BIO

Seema (Kotecha) Cunningham served as Vice President of International Marketing at NBC Universal, based in London. She was previously the Head of Marketing, BBC Journalism, where she provided dedicated marketing leadership across the BBC’s international news services. Seema oversaw all global B2B and B2C marketing for BBC World News television, BBC.com/news and the BBC World Service’s 28 language services (including BBC and BBC Persian television). Prior to this role, Seema was Head of Business Marketing, Communications & Audiences for BBC Global News where she was responsible for strategic marketing support for all business-facing teams (including BBC World News Ad Sales and Distribution and BBC World Service Business Development). Seema was also previously Head of Marketing for BBC World News, where she spearheaded some of the most powerful brand work in the channel's history as well as managing an international marketing team. In addition to her roles at the BBC, Seema has worked for Microsoft, where she was hired to oversee the launch of Microsoft TV; as Marketing Controller at BSkyB, where she was responsible for developing and implementing the annual marketing plan to increase subscribers in the business market; as Marketing Communications Manager for Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd., where she managed the team responsible for several award-winning campaigns; and as European Marketing Manager at Debonair Airways Ltd where she managed the European team implementing a multiple market campaigns. A fluent French, Spanish and Gujerati speaker, Seema has a degree in European Studies and Languages from the University of Manchester, part of which involved spending a year at the University of Granada in Spain. She has also worked as an intern in the European Commission in Brussels.