Our Judge Panel
The judging panel for the 2023 Here Impact Award in association with FutuePlus includes:
Philip O’Ferrall
Outernet
Philip O’Ferrall leads game changing shifts in broadcasting and immersive entertainment. He is CEO and originator of Outernet London, an immersive media and culture district driven by the most advanced screen technology in the world. Outernet delivers extraordinary digital experiences for brands and consumers.
A music and media streaming pioneer he created the Mobile Media Video Club – the very first music video on a mobile phone and MTV sessions for artists – a model later adopted across broadcasting.
Philip launched all of Viacom’s digital platforms, managing to huge success the transition from linear TV into online and digital audiences. A 13-year tenure followed as Executive Vice President at ViacomCBS (MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures, Channel 5, Comedy Central). In 2018 he became President and CEO of Outernet.
Mike Penrose
FuturePlus
Mike Penrose is a world-renowned expert on risk, crisis, and disaster management with an extensive history of advising businesses on their social impact and sustainability.
Prior to co-founding The Sustainability Group in 2019, Mike worked in more than 60 countries on disaster and risk management operations during his time as the Executive Director of Unicef UK, CEO of Action Contre La Faim in Paris and Global Humanitarian Director of Save the Children. Most recently, he led the UN and UK Government response to COVID-19 in the world’s largest refugee camp.
Throughout his career, Mike has been passionate about working with businesses of all sizes to improve their social impact and sustainability. In addition to developing ESG investment strategies as a former advisor to the FTSE on their ESG index, he continues to work with a number of investment firms and family offices to match social impact with high return investment strategies, as well as advising large commercial organisations on how to operate effectively and ethically in fragile environments.
Jessica Hibberd
Zühlke
Jessica is the sustainable operations lead for Zühlke, a global innovations service provider with a heavy focus in creating sustainable solutions in the climate and healthcare space that link to the UNSDGs. Her role entails embedding sustainability alongside the Head of Sustainability within the organisation, and driving the decarbonisation efforts across their global sites, including their supply chain and consultancy projects.
Prior to joining Zühlke, Jess was the Sustainability Manager at The Sustainability Group, where she led consultancy projects and developed sustainability strategies for an array of businesses. This included regulation and legislation alignment, carbon footprint data analysis and reduction strategies, policy creation, training, and much more.
Having completed the Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership course, her passion for the topic is continuously growing. She is a contributing author to the Sustainable Business Guide which aims to empower SMEs through practical advice on all aspects of sustainability. On top of this, she is an active member of the Green Party, having stood as a candidate in April 2023 for her local ward, and working with local councillors to create a social media strategy to captivate the audiences of younger generations.
Robert Butters
Outernet Venues
Robert Butters leads on the creation and development of Outernet Venue London, part of the exciting new entertainment district on Denmark Street, London.
He has previously served as the CFO and Vice President for the Really Useful Company – Andrew Lloyd Webber’s theatrical producing and theatre company.
Realising his love for the entrepreneurial world, he went on to found “and Entertainment” focusing on marketing and production and specialising in live entertainment for globally known large brands, which received global praise for their projects.
Robert is the Board Chair of Spectrum Works which is a non-for-profit close to his heart, specialising in placing individuals with disabilities into an integrated workforce through education and opportunity. Robert has also served as the Board Chair of the Monmouth Medical Foundation and on the Two River Theatre Board.
Miranda Dunbar Johnson
Human Rights Watch Committee London
A dual-National who has lived and worked across the world, Miranda Dunbar-Johnson has over 10 years of advocacy and fund-raising experience with Human Rights Watch, most recently as co-chair of their London committee.
Before her involvement with HRW, she worked in the arts and media sector, notably at French publishing group Les Echos and acting as deputy publisher for Tate – The Art Magazine at Blueprint Media.
In her current role as an HRW committee member, Miranda has successfully spearheaded collaborations with visual artists from Ai Wei Wei to Christo. Other examples of Miranda’s efforts to connect activism to the art space include the HRW Book Club initiative, and theatrical co-productions with Georgetown University’s Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics, notably Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski, starring oscar-nominated actor David Strathairn.
Alex Johnston
Freud Communications
Alex Johnston is a communications strategist with extensive international experience across a range of sectors including CPG, retail and technology. Alongside his consulting work, Mr Johnston is a serial entrepreneur, overseeing a portfolio of digital businesses in the mobile game and social messaging sectors.
He is a founder of Velocity Capital Partners – a UK-based investment fund, as well as co-founding Fleming Media – a family office investment fund dedicated to the acquisition of media rights, and a founding partner of Freud Communications (now ‘Frueds’).
Alex serves on the main Board of Directors of Singer Asia; the Digital Advisory Board of the National Gallery; and, until recently, was a Board Director of ‘Pitch at Palace’ – the global innovation initiative launched by the British Royal Family; and as a Board Director of Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s ‘Web Foundation’, which actively campaigns for digital equality worldwide.
Previously, Mr Johnston has held a variety of senior executive positions including Executive Vice-President, Omnicom Inc and VP Communications for Pepsico.
Thoughts from our judges
“With so much confusion around what sustainability actually means, it is apparent that businesses are struggling to implement a coherent action plan. Almost all the various sustainability badges, which indicate good business practices, only qualify certain achievements and do not help a company meet its ambitions in line with the UN’s 2030 goals.
“Businesses also don’t realise that sustainability doesn’t equate to “no profitability.” In fact, we are finding that companies applying a more sustainable approach improves their overall processes, and they see benefits throughout the business. We teamed up with Here and Outernet to demonstrate just how powerful these changes can be in an affordable, accessible and trackable manner.”
“Our desire is to make a positive and impactful change to the businesses who require it. We believe in supporting the communities where the businesses are born through the powerful tools we have at our disposal. London is a global hub for entrepreneurialism, and helping the small businesses with sustainability at the heart of what they do is our privilege.”
About Outernet
Outernet is a global media and entertainment company. We create connected city-centre entertainment districts where music, film, art, gaming and retail experiences come to life in new breath-taking ways courtesy of our unique creative and technical capabilities.
About FuturePlus
FuturePlus is a sustainability management platform that makes managing social and environmental impact accessible, affordable, achievable and trackable for every business, not just the 1%. FuturePlus qualifies a company’s sustainability achievements before quantifying and translating them into a realistic and trackable action plan.
Its indicators, made up of 200-300 questions, educate companies and business leaders to take practical, incremental steps towards sustainability by focusing on five pillars: Climate, Economic, Diversity & Inclusion, Social and Environment. Its indicators align with all 17 of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.