Richard Ayers

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Manchester City is a football club on the up. The scale of its brand, business and media ambitions match the intentions on the pitch. Richard is focussed on driving forward the club's approach to media - leading innovation, forming unique partnerships and delivering increased audience engagement and reach.

He's a multi-disciplinary digital pioneer and veteran. A hybrid of content and commercial expertise, he was originally a radio journalist who turned geek. He was part of the team that launched BBC News online in 1997 and in the .com boom he went commercial and ran Tiscali's portal for the next 7 years.

For the last few of years he has focussed on a small portfolio of clients. These include the British Film Institute, the Guardian, M&G Investment Bank and helping broadcaster Channel 4 with their digital Paralympics 2012 coverage.

In November 2011 he was awarded the UK digital industry award "Individual of the Year" for his groundbreaking work as Head of Digital at Manchester City.