Wesley Dodd
Chief Executive
With more than 25 years of industry experience – Wesley has always had a passion for live TV. He has worked as a director, output editor, presenter, and systems integrator – with a deep technical understanding of what it takes to bring a channel together. Wesley ensures technical, operational and professional excellence across our company and runs our global operations.
Alex Kerns
Managing Director - Global
Alex is responsible for our global estate of 40,000 square feet (3,700 square metres), and suppliers. He handles finance and administration. He’s been with Celebro since the company started.
Lidiya Kuziv
Chief Financial Officer - Global
Lidiya is our group Chief Financial Officer and runs finances across our portfolio in the UK and the USA. Lidiya is a cross border tax expert and affiliate of the Chartered Institute of Taxation. Lidiya also oversees our outsourced financial operations.
lidiya.kuziv@celebromedia.co.uk
Ryan Deans
Lead Director - UK
Ryan (seen here on the left) looks after all our on-air output across the studios in the UK. On a day-to-basis he directs our shows for major broadcast clients as well as running gallery teams during live transmissions. From Al Jazeera to BBC, Facebook to TikTok – Ryan has directed almost every type of show. He’s been with Celebro since it started back in 2014.
Valery Eremenko
Head of Post Production - Global
Val joined Celebro from the BBC World Service where he worked on TV projects in 15 languages. Val specialises in virtual work using green screen or augmented reality but he will also be your point of contact for all post-production work on your project. He is also somewhat of a digital nomad as he works from our London, D.C. and LA studios.
Talip Alpugan
Director - UK
Talip is our talented and experienced in-house director. He looks after the gallery and crew on a day-to-day basis. He has worked on major news broadcasting channels and has been the launch director on international channels such as TRT World and Al Jazeera Turk. Talip insures that all our live and pre-recorded shows are captured in the highest possible quality, he will also offer our clients creative solutions and ideas to optimise your video content.
Zeke Dowty
Lead Director- USA
Zeke is our most senior Director in D.C where he runs the gallery and studio teams. Zeke has directed shows for BBC News, Al Jazeera, Sky and Newsmax. He also looks after the look and feel of shows for our commercial and corporate clients.
Iwona Cichanska
Front of House - London
Inka has been the Front of House/Office Manager in London since we started. With vast experience in high end customer service for Deutsche Bank, Selfridges and Harrods, Inka looks after client needs with five star service in mind. Inka also runs our ’employee of the month’ scheme – which she has coincidentally won every month since 2014!
Maxine Hughes
Executive Producer - Global
Maxine is usually the busiest person in the office – sometimes on two phone calls at a time! That’s because she is running and managing all of our content, from podcasts to vodcasts to documentaries to daily news. Maxine has previously worked for the BBC and TRT World. She also appears a lot on camera as a presenter and reporter for our Welsh language output.
maxine.hughes@celebromedia.com
Ugo Ruiz
Live Operations Director - Global
Ugo ensures our live TV and streaming output runs perfectly – taking care of everything needed to get our contributors and guests on-air. A hugely experienced gallery and audio systems specialist – Ugo works across our sites in the UK and USA. Ugo started his career at Celebro before joining Sky – returning home in 2022.
Simon Lobov
Robotics Chief - London
Our army of robots all around the globe are under the strict control of Simon. They have not yet risen up to overthrow his tyrannous regime – but the time will come… Simon also heads up our very human team of robotic camera operators.
Tristan Temple
Production Manager - London
Tristan looks after our sales in London – assisting clients with bookings and making sure all of our shoots run according to plan. Tristan adds a certain glamour to our operation – in a former life he was a West End dancer and has even appeared in Hollywood movies!
Christian Hunt
Business Development Executive
Christian is in charge of sales and business development for our studios in Washington, DC and NYC. He has 13 years of business growth experience, and has been working in Celebro since 2021. Christian will tailor make your quotes and is well placed to make sure the needs of your production are met.
James Collins
Lighting Director - London
“Let there be light”! James is our master of lighting. On any given day you will find him up a ladder building a custom look for our clients. James also ensures our cameras are graded and shaded to give you the look you want. It is a big job – often meaning we have to reset studios more than once a day.
james.collins@celebromedia.co.uk
Angelina McCahey
Production Coordinator & Content Producer - D.C.
Angelina works with our clients to produce news and documentary content as well as booking guests for some of our many shows. Angelina is also a stand-up comedian – one of our many ‘funny’ people.
She plays a mean guitar (air and real) and is the official office social organizer.
Maysam Sarfean
Director of Broadcast Engineering - USA
Maysam’s background was working as a satellite engineer for AP. Today he is in charge of our broadcast engineering in the USA. From building our MCR to solving complex engineering challenges, Maysam is the person we rely on to make sure all of our client’s output leaves the building in the best possible quality. Maysam is a man who can solve any problem – and has super-human powers of endurance.
Theo Stewart
Multi-Skilled Operator - London
Theo is our ‘swiss-army knife’. Covering many bases like an all-star baseball player, he operates our robotic cameras, teleprompter, floor-managing and also lighting. With a background in film & TV, Theo will ensure the look and feel of your show exceeds your expectations.
Olga Kerns
Management Assistant- Global
Olga works in our management office assisting us with day-to-day operations across our group of companies. We are a small team but we often look to Olga to help keep us organised and on track.
Valentyn Donchenko
IT Supervisor - London
Valentyn has the unenviable job of looking after all of Celebro’s IT needs across all our sites in UK and USA. Celebro’s systems use the latest NDI and Dante technology which means our networks need to be fast and super secure. Valentyn does a great job of keeping our systems purring like a kitten.
Bart Sienkiewicz
Director of Photography - Special Projects
Bart’s main work is as an award winning Director of Photography who has worked on hit movies and TV shows. For that reason we only get him in for high-profile projects that need a special eye. Even though we don’t see him every day – he is very much part of the Celebro family.
Chingiz Ismailov
MCR Operator - London
Chingiz is a culture vulture – he studied English Literature, but his more technical interests led him into MCR operations. He’ll look after all your remote sources like Zoom or Skype – and make sure everybody can see and hear each other! That’s not to mention his talent for making sure all the right cables are plugged into all the right
places and, most importantly, his almost supernatural gift of recalling cultural trivia.
Sultan
Mouser-in-Chief (former Head of Mousekeeping) - London
Sultan is also our Chief Calming Officer. He ‘works’ from home most days – but is always around for big occasions that involve snacks. Sultan speaks English, Welsh, Ukrainian and Turkish and is also a well respected ‘mouse whisperer’.
Luna
Head of Puplick Relations (TCO) - London
Luna started in Celebro as a Junior Pawject Manager but has clawed her way up to TCO (Total Cuteness Overload). She can be found on reception (or usually under it). Luna is our calmest staff member – and the best antidote to a stressful shoot. Luna often ‘works’ from home – but is on hand when staff need a little extra support.