JAMES CHESHIRE
UCL Department of Geography
James Cheshire is Professor of Geographic Information and Cartography in the UCL Department of Geography and the inaugural director of the UCL Social Data Institute. A world-leading map maker and geographer, his cartographic creations have been enjoyed by millions. He is an elected fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and has been recognised with awards from the likes of the Royal Geographical Society, the Royal Scottish Geographical Society and the British Cartographic Society.
James’ books have achieved global success, being translated into tens of languages and receiving widespread critical acclaim. His co-authored book Atlas of the Invisible won the American Association of Geographers’ Globe Award for a book that conveys most powerfully the nature and importance of geography to the non-academic world, and more recently, he contributed to the maps for the Atlas of Finance, which won awards for professional and scholarly excellence from the Association of American Publishers.
EMMA GRIFFIN
Footways
Emma has been writing about and campaigning for better streets since the early 2000s. Back then she was a journalist, specialising in sustainable transport and business for a range of trade titles and CNN.
She turned her attention to campaigning following an Urban Studies MSc at UCL in 2015. Emma is also vice-chair of London Living Streets and trustee of Foundation for Integrated Transport.
STEPHEN MESQUITA
Nielsen BookScan Travel Publishing Year Book
Stephen Mesquita is the author of the Nielsen BookScan Travel Publishing Year Book, the annual report of sales and trends in key global markets. He has also worked as a data analyst for top map and travel guide publishers and as a P&L consultant. He was a visiting lecturer at London City University’s MA in Publishing, leading the Marketing and Publishing as a Business modules.
Before that, Stephen had a career in international sales at AA Publishing, the publishing division of the UK’s Automobile Association, flying 1.25m miles, building AA’s international co-edition business from scratch to £10m in 10 years. He was managing director of AA Publishing for 4 years before setting up his consultancy.
He also wiles away his time birdwatching, hiking, swimming in the cold North Sea, and annoying his neighbours by listening to opera. He first attended the Frankfurt Book Fair in 1976 and has missed only four since.
ILARIA ROVERA
HarperCollins Publishers
Ilaria Rovera is Senior Producer at HarperCollins Publishers UK. Ilaria has been in the book production business for 20 years starting her career at an independent reference publisher and moving to Penguin Random House UK in 2012. She now manages several reference lists for HarperCollins, including the cartographic list.
GARETH SUMNER
Geovation from Ordnance Survey
Gareth leads the Geovation team, and has a wealth of experience in connecting start-ups and corporate innovators to solve challenges. He is driven by the desire to make things better – whether its cities, products or simply life – and sees immense value in innovators and corporates joining forces to solve genuine challenges – whether they are big or small.