Our Team
Introducing the senior team and board of directors - the investors and key drivers of the vision and strategy of Exile.
Jonathan Bell (JB)
Editor-in-Chief
Having worked as a journalist for over 40 years, JB has spent most of those years writing about Trade, Commodity, Export & Project Finance. He is a highly skilled journalist and continues to deliver Exile’s news stories daily whilst leading the rest of the editorial team and ensuring that his industry knowledge filters through to Exile’s portfolio of intelligence products.
When JB is not busy researching new deals in the market, you’ll find him chairing global conferences all over the world - for Exile and its clients.
Constantina Christophides
Head of Business Operations
Constantina started her career in 2010 focusing on events marketing and management. She soon realised her passion for business operations and strategy and had the opportunity to transition to the Head of Business Operations at Exile.
She is very enthusiastic about driving the company culture to create a productive environment that allows employees to grow within the business and perform at a high level. Constantina oversees the finance and human resources departments and deals with the day-to-day business processes.
James Petras
CTO
With over 25 years experience in IT, including 18+ years in managing, analysing, designing, and developing technology solutions, James is the reason Exile is built on bespoke IT platforms tailored specifically to the products it delivers.
With a strong educational background focused on object-oriented solutions, the latest project management techniques (PMP) plus development methodologies, James is always working on the next challenge to ensure Exile’s strategy keeps up to speed with the tech industry and its customers continue to receive the best online experience.
Dominik Kloiber
Co-Founder & Commercial Director
Dom discovered his passion for sales when he arrived in England from Germany 20 years ago. He has spent his entire selling career building relationships within the Commodity & Export Finance industries and now considers many of his clients to be friends. From inception, Dom was Exile’s key revenue driver and still continues to deliver much of the revenue today.
His natural ability to entertain combined with his depth of industry knowledge, means he continues to play a vital role in presenting and moderating at many of Exile’s global events as well as driving the overall strategy of the business.
Dan Sheriff
Co-Founder & CEO
Since graduating from The University of Manchester in 2003, Dan has specialised in B2B events & publishing, dedicating most of those years delivering content to the Trade, Commodity, Project, Export and Aircraft finance industries.
Since beginning Exile, Dan has led the entire strategic direction on both events and intelligence and continues to do so today. Dan has a knack for finding exceptional individuals from all walks of life, whose experience and knowledge has enabled Exile to continue expanding its portfolio and move into new territories.
Alfonso Olivas
Head of Product
For most of his career, Alfonso has spent his time creating data products for the financial sectors - predominantly Trade, Export, Commodities & project Finance - as his passion lies in helping clients make data-led, informed decisions when assisting them with their business strategies.
More recently and during his time at Exile, he has completed a Masters in Data Science and Big Data to expand his skillset, which has in turn enabled him to create a simple, scalable and customisable product that is continuously evolving based on the needs of Exile clients.
Katy Rose
Chief Marketing Officer & Director
After a short stint working in recruitment, Katy has spent her 18 year career delivering & marketing high end conferences and events to various finance industries as well as luxury retail brands. Having joined Exile before its official inception, Katy helped develop and establish its brand identity & culture and still to this day, remains its main gatekeeper.
Katy oversees all aspects of marketing, design and communications to ensure Exile customers continue to receive memorable experiences when interacting with the Exile brand - across both events & intelligence.
Hesham Zakai
Managing Director
Having started his career as a journalist writing for the Financial Times and European Parliament, Hesham joined Exile slightly later in the game and turned his attention to Conference Production, where his impact on the growth of the business was so apparent, he moved very quickly on to becoming MD and a member of the board.
Having established very strong relationships with key players in the Trade, Commodity, Export, Project and now Development Finance markets, Hesham has become a key driver of Exile’s event revenue, whilst continuing to heavily influence the overall strategy & company culture.
Mahalia Reader
Financial Controller
Mahalia started her career in audit, where she spent three years completing her ACA. She then joined EY as an Audit Senior to gain big 4 experience. Following on from this, she joined Save the Children as a Finance Business Partner. The next step in her career took her to Dentsu, a large media agency, gaining experience in industry finance as a Senior Commercial Analyst.
As the Financial Controller at Exile, Mahalia is responsible for financial processes and controls, overseeing financial reporting and accounting, as well as working with the business to build the annual financial budget and long-term plan.
