FBC Board Members
FBC Board Members
Alan Friedman
Alan Friedman, Chairman and Founder of FBC Group Ltd., is a media entrepreneur, former award-winning journalist with the Financial Times of London, the International Herald Tribune and The Wall Street Journal, best-selling author (Agnelli, Spider’s Web), television talk show host and a former contributing editor of Vanity Fair.
One of Europe’s most respected economic and political commentators, economic and global political journalist, author and well-known TV personality, Alan Friedman is head of FBC, a media group whose subsidiaries include an international television and digital content producer, a branded content agency and a strategic communications company, with head offices in London and offices in Rome, Delhi, and Mumbai.
Alan was awarded the British Press Award four times during his 14 year career at the Financial Times. He is the only American journalist to have received the Medal of Honour (1977) from the Italian Parliament.
Alan Friedman was born in New York City on April 30th 1956. He was educated at NYU (B.A. Politics and History), the London School of Economics (International Relations) and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (M.A. International Economics and Law).
Jack Anderson
Jack Anderson is a leading expert on the problem of tax rates and infrastructural issues concerning foreign direct investments and its relationship to human resource management and international business. As a partner at Ernst & Young in France he brought more than two hundred firms to France over the past twenty years. He is the cofounder of the Best in France and Best in Ile de France Prizes. A graduate of New York University, Mr. Anderson was awarded diplomas in business (MBA), law (JD) and is a certified public accountant (CPA). He is a frequent contributor to the business press and is the creator of the Tax Misery Index, published regularly by Forbes.
Gianluigi Baldassi
Gianluigi Baldassi's career spans Italian banking and the corporate world. He was born in Milan but raised in Trieste, started at Italian energy giant ENI and proceeded to hold senior positions career in the banking world, at Kreditna and Antonveneta, where he was Director-General. He is an adviser to the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region. He also works with Friulia S.G.R., an investment funds management company.
John Defterios
John Defterios is an award winning journalist with 25 years of experience in financial news and global affairs and serves as President of the group. In this capacity, he oversees FBC's factual programming and media services work. He was an anchor and correspondent for CNN, CNN International, and CNN from 1992-2000 in New York and London. From 2000 until 2007 he hosted FBC's award winning syndicated programme, World Business distributed to 350 million households in Europe, Middle East, Asia and the U.S., plus 45 airlines. Since October 2007, Defterios hosts CNN International's Marketplace Middle East (MME).
Prior to his work with FBC, Defterios managed a joint-venture between Reuters Television and Nightly Business Report of PBS-TV in the U.S. He has held editorial positions in Washington, New York, Los Angeles, London and Rome. Defterios has been a media leader of the World Economic Forum since 1995, is chairman of Business Week events in Europe, Asia and the Middle East and writes a weekly column on global economic affairs.
Lynn Fritz
As founder of Fritz Institute, a non-profit widely regarded as the global expert in humanitarian operations, Lynn Fritz has been featured on the likes of BBC, CNN International, CNBC, and Fox, for his expertise and analysis about the operations and performance of humanitarian assistance.
Under his stewardship, Fritz Companies was transformed from a small domestic documentation company to a global organization of 10,000 employees in 120 countries. The company achieved Fortune 1000 ranking in 1997. His enduring contribution was to redefine a fragmented and limited services industry.
A native of San Francisco, Fritz serves on the United States Commission to Help Enhance the Livelihood of People (HELP Commission) and is a member of the World Economic Forum's Disaster Response Network. Fritz also serves on the Boards of Directors of Georgetown University, San Francisco's Exploratorium and the University of California, Davis' Department of Viticulture and Enology.
Fritz received his B.A. from Georgetown University and a J.D. from Lincoln University School of Law. In recognition of his outstanding leadership and community service, he was honored with a Doctor of Laws degree by Pepperdine University in 1995 and a Doctor of Laws degree from Drexel University in 2004.
Jonathan Gage
Jonathan Gage is a New York-based principal of Booz & Company and commercial development director of the management consulting firm's intellectual content. In that role he is publisher of strategy+business magazine and leads the firm's book and multimedia publishing operations, including the Web site www.strategy-business.com.
Jonathan Gage is the former CEO and publisher of New York-based Institutional Investor magazine. As a journalist, Mr. Gage has written and edited for media including the International Herald Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg News, Newsweek, the Washington Post and Psychology Today magazine. From 1992-1999, he was Business and Finance Editor of the International Herald Tribune, where he built and managed the worldwide financial reporting and editing staff of the Paris-based newspaper.
He is active in professional organizations including the Magazine Publishers Association, the Interactive Advertising Bureau, and the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
Mr. Gage received his B.A. from Brandeis University in Massachusetts with majors in politics and sociology and pursued graduate study in history at the University of California at San Diego
Urmila Gupta
Urmila Gupta has been one of the front-runners in the development and growth of the media and broadcasting industry in India.
She was head of India’s International Film Festival organization for many years and organized the annual International Film Festivals of India. Mrs. Gupta launched many new initiatives in the Festival which are still being observed and recognized by the film industry. She has been a member of the National Film Development Corporation Board as well the Executive Committee of the Children’s Film Society of India, the organization for promotion of Children’s Films in India. During this time she was also member of many film related Committees. Her involvement with the Indian film industry for over 20 years makes her a respected figure in industry circles.
She served with Government of India from October 1968 - October 1996 and then took voluntary retirement to join News Corp and a majority of those years were mainly in the Film and television media posts under the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.
Her work experience of over 35 years as a Professional in the Indian Media and Entertainment sector both in the Public and private sector has very few equals.
Anmar Kawash
Anmar Kawash is the COO of STV, Scotland’s leading FTA broadcaster / publisher. He works across all of STV’s business units (Broadcasting, production and Digital media) in setting out clear and focused operational plans to ensure tha t STV is Scotland’s media brand of choice.
Anmar Kawash has a wealth of experience in media, having been Managing Director at 4 Ventures (the commercial arm of Channel 4); Chief Operating Officer of the technology arm of investment bank, UBS in San Francisco; and, most recently, Group Chief Operating Officer of FBC Group Ltd.
Justin Smith
Justin Smith is President of Atlantic Consumer Media overseeing all aspects of Atlantic Media Company's consumer properties, which include The Atlantic, TheAtlantic.com, and Atlantic LIVE.
Prior to joining Atlantic Media, Justin was the founding President and Publisher of THE WEEK magazine, which he led since the US edition was introduced in 2001. He came to THE WEEK from The Economist Group where he served in a variety of roles including Assistant to the CEO for Global Corporate Strategy, Director of US and Asia/Pacific Corporate Development, and founding President of CFO.com.
Justin began his career in media at the International Herald Tribune and also worked for the US Department of State in West Africa and Washington, DC. He graduated from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service.