 1998, during which time Red Rooster became one of the most prolific and respected independent drama producers in the UK. After the company was acquired by Chrysalis Plc., Linda went on to co-found and float Alibi Communications on AIM (the Alternative Investment Market) with lawyer Roger Holmes. She headed up the company's television production division, Alibi Productions, until March 2003, and remains a non-executive director of the parent company, Coolabi Plc.
A producer of over 20 award-winning drama series, 5 TV movies and 2 feature films, Linda has also undertaken a number of industry and public appointments. These have included being Honorary Chair of the Edinburgh International Television Festival, a Governor of the British Film Institute (BFI), a Governor and Trustee of the National Film and Television School (NFTS), a member of the British Screen Advisory Council (BSAC), and sitting on the Independent Production Training Fund (IPTF) for the Producer's Alliance for Cinema and Television (PACT). She is currently the Chairperson of BAFTA'S Kids Committee and a member of BAFTA Council, Deputy Chair of the Children's Film and Television Foundation (CFTF), and sits on the board of Screen South for The UK Film Council.
In September 2004 Linda re-united with Stephen Bayly to set up a new feature film company, Sly Fox Films. In addition to the work they did together at Red Rooster, Stephen also produced the Oscar-nominated Richard III and Mrs Dalloway, and was Head of the National Film and Television School from 1998- 2003. The company has a slate of feature film projects at various stages of development.