LOVEFiLM is managed by a team with unrivalled expertise in building fast growth global businesses. The team includes:
Simon Calver
Chief Executive Officer
Simon is CEO of LOVEFiLM International, a leading European film and TV subscription service that merged with Video Island in April 2006. Prior to the merger Simon was CEO of Video Island. Before joining Video Island in July 2005, he held senior management positions at Riverdeep, Dell, Pepsi and Unilever, where he gained a wealth of relevant experience. Previously Simon was Worldwide COO and President at Riverdeep, one of the fastest growing interactive digital education and productivity software companies. He was also General Manager and VP of Dell¹s UK and Ireland Home and Small Business operations. Before that he was International VP of Sales Operations for PepsiCola, based in the US for three years and as General Manager and VP of PepsiCola UK where he launched Pepsi Max, Pepsi Blue and development of the Pepsi Music activity.
Simon Morris
Chief Marketing Officer
In 1987, Simon Morris graduated from the European Business School, after which he began his professional career with the advertising agency Lintas Worldwide where he managed accounts such as Boddingtons, Japan Airlines and Virgin. In the ‘90s, Simon crossed over to a marketing role with SEGA UK as UK Marketing Director. In 1994 he became Consumer Marketing Director of BSkyB and in 1996 he left to become Managing Director of Ginger Television Productions. In 1998, Simon co-founded the dot-com content super brand 365 Corp. Today, Simon is the Chief Marketing Officer of LOVEFiLM, Europe’s largest subscription service streaming movies and TV episodes over the Internet and sending DVDs, Blu-rays and games by post, which he helped create, launch and grow over the last 7 years. He is also a founding investor and non-executive director of www.graze.com.
Jim Buckle
Chief Operating Officer
Jim joined LOVEFiLM as Chief Financial Officer in April 2006 shortly after the merger with Video Island and since February 2011 has been Chief Operating Officer. Since qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG in 1991, Jim has held a range of senior finance and general management roles, primarily in the media and technology sectors, initially with the BBC and Dell Computers and more-recently in venture backed start up and fast growth businesses. Immediately prior to joining LOVEFiLM he was Finance Director and then Managing Director of Propertyfinder.com, until leading a successful sale of the business to News International in 2005. Jim has a first class honours degree in English Studies from the University of Nottingham and is married with two children.
Fern O’Sullivan
Group Operations Director
Fern became the Group Operations Director for LOVEFiLM across Europe in 2009 after holding several operations roles within the company and at merger company ScreenSelect.Prior to joining the company, Fern built up a wealth of start-up experience between 1999 – 2003 as operations and then services manager for e-commerce site Amazon.co.uk where amongst other achievements she organised the relocation and expansion of the company’s distribution centre. Fern was educated at Wolverhampton University and graduated in Business in 1988. She is married and lives in Ruislip, Middlesex.
Mike Blakemore
Chief Technical Officer
Mike started his career as a software engineer at BAE Systems before moving to the Financial Times for the launch of FT.com. He was Head of Development at lastminute.com during its early years and was responsible for the rollout of its websites across multiple countries. Following a short spell in financial services for JPMorgan and Accenture, Mike returned to new media as Head of Development at Associated Northcliffe Digital.
Simon Waldman
Group Product Director
Simon Waldman started his career as a journalist specialising in media and retail. In 1993 he had his first experience of the internet and has been addicted to all things digital ever since. In 1996 he joined the Guardian to work on some of their earliest online ventures, before moving on to become the launch editor of the Guardian.co.uk in 1999 and the company’s first director of digital publishing in 2001. Simon’s success at The Guardian continued and in 2006 he moved to the Guardian Media Group as director of digital strategy and development. In May 2010 Simon joined LOVEFiLM as group product director where he is currently responsible for transforming the user experience across PC and mobiles to strengthen the company’s digital future. He published his first book in September 2010, Creative Disruption: What You Need To Do To Shake Up Your Business In The Digital Age, which outlines successful strategies for traditional businesses facing disruption from the internet. He is also a non-executive director of the Nordic’s leading directories business, Eniro and was formerly chair of the UK’s Association of Online Publishers. Simon is married with three children.
Lesley Mackenzie
Group Digital Officer
Lesley Mackenzie is in charge of all digital activity across the business. She is primarily responsible for LOVEFiLM’s digital catalogue which is already the UKs largest collection of film and TV entertainment, available for members to stream direct to their computer. She has recently completed distribution deals with Sony and Samsung Electronics to take LOVEFiLM direct to TVs through their internet-enabled devices. She was previously BSKYB Director of Channels and Operations for a decade, with responsibility for all television operations, management and development with third part channels on the sky platform. Lesley has been at the forefront of digital development and innovation in the UK, having recently been interim chief Executive for Kangaroo, the online VoD joint venture project between BBC, ITV and Channel 4.
Ernst Trapp
LOVEFiLM.de Commercial Director
Ernst graduated after studying European Business Studies in FH Landshut, Germany and Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge in 2000. He began his career at KPMG Consulting as a Management Consultant before moving to the European Travel Insurance Group as Head of E-Commerce and International Sales. During his five years with the company, Ernst built up a wealth of experience acquiring pan-European sales deals with companies like Expedia, ebookers, Air Berlin and Lufthansa. In 2008 he moved to become Executive Portal Manager at Marktgruppe – part of Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, Germany’s leading platform for online classifieds. Ernst has lived and worked in UK, South Africa, USA and Germany and joined LOVEFiLM in August 2009
Ira Gladnikoff
LOVEFiLM Commercial Director, Nordics
Ira joined LOVEFiLM as Commercial Director for the Nordics in June 2009 after building up over six years of experience in senior marketing roles within Sweden’s online gambling industry. Since graduating in Business at the London College of Printing in 2000, Ira has held roles as worldwide roll out manager in 2003 then VP & Director of PokerRoom.com where she was successful in growing the site to become the third largest poker site in the world. She moved to Sweden’s largest gaming operator Svenska Spel in 2005 as Head of Poker before later becoming Marketing Director for subsidiary company Casino Cosmopol. Ira lives in Stockholm, is fluent in Norwegian and during her education spent one year living as part of a kibbutz in Tel Aviv.
